There are two methods that Simplify Printing might use to get information about a printer on a print server. This information is necessary for the ScrewDrivers virtual print driver to add a printer queue to the system.
The default method for Simplify Printing v6 is to connect to the print server each time a new printer is being built. For each user logon to a terminal server, virtual desktop, or physical desktop with Simplify Printing, a query will go to the print server to collect the necessary information about the printer. This method ensures that the latest printer capabilities are queries, and reduces reliance on the administrator re-querying the printer when a print driver changes. The query is small and faster, usually only a few kilobytes in size. However, in a large environment this could put additional load on a print server.
Alternatively, a setting can be turned on to use database cached printer information. In this method, the query does not contact the print server, but instead contacts the database. The same information has to be transferred, but in this mode the additional load is placed on the SQL Server instead of the print server. When this method is used, it is always recommended to refresh printers in the Simplify Console after a change to the printer driver or an upgrade of the Print Server Agent.
The default setting is a change from version 5. In Simplify Printing v5, all printer capability queries were directed to the database.
Step-by-step guide
To modify the printer query:
- Open the Simplify Console.
- Select the print server object in the objects pane.
- On the General tab of the print server object, in the options box, select the desired setting for Use Database Cached Printer Information.
- Checking the box turns on cached information, using the database for printer queries.
Unchecking the box turns off cached information, directly contacting the print server for each printer query.