Forum Discussion

Nimbostratus

Oct 29, 2008

MS Print servers

Hi all, I am planning to use my new F5 LTM to load balance Windows Server 2003 print servers. For the moment, it doesn't work for me: I can see the shared printer but I can't map it. ...

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Christopher_Boo
Feb 05, 2014
Here's the new link to the guide for creating the WMI monitor. As I recall it was pretty straightforward. I'm even using the same interval and timeout. Looking at my monitor properties, the only thing I see that is different is my alias service port is 3389 and the external program path is /usr/bin/monitors. Also, you'll need to enable remote WMI requests on the win2k8 boxes if not already enabled.

Monitoring WMI Services from Big-IP

Anonymous25

Nimbostratus

Hello everyone,

I am struggling to get a 2016 MS Print Server to sit behind the F5.

I have followed a number of different threads and posts from multiple load balancing sites, but have yet to come to the proper solution. In our environment, we need to be able to map to the individual printers. I am able to get the configuration as far as being able to start mapping a printer \\printserver\printername but when I click next, I just get an error. And if I click browse, there are no printers to select.

I have done multiple registry changes, enabled and disabled NetBios, and a bunch of other things. I am hoping that there is someone here who might be able to further assist me with this project.

Thanks!

Anonymous25

Nimbostratus

Jun 28, 2019

As an additional update, it does not matter if I use the NPath iApp or build a virtual server. If I map to the printer directly through the print server, I have no issues, when trying to map through the F5, either via NPath or virtual server, I get an error on the Print Server using Wireshark stating, OpenprinterEx reponse, invalid printer name. it doesn't matter if I add it through the VIP or DNS name, I always get this issue.

Thanks.

Andrew_Husking
Cirrus
Jul 01, 2019
Are you able to share some of your VIP config? Once we made the registry changes everything worked nicely for us.
Anonymous25
Nimbostratus
Jul 02, 2019
Sure!
Version:
BIG-IP 13.1.0.1 Build 0.0.8 Point Release 1

ltm virtual VS_MSPrint {
  destination 10.41.18.252:any
  ip-protocol tcp
  mask 255.255.255.255
  pool Pool_MSPrint
  profiles {
    tcp { }
  }
  source 0.0.0.0/0
  source-address-translation {
    type automap
  }
  translate-address enabled
  translate-port disabled
  vs-index 24

ltm pool Pool_MSPrint {
  members {
    10.41.18.236:any {
      address 10.41.18.236
    }

I know I don't have any monitors setup right now as this is just a proof of concept function with a test server.

As far as registry/server changes, I have tried pretty much all of them in a variety of combinations
*Created Loopback adapter with same IP address as the F5 VIP
*Set the WeakHost settings for Net and Loopback adapters
*Set the Loopback Metric to 254
*Disabled Loopback check
*Disable Strict Name Chacking
*Optional Names
*DnsOnWire
*Disabled NetBios (with DNS entry on VIP)
*Modified the Hosts File with DNS names

Happy to make any changes or test things to see if we can get this working.

Thanks.
Anonymous25
Nimbostratus
Jul 10, 2019
If anyone has any input at this time, I would appreciate it. Even as I continue to work on this issue, I am stuck and unable to move forward.

Thanks
- Vinne73
  Cirrus
  Jun 22, 2022
  Were you ever able to fix this problem? If so, would you like to share how? 🙂
Andrew_Husking
Cirrus
Jul 10, 2019
Sorry i missed this reply the other day.
key differences i see in our configs
profiles { fastL4 { } } translate-port enabled
We use fastl4 and have translate port enabled.
I don't have access to the windows servers, but i'm 100% certain that we didn't have to make any loopback IP addresses or anything like that. it was registry keys and host file that we needed to set.
HTH
Anonymous25
Nimbostratus
Jul 11, 2019
Andrew,

I made some changes to my Virtual Server and my window servers. I made the two changes you have mentioned above and tweaked the registry more and I was able to get the printer to print! Yay!

I am going to start from scratch once more with the Windows Server to see exactly what I need for the windows server. I will also post up my configuration from the F5 just in case.

Thank you for the help. I can now start working on actual testing!