PrintPreview extremely slow with Samba printers

microsoft.public.dotnet.framework

12 Aug 2006 7:38 PM

Lars

I am using Microsoft .NET (2.0) PrintPreviewDialog and
all works well when the Windows default printer is set
to a local printer or a network printer on a Windows
server, but if I set it to a Samba network printer, it
slows down to a crawl. With a Windows server
network printer, it takes about 10 seconds to render
100 pages. With a Samba network printer, it takes
over 5 minutes!

I can see that the preview control is generating
heavy network traffic (5-6% of a 1GB network
connection) continuously throughout the 5 minutes
it takes to generate the preview, which probably
is why it is so slow.

My environment:
Workstation: 3.2 GHz Dual Xeon, 1GB RAM, 1GB NIC,
OS: WinXP SP2
Server: Dual Xeon 2.8 GHz, 2GB RAM, 1GB NIC,
OS: RH ES 3.x
Samba version: Samba 3.0.9.
The printer is a HP LaserJet 4200N.
I have tried different printer drivers,
printers and Samba servers + versions.

I have already posted a question on the Samba
list, but not gotten any replies, so I am hoping that
somebody here would have some advice, since it
only happens with the .NET PrintPreview control
(not with other types of print previews).

My samba configuration file:

[global]
   Netbios name = main-lin5
   workgroup = acme
   os level = 33
   security = user
   server string = Samba Server
   hosts allow = 10. 127.
   hide unreadable = yes
   browseable = yes
   encrypt passwords = yes

   wins support = yes
   create mask = 0660
   directory mask = 0770

   oplocks = no
   level2 oplocks = no
   strict locking = no

   printcap name = /etc/printcap
   load printers = yes
   use client driver = yes

   printing = lprng

log file = /var/log/samba/%m.log
   log level = 1

   max log size = 0

   socket options = TCP_NODELAY SO_RCVBUF=8192
SO_SNDBUF=8192
dns proxy = no

#Share Definitions
[homes]
   comment = Home Directories
   browseable = no
   writable = yes

[netlogon]
   comment = Network Logon Service
   path = /d1/home/netlogon
   guest ok = no
   writable = no
   write list = @mis
   share modes = no

[printers]
   comment = All Printers
   path = /var/spool/samba
   browseable = yes
   guest ok = no
   printable = yes

[tmp]
   comment = Temporary file space
   path = /tmp
   read only = no
   public = yes

<snip> (more disk shares...)

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Lars