It's not well documented. The best source I found is the whitpaper: Integration of Windows 2000 Printing with Active Directory
http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/docs/printad.doc Here's an extract. "The pruning service, which runs on each domain controller, performs this automatic removal of non-existent printers. The printer pruner periodically checks each print server for orphaned printers, and if a printer is not detected, the pruner deletes it. The pruner checks only those print servers that are in the same site as the domain controller on which the pruning service is running. Group Policy settings are used to control the behavior of the printer pruner (see the Role of Group Policy section earlier in this paper). By default, if the pruner cannot detect a printer three times in a row at eight-hour intervals, it assumes that the entry is no longer valid and deletes it." The key here is that the pruner will attempt to connect to print queues on print servers, so this could well explain why you see the remote links coming up (assuming the remote sites have print queues but no DCs). More information in this article I wrote a while back: http://www.windowsitpro.com/Windows/Article/ArticleID/41104/41104.html Tony ---------- Original Message ---------------------------------- From: "joe" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org Date: Sun, 27 Aug 2006 17:46:28 -0400 Oh no kidding Brian... I had never heard that about the pruning... I hate to ask this, but is there any documentation on that? That would totally explain some things various folks have asked me about DCs spinning up dialup connections at WAN sites every 8 hours... joe -- O'Reilly Active Directory Third Edition - http://www.joeware.net/win/ad3e.htm -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Brian Desmond Sent: Sunday, August 27, 2006 2:25 PM To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] Printers & AD GUI Right. The computer is responsible for managing the print queue objects. Any changes you make on the print server are reflected on the published queue. Everytime the spooler service starts it confirms that the queue objects for published printers are all still in the directory. There is a thread that runs on every DC by default which prunes printer objects. It attempts to contact the print server every eight hours and if it can't after two intervals (8 hours by default) the printer objects get deleted. If you move the printers out from under the computer objects, then the pruning thread is the only way they will get cleaned up unless you do it yourself. Thanks, Brian Desmond [EMAIL PROTECTED] c - 312.731.3132 > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:ActiveDir- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of joe > Sent: Sunday, August 27, 2006 10:20 AM > To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org > Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] Printers & AD GUI > > Print Queue objects are created by default under the computer on which > the printers are shared from. It is, in fact, IMO, an extremely logical > way of handling it since you don't have to worry about delegating > permissions to print admins, the computer itself can create/delete them > as necessary. MSMQ Queues are handled the same way as lots of objects, > in my default R2 forest this is a list that can be handled this way > > applicationVersion > classStore > comConnectionPoint > dSA > indexServerCatalog > intellimirrorSCP > ipsecFilter > ipsecISAKMPPolicy > ipsecNegotiationPolicy > ipsecNFA > ipsecPolicy > msDFSR-LocalSettings > msDS-App-Configuration > msDS-AppData > msieee80211-Policy > mSMQConfiguration > mS-SQL-OLAPServer > mS-SQL-SQLServer > nTFRSSubscriptions > printQueue > remoteStorageServicePoint > rpcGroup > rpcProfile > rpcProfileElement > rpcServer > rpcServerElement > rRASAdministrationConnectionPoint > serviceAdministrationPoint > serviceConnectionPoint > serviceInstance > storage > Volume > > > As for why they are third class citizens in AD... I expect it is > because they are. I haven't done excessive investigation into how > printers are handled but I expect the print queue objects in AD are > simply reflections of the actual print queues on the servers. I don't > expect you actually manage anything in AD for them, you manage them on > the server/ws and then the print spooler updates any info it wants in > AD. Certainly you find them in AD but that just tells the underlying > software where to go look and the software goes to that print queue > directly on that server. I am pretty confident that if you delete a > print queue object in AD the print queue will work continue to work > fine on the server still, you just can't locate it via the AD. > Contrast that with users, groups, computers, and other objects I expect > you consider first class citizens. If you delete those types of > objects, you will find they no longer work at all. :) You will note > that when you create a queue, you get the option to publish it to the > directory, it isn't mandatory, not required, it is simply an option. > > joe > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Sunday, August 27, 2006 10:44 AM > To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org > Subject: [ActiveDir] Printers & AD GUI > > After 6 years of working with AD I just realized that when you unshare > a printer it becomes invisible and unmanageable. I guess I always knew > this in the back of my head, but it never hit home until I tried > cleaning up the printer list. Why are printers third-class citizens of > AD, without a container or a OU to their name? The only way to > remotely manage unshared printers is through the browse list, which is > a pain. > Am I missing something? Are there other approaches to this? (no > megabucks solutions, please) > List info : http://www.activedir.org/List.aspx > List FAQ : http://www.activedir.org/ListFAQ.aspx > List archive: http://www.activedir.org/ml/threads.aspx > > List info : http://www.activedir.org/List.aspx > List FAQ : http://www.activedir.org/ListFAQ.aspx > List archive: http://www.activedir.org/ml/threads.aspx List info : http://www.activedir.org/List.aspx List FAQ : http://www.activedir.org/ListFAQ.aspx List archive: http://www.activedir.org/ml/threads.aspx List info : http://www.activedir.org/List.aspx List FAQ : http://www.activedir.org/ListFAQ.aspx List archive: http://www.activedir.org/ml/threads.aspx ________________________________________________________________ Sent via the WebMail system at mail.activedir.org List info : http://www.activedir.org/List.aspx List FAQ : http://www.activedir.org/ListFAQ.aspx List archive: http://www.activedir.org/ml/threads.aspx
