State of Wisconsin Output Management: LAN Print Services Service Offering Definition (SOD)
Document Revision History Date Version Creator Notes 02/11/2009 1.0 George Jensen Initial thoughts 3/3/09 1.1 Lisa Onken Edits to Initial thoughts 3/4/09 1.1 George Jensen Edits and comments 3/9/09 1.2 Lisa Onken Edits 3/11/09 1.3 Lisa Onken Edits 3/16/2009 1.4 Tom Runge Edits 3/27/2009 1.5 Tom Runge First edits after review meeting 6/16/2009 1.6 George Jensen Edits 6/16/2009 1.7 Tom Runge Modified Introduction 6/29/2009 1.8 George Jensen Output device driver limitations. Cost per queue. Cost saving tips. 7/3/09 1.9 Lisa Onken Edits 7/13/09 1.10 Connie England/George Jensen Edits 7/17/09 1.11 Connie England Edits 7/22/09 1.12 Connie England Edits 8/12/2009 1.13 Lisa Onken Edits 08/24/09 1.14 Nan Linde Finalize edits after internal review 09/14/09 1.14 Dan Proud Final edit 01/19/12 1.15 Bob Ross Edits Presentation char. & content 01/23/12 1.15 Bob Ross, Allan Henn Edits - Content 01/26/12 1.15 Bob Ross, Allan Henn, Susan Lee Group Review Edits Final Group Review & Approval
Table of Contents Introduction... 4 What Is Included... 5 What Is Not Included... 5 Service Description... 6 Service Period... 7 Roles and Responsibilities... 7 Business Continuity... 8 Performance Metrics... 8 Configuration Diagram... 9 How Services Are Charged... 9 Cost-Saving Tips... 9 Notes... 10 Output Management: LAN Print Services SOD iii
Introduction DET OPS Output Management is a solution based multi-platform support team. This document will focus on Local Area Network (LAN) Print Management Services. Output can be generated from many different platforms and software applications within the State of Wisconsin Infrastructure. It can then be delivered to Microsoft Windows-Based Print Servers to be printed by a multitude of different output devices. For the purpose of this document, an output device can be Printers of all types, Plotters, Copiers or Faxes. The only devices supported on our print servers are enterprise class output devices. Enterprise class output devices are those capable of being networked through a Print Server. These Servers have output device drivers that are supported at current Microsoft Server OS levels. Only the hardware specific device driver will be extracted from the installation file(s) and installed on the print server. Software suites and other executable programs are exempt from installation. The business requirements of the application determine the appropriate DET output solution. Some output solutions are designed for high-volume printing. Others are more effectively implemented using a Local Area Network (LAN) distributed printing environment. Information sources that must be printed in multiple and/or remote locations are good candidates for distributed LAN printing. The specific output solution implemented is directly impacted by a number of factors: the application s OS platform, the print language (if any) used within the application, the amount of output to be generated and the type of device on which it is to be printed. Decisions regarding the number, type and model of output devices are best made locally within various State Agencies. This is necessary due to the fact they are specific to their particular business requirements. The end user Agency or Department is responsible for the support and maintenance contracts for the output device and its connection to the network. Because of Microsoft Windows Server security restrictions, an Administrative account is required to perform various print server configuration functions. As a result, these functions cannot be delegated to any entity outside DET. Output Management: LAN Print Services SOD 4
What Is Included The service level provided is at the Base Service Tier. This Service Offering Definition (SOD) includes the following print server-related services. (See DET LAN Print.pdf for provisioning and incident workflow diagrams.) Tasks requiring a service request: Create, delete or rename output device queue. Create, delete or rename output device share name. Create or delete network ports. These requests must be made after agencies have completed certain tasks. These include defining the output device hostname and enabling/configuring Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) or Static IP Addresses. Install or delete output device drivers. Create or delete output device specification definitions. Assign initial agency provided domain group(s) to output device queue security. Consult with Agency LAN Print Support to troubleshoot/resolve end user LAN print problems as required. Tasks requiring an incident ticket: Restart the Microsoft Print Spooler and Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP) Print Server. Provide any available Windows dump data for Print Spooler failures to assist DET in identify drivers causing failures. This service requires enhanced monitoring policies and processes that are enabled by a monitoring agent installed on each print server. Refer to the Performance Metrics section for monitoring details. What Is Not Included Support for any item not included in the SOD is specifically excluded. Management of and support for agency-managed print servers. Management of and support for agency output device hardware. Controlling the flow of print jobs involving pause, resume, restart, or cancellation of an output device. Output device queue configuration management. Troubleshoot/resolve output device driver application incompatibility. Troubleshoot/resolve end user LAN print problems. Maintaining output device driver versions. Maintaining/supporting output device firmware and/or microcode. Output Management: LAN Print Services SOD 5
Modifying or changing output device queue settings. Restricting print access to the output device by removing access to a specific user or group accounts. Output device and Support/Maintenance procurement. Output device hardware configuration. Physical connection of the output device to the network. Troubleshooting output device hardware, software or firmware problems. Managing print queue properties and preferences. Output device hardware and software settings, configuration or modifications. Output device document distribution to e-mail (print to email) configuration, settings, security, software or troubleshooting. Output device document distribution to file (print to file) configuration, settings, security, and software or troubleshooting. Installation or support for any applications which work with, communicate with or support an output device. Decommissioning of an output device. Any other functions not specifically covered within the What is Included section of this document. Service Description Local Area Network (LAN) Print is a service of Output Management that needs to be located as close as possible to end users to best meet their needs. There are two primary reasons for this statement: 1. Decisions regarding the number, type, and make of output devices are decisions best made locally within the various agencies. These decisions include owning the support and maintenance contracts for the output device and its connection to the print server. 2. End users make the decisions as to where and how they will be printing, such as landscape or portrait orientation, black and white or in color, single-sided or double-sided, etc. The ability to control those features on an output device must be made consistently available to them. Refer to the LAN Print Roles and Responsibilities document. The basis for the DET LAN Print Service offering is a series of administrative functions on DET Managed Windows Print Servers. These cannot currently be delegated to agency staff. This is because certain functions (see the What is Included section) require full administrative rights on the server. All other functions related to LAN Print are retained by the agency and have been delegated to them to keep those functions under their control. Problem determination of specific output device problems is an agency responsibility. DET will perform functions as requested by the agency as part of the agency s troubleshooting process. Other troubleshooting is available at the published consulting rate. Output Management: LAN Print Services SOD 6
Subscribing to this service implies acceptance to being billed for time spent troubleshooting issues that fall within the agency responsibility arena (as outlined in the LAN Printer Definition Roles and Responsibilities document). DET cannot guarantee the functionality of any output device driver with any application or Operating System. Output device drivers are provided on an as is basis by the output device manufacturers. They often have specific application and/or OS compatibility issues. DET does not own or manage the relationship with the output device vendor. As a result, it is the agency s responsibility to pursue driver problems with the vendor. It is ultimately up to the agency to provide drivers for their output devices. DET has access only to output device drivers downloadable from publicly accessible Vendor Web Sites. The creation, modification or deletion of output device queues and port definitions, as well as the installation or removal of output device drivers must be requested via a service request. Service requests should be submitted in a timely fashion to facilitate the scheduling of vendor visits and coordination with DET to create the required printing components. DET provides enhanced monitoring capabilities for the LAN Print Service. Services within Windows Server enable the automatic restart of the spooler service and the triggering of alerts relating to service stopping and restarting. The efficient management of print servers is critical to daily agency productivity. Enterprise class output devices (devices capable of being networked through a print server) with output device drivers supportable at our current server OS levels will be the only devices supported on the print servers. Only the hardware specific device driver will be extracted from the installation file(s) and installed on the print server. Software suites and other executable programs are exempt from installation. For planning and cost efficiency reasons, a print server will be sized for a minimum of 50 to a maximum of 300 output device queues. Certain agencies may have less than 50 queues on a print server at certain small remote locations. Depending upon business requirements, it may not be cost effective to install a print server at every small remote location. In those instances, it is possible for the agency to create and manage the output device queues directly on the desktop computers as opposed to installing a remote print server. Service Period July 1 through June 30 reviewed and renewed annually. Roles and Responsibilities Roles and Responsibilities for LAN Printer Definition found here. Output Management: LAN Print Services SOD 7
Business Continuity DET Managed LAN Print Servers are monitored to help maintain maximum up-time and user availability. Automated alerts are triggered when pre-defined events occur to immediately notify the appropriate technical team(s). Print spooler failures are monitored and alerts are forwarded to DET technical support. The spooler service is set to automatically restart. DET technical support verifies that the service restart actually occurred. Output device queue configurations are backed up through print utilities each month in order to decrease the time involved in restoring a failed server. Performance Metrics Enhanced monitoring via an agent is required for this service. The following performance metrics are consistently monitored for LAN print servers: Monitoring of LAN print servers available/unavailable status with alerting in the event of server unavailability. SNMP alerting when available disk space percentage for monitored servers reaches a critical point. The space percentage threshold will be set per the DET standard for space allocated (warning at 90% utilization and critical warning at 98%) or by agreement with the agency. Reporting for 4 basic metrics are available via a Web Reporting Tool for each monitored server: - Disk Space Utilization - CPU Utilization - Memory Utilization - Network I/O Activity Alerting on spooler service: Upon automated notification a given service is not responding, the system will attempt to restart the service. If it is successful, it will send a corresponding notification that the restart was successful. If it fails, it will then send a critical alert to DET Support staff triggering manual intervention. Output Management: LAN Print Services SOD 8
Configuration Diagram Workstations Laptops Centralized Output Mgmt Server Application Servers Mainframe (z/os) Document Driver Printer_queue Printer_port Driver Printer_queue Printer_port Driver Printer_queue Printer_port Print Server Plotter Printer Multifunction Printer How Services Are Charged Refer to the DOA IT Services Rate Sheet. Cost-Saving Tips Reduce the number of remote servers to the smallest possible. Small remote site output device queues can be created and managed by the agency directly on the desktop. This alleviates the need for local print servers at the site. Remove unnecessary output device queues. Create and follow agency output device standards. Output Management: LAN Print Services SOD 9
Notes: Output Management: LAN Print Services SOD 10