Chapter 16. Microsoft Cluster Environments

Table of Contents

About Clustering
Cluster Configuration Modes
Mode 1 - Clustering at the Print Provider layer
Mode 2 - Clustering at all application layers
Clustering Tips
Client/Workstation Configuration

About Clustering

PaperCut NG is designed to scale to 20,000+ users. To ensure reliability on networks of this size, network architects may adopt strategies including:

  • Load balancing - spreading tasks across multiple servers.

  • Clustering - building in redundancy by implementing a failover strategy.

PaperCut NG is a cluster compatible application. It supports clustering at all levels of the application, including

  • Clustering at the print spooler service layer by integrating with Microsoft's clustering services.

  • Failover based clustering at the Application Server layer using Microsoft's clustering services. (PaperCut NG's Application Server is web and web services based, and hence can support other failover methods such as heartbeat driven DNS.)

  • At the database layer by utilizing cluster aware databases such as Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle.

Setting up PaperCut NG in a cluster environment is an advanced operation. This chapter assumes the reader has a high level of expertise in system and cluster configuration. The cluster environment should be operational before undertaking the PaperCut NG installation. Readers should also have a good understanding of PaperCut NG's Service Oriented Architecture - specifically its two main components, the Application Server and the Print Provider and how they work together (the section called “Print Monitoring Architecture”).