Simplifying printers for multi-site users

Windows 2008 R2
Windows 7 Enterprise
Topology: Central network with about 50 users/computers and 5 servers. 25 remote sites, 2-4 users/computers per site (no servers at the sites). Each site also has one network printer.
Currently all sites have the same IP scheme (we use DirectAccess for file access so unique subnets are not required). All of the printers are the same model and have the same static IP. So no matter what site a roaming user goes to printing works with no
confusion.
Some new technology is being implemented that will require us to make unique subnets (which is actually desirable for obvious reasons). At the same time we will be implementing site-to-site VPNs, so there will be full connectivity to AD/central site.
So, here in lies the problem. Our super simple printing solution, now will not work. Some users roam to a dozen sites or more, will they have to have that many printers? Then they have to make sure to print to the one that is online/ready? Is there a GPO
setting to hide offline printers or something? I wouldn't care if there were 25 print queues as long as only available printers were displayed. I see that there is some location aware printing features of AD/W7, but I am concerned all the offline printers
will confuse users.
Any ideas?

Have you considered Group Policy Preferences - Printers ?
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc731562.aspx
http://www.grouppolicy.biz/tag/printer/
http://deployhappiness.com/best-practices-for-group-policy-printer-preferences/
http://blogs.technet.com/b/grouppolicy/archive/2009/06/24/gp-preferences-set-a-default-printer.aspx
https://the.geekorium.com.au/deploy-printers-with-group-policy-without-using-local-loopback/
Don
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Hi
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subscribed to a different Active Directory site. Each Edge Transport server requires an individual Edge Subscription.
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Hi,
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https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/azure/dn690124.aspx
Best regards,
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Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help. If you have feedback for TechNet Subscriber Support, contact [email protected]

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</rant>

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Hi,
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--El
Originally Posted by shazzypoos
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SQL Server 2012 Multi-Site clustering with 2 nodes for HA and DR

Usually we setup 2 Node Prod cluster for Local HA and 1 or 2 Nodes in other data centre for DR
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SQL 2008 R2 doesn't support multi-subnet clustering. You would still need 3rd party component like VLAN and Disk Replication. SQL 2012 is the first version to support multi-subnet clustering without using VLAN. you would still need disk replication hardware/software.
Taken from my book
Since nodes are often located in two different data centers at geographically dispersed locations, there is no shared storage between the nodes in a multi-site cluster. Clustering across two different data centers provides a higher level of availability and
protection at the storage level as we have more than a single copy of the data.
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Balmukund Lakhani | Please mark solved if I've answered your question, vote for it as helpful to help other users find a solution quicker
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Windows 2008 R2 Multi-Site (geo) Cluster File Server

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For automated failover between sites, the storage replication needs to have a way to script the failover so you can have a custom resource that performs the failover at the SAN level before the disks come online.
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Visit my blog about multi-site clustering

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Hi,
I am looking for a Multi Site Cluster solution for File Server and SQL DB. Could you pls help with any case study of solution approach for building the Multi Site cluster using Windows 2012 ?
What is recommended for Replication
Which all Application/DB are compatible for Multi Site
Are there any implementation documents
pls suggest
Regards:Mahesh

Hi,
I am looking for a Multi Site Cluster solution for File Server and SQL DB. Could you pls help with any case study of solution approach for building the Multi Site cluster using Windows 2012 ?
What is recommended for Replication
Which all Application/DB are compatible for Multi Site
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pls suggest
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Distributed File System
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc753479(v=ws.10).aspx
For SQL Server look at AlwaysOn in async way, see:
AlwaysOn for SQL Server
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff877884.aspx
Availability Modes
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the log). AlwaysOn Availability Groups supports two availability modes—asynchronous-commit mode and synchronous-commit mode.
Asynchronous-commit mode
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Of course it's possible to configure SMB 3.0 failover file share on geo-separated sites and use Failover Cluster Instances for SQL Server in the same scenario. Just make sure you configure reliable witness (you'll have to do it for SQL Server AlwaysOn either
way...) on some third location. For file server I'd suggest to use some sort of a software replication in sync way instead of a geo-distributed physical shared storage. That one is for SQL Server and SteelEye Data Keeper but you can use any Windows-native
(preferred) software as well. See:
SQL Server Geo-Cluster with software shared storage
http://clusteringformeremortals.com/2009/10/07/step-by-step-configuring-a-2-node-multi-site-cluster-on-windows-server-2008-r2-–-part-3/
Good luck! :)
StarWind VSAN [Virtual SAN] clusters Hyper-V without SAS, Fibre Channel, SMB 3.0 or iSCSI, uses Ethernet to mirror internally mounted SATA disks between hosts.

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