• Overview
• Disabling AsyncRPC calls related to printing
• Enabling SMB printer support in the Collector

Enabling support for SMB printers

Overview

In Microsoft Windows networks, it is customary to share printers via the SMB protocol.

When the Collector has SMB printer support enabled and it is installed in a device that uses a shared SMB printer, the Collector listens to print job notifications from the SMB printer, as it does for any other kind of printer (local, TCP, or WSD). In the case of SMB printers however, after the Collector starts listening, Windows generates an excessive number of print job notifications, which are sent through the network via RPC (Remote Procedure Calls).

In environments where many devices are connected to SMB printers, this results in high CPU load and memory footprint in the print server (the device that shares the printer), combined with a massive generation of network traffic that may have a negative impact on the whole network. For this reason, SMB printer support is by default turned off in the Collector.

Support for SMB printers require the general print monitoring to be enabled in the Collector. Starting from V6.18, print monitoring is disabled by default.

Applies to platforms:

Disabling AsyncRPC calls related to printing

As a workaround, to minimize the network load, Microsoft proposes to disable asynchronous remote procedure calls related to printing either in the print server or in the client devices. Please note that the following modifications may have an impact on other tools that rely on these settings. Ensure that you know what you are doing.

To disable printing-related AsyncRPC on the print server side (the device that shares the printer):

1. Log in to the print server as a user with administrator capabilities.
2. Type Win+R to open the Run Box.
3. Type in regedit in the Run Box and press Enter to launch the Registry Editor.
4. If prompted by User Account Control, click Yes to allow changes to the PC.
5. Locate and select in the Registry Editor the following key:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print

6. From the top menu, select Edit > New > DWORD (32-bit) Value
   1. Enter the name for the value DisableRpcTcp.
   2. Enter the data for the value 1.
7. Reboot the device

To disable printing-related AsyncRPC on client devices (the devices that use the printer):

1. Log in to the client device as a user with administrator capabilities.
2. Type Win+R to open the Run Box.
3. Type in regedit in the Run Box and press Enter to launch the Registry Editor.
4. If prompted by User Account Control, click Yes to allow changes to the computer.
5. Locate in the Registry Editor the following key:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsNT\Printers

6. From the top menu, select Edit > New > DWORD (32-bit) Value
   1. Enter the name for the value EnabledProtocols.
   2. Enter the data for the value 6.
7. Reboot the device

Since setting this value individually for every client device may be cumbersome, it is recommended to modify the registry settings of your client devices through Group Policy. Please refer to an administration manual of Active Directory for more information.

Enabling SMB printer support in the Collector

After disabling printing related AsyncRPCs, enable SMB printer support in the Collector.

To enable SMB printer support in the Collector during its installation:

• Set the parameter DRV_DSPS to 0 in the options to the MSI.

To enable SMB printer support in a Collector that is already installed:

• Set the parameter dsps to 0 using the Nxtcfg tool.