Important issues in interoperating environments
Before you set up an interoperating environment, consider these issues.
- Software
All interoperating systems must be at the same InfoPrint Manager software level. Older versions of InfoPrint Manager will not work with newer versions of InfoPrint when interoperating.
- Backups
You should always backup your systems before making any major configuration changes. Follow the recommendations found in RICOH InfoPrint Manager for Linux: Getting Started about which file systems should be backed up.
- How many servers can be interoperated?
In theory, you can interoperate as many servers as you would like, however, the performance of the servers will depend upon the primary server hardware. For best performance, use the most powerful system that you have available for the primary server.
- Which system should contain the namespace?
The namespace does not contain large volumes of data (so it does not have to reside on the system with the most disk space) and it does not move a lot of data across the network. However, because all of the other servers will rely on the namespace server, it must be available and reliable. Put the namespace on the system that has the most availability (always running), most reliability (does not have to be rebooted often), and is the most powerful. The namespace must be located on an AIX or a Linux system.
- How can I share the namespace across servers?
There are two methods to share the namespace from the primary server, which depends on what operating system the secondary server is. You can do that using Network File Sharing (NFS) when the secondary server is located on the AIX or Linux operating system, or Samba when the secondary system is a Windows operating system. When NFS is used, the exported namespace filesystem by the primary system is mounted by secondary server using the hostname. Samba is used to export namespaces from the primary AIX or Linux server to a Windows secondary server. It is also used for the additional
/ipdata
sharing required by Submit Express job preflight.Primary vs. Secondary server platform Namespace Share Method Namespace Share User ipdata Share User /ipdata Share User AIX (primary) - AIX (secondary) NFS ipm1 (UID must match) NFS ipm1 (UID must match) AIX (primary) - Linux (secondary) NFS ipm1 (UID must match) NFS ipm1 (UID must match) Linux (primary) - AIX (secondary) NFS ipm1 (UID must match) NFS ipm1 (UID must match)