PrintDrive: contigency plan

[RVNG]

We are using AX4 & PrintDrive with a Galileo VS8 that is 10 years old and although the Galileo is quite a workhorse, it just hit me today that the server running PrintDrive is just as old. What if it dies tommorow?

Essentially, I have no contigency plan if it goes down. I don’t have the PrintDrive installation discs anymore… nor do I know what is required for setting up a replacement server... should I be jotting down some critical settings? Is there a backup feature for critical info?

It is inevitable that one day it will fail. So, I guess I am looking for some ideas to help me plan for the future, I know this is a lot to ask, but even just some general ideas would be very helpful.

Thanks
RG

 

[Hopkins Printing]

Hi RG,

It's been a while but I believe in PrintDrive's Preferences, there is a backup function that will back up all your settings. Obviously, you will want to move that backup somewhere off the PrintDrive box. The other thing you will want to note is what specific version of PrintDrive you have. If you look at the PrintDrive about box, it will tell you the version as well as what service pack and the like is installed.

If I may ask, what version of PrintDrive are you on? Series 2 or Series 3?

Is a new server not an option? If not, you may want to politely remind the boss that parts are likely scarce on a server that old.

We did away with PrintDrive a little over a year ago (I still miss it to some degree) and now use Apogee and PlateMaker to assume PrintDrive's duties. You could drive your Galileo directly off your ApogeeX server. That would require some changes to your Apogee system obviously.

Cheers,
Jon Morgan
Hopkins Printing

 

[kyle]

Printdrive stores all of its settings in the registry. I suggest saving the entire Software/Agfa branch under HKey_Local_Machine & HKey_Current_User. The server processes are installed as system services, so also grab the relevant bits under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services. There is also a button in the Printdrive client (click on the meter bar icon in the toolbar) to save settings, but it may not grab everything. You should do it both ways. If you have all this and copy all of the program files for the client and the server, I suspect you can get there from here. (Insert obligatory warning about messing with the registry here.)

I highly recommend attempting to reincarnate your server in the near future to verify that you can, and to establish the experience so that you can be up and running more quickly if it becomes necessary. You don't need a dedicated machine, either, so try it out on any available machine. If successful, just leave it installed, and if your regular server dies, all you have to do is switch the dongle to the new machine, and probably change its host name.

Printdrive is no longer supported by Agfa, but it's still awesome. Resist the dark forces that may encourage you to switch to the latest and greatest replacement. It will encounter a Y2K sort of problem on Feb 5, 2037. I plan to use it until then.

 

[giant1958]

explain please?

explain please?

[ It will encounter a Y2K sort of problem on Feb 5, 2037. I plan to use it until then.[/QUOTE]

what do you mean about that?

 

[kyle]

Printdrive stores time in seconds as a 32-bit unsigned integer with an epoch of 12:00:00 AM, January 1, 1901 UTC. I assume the developers had standard library functions available they wanted to use, since I'm pretty sure Printdrive didn't exist back then, and there's never a need to record past dates. 2^32-1 seconds later is 6:28:15 AM, February 6, 2037 UTC (10:28:15 PM on the 5th in my time zone).

It will still function fine after that date, though. The date will just wrap around to 1901.

 

[2ndShiftProblemSolver]

Depending on the distance from the device, and the type of APIS card, you should be able to directly drive the Galileo from the AX4 box.
With no need to give agfa more cash for a print drive replacement.