Many businesses have printers or multifunction devices units scattered around their organizations. Many of these products might be connected to the network via a file server or even a personal PC. Increasingly, organizations are rethinking their print environment strategy, and connecting printers, multifunction devices and other products directly to a network. The result is:
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Better printer management
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More robust user services
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Reduced technical support time
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Improved performance and reliability
Shared and networked printers tend to be larger than their small office counterparts to support the workload from multiple users, and they're also more expensive. However, when you calculate the cost of a networked printer while considering the larger user base, you'll find that networking printers saves money. Additionally, when you support fewer printers, you can standardize on a single vendor and a few select models and reduce the variety of inkjet or laser cartridges (consumables) you stock, making inventory management less cumbersome and setting up economies of scale when it comes to ordering.
The essentials of setting up networked printing in the midsize environment are similar to the small office setting. However, midsize companies have the added complexity of needing to manage multiple printers located throughout an office or building. Most companies of this size have one or more administrators who oversee print networking. Administrators require an efficient method of tracking and remotely managing printer location, type (inkjet, laser, plotter), usage, supply inventory, costs and so on. The solution is a single, web-based interface that enables an administrator to perform:
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Remote deployment and configuration: Administrators can push preconfigured drivers to remote devices in a short period of time. Preconfigured drivers enable administrators to control printer access and enable printer features, such as a duplexer.
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Problem resolution and security: By limiting physical and electronic access to certain printers, administrators can increase the security of their printing environment and reduce helpdesk calls.
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Proactive updates and preventative maintenance: Administrators can update drivers and firmware over the network without needing to physically visit the hardware.
Note: A management console should enable administrators to configure alerts that indicate dwindling supply inventories and printer problems. The alerts are received via email, as a text message to a mobile device or on a pager.
The essential ingredient in deploying a print networking solution properly is thorough planning. First, review your various departments' printing needs and determine which groups of employees would benefit from more advanced printing functionality. For example, if your company's shipping department prints at such a high volume that they need service weekly, it might be time to upgrade the printer. Then determine whether you need to perform a new installation or expand or upgrade an existing network printing solution.
Perform a quick assessment and then a more detailed inventory and assessment to plan your deployment correctly, and with the least amount of wasted budget. For example, a computer system connected to a network switch, which also connects other users and a network printer, might be all you need. You can do direct printing without using a server-based operating system, such as Windows Server 2008; however, a client/server-based network operating system offers increased manageability and security.
Note: Select an appropriate printer naming convention early in the planning process. Your naming convention could include the type of printer, the printer's location and the department it services. For example, an HP LaserJet P4015n on the second floor in the marketing department could be named "Mrkt2ndFlr HP LaserJet 4015n." This will help users know which printer to select, and where to find their documents once they're printed.
Determining your equipment needs
When working with printers, you need to understand how many users are on your network, how many users print documents, what type of documents are printed, which printers they use and any special printing needs they have, such as specific paper sizes, types or loads.
Tip: When determining your equipment needs, always figure in future growth to maximize your return on investment (ROI).
The following are printing equipment and software determinations you need to make:
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Number of devices: Consider the total number of devices you need, as well as the physical location of each. Ideally, if you have multiple offices, you should deploy a printer server local to each office. Adding print servers at each location adds fault tolerance if your network connection has issues.
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Connections: Do you require USB connections, Ethernet connections or both? What is your network's speed and ordinary bandwidth?
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Management and maintenance: How will you maintain and manage all of those devices? Once your printers, printer servers and clients are deployed, how do you manage your print jobs? What happens when a printer goes offline or has an issue?
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Disaster prevention and recovery: In large deployments, you must have some type of failover technology, high-availability solution, clustering and/or spare equipment. With virtual machine (VM) technology, it's easy to create multiple redundant print servers.
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IP addressing: Do you use only IPv4 addressing, or have you implemented an IPv6 strategy?
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Security: Does your organization need to comply with regulations and privacy laws? Do you need to enforce a high-level of security, such as IPsec (Internet Protocol Security), restrict user access and enforce user and group privileges?
When purchasing a hardware printer for the network, verify that its network interfaces match your existing switch (if you plan to continue using it). For example, if you use Gigabit Ethernet ports on a switch, use a Gigabit Ethernet network interface card (NIC) in the printer for optimal throughput.
Exploring internal versus external print servers
The first part of this guide briefly described print servers. Let's review the definitions we discussed earlier:
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Internal print server: Fits into a special slot in the printer, or is built into the printer by the manufacturer (called embedded). It doesn't need a second power supply and communicates directly with the printer and the network.
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External print server: Adds network capabilities to an existing printer that can't support an internal print server. This is an excellent way to connect legacy printers to a new, more manageable network framework.
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Wireless print server: Plugs into the network using an Ethernet connection but accepts print jobs over a wireless local area network (WLAN) connection from clients.
Using a print server gives a faster printing experience from the user's perspective, compared to printing to a personal printer or a server-connected printer. The memory the print server uses for collecting print jobs into a print queue can release the computer to return to other tasks even before the printer sees the job.
Tip: Consider the space and power requirements of an external print server. Most require their own power supplies and a footprint of approximately 3.8 by 1.5 by 5 inches.
Sometimes, a network can be a bottleneck for printing throughput. An internal print server increases the input/output (I/O) from the print server to the printer itself because it doesn't have to traverse the network, relieving some of the network congestion.
Tip: When you're researching print solutions, make sure you know your specific printing needs with regard to high-volume printing and match those needs to an appropriate print server. Whereas an external print server provides terrific print services in ordinary settings, high-volume printing environments will benefit from a high-end internal print server.
Wireless networking provides a wide variety of benefits for companies, and the march toward wireless links now includes print servers. Wireless print servers are popular in both the small office environment and midsize corporate setting. Some benefits are:
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Mobile printer stations
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Fast printer setup for a workgroup
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A printing solution that fits into your existing wireless network
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User functionality that is exactly like wired print servers
HP Jetdirect wireless print servers are available in both external and internal forms and support both the 802.11b/g wireless protocols so you can easily integrate your organization's printers with both WLAN and WWAN implementations. Additionally, HP's wireless Jetdirect products offer the latest data security encryption and authentication to prevent unauthorized access over the network.
Configuring print networking
Before beginning any printer installation, ensure you have the correct printer software and hardware drivers; that is, they need to match the model of the printer and be specific to the type and version of operating system you're using.
The main steps to configuring print networking are:
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Prepare the client computers
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Configure the print hardware, such as a multifunction device or a large printer made for high-volume use, and a print server. This step involves installing software and drivers for the print device(s).
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Connect the printer to the network.
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Connect the clients to the printer.
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Users are prompted to authenticate to the print server solution, authorized to print (if appropriate) and then given access to the print queue.
Network printers with embedded web servers enable you to use Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) for automatic IP address assignment, or you can manually assign an IP address. Here are the general steps for manual assignment:
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Open the embedded web server interface in Microsoft Internet Explorer by entering the IP address in the address bar of Internet Explorer.
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In the web server interface, click the Networking tab.
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Under Configuration, click Network Settings.
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Click the TCP/IP tab.
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Under IP Configuring Method, select Manual.
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Assign the IP address.
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Click Apply.
For information about selecting IP addresses, see your senior network administrator.
Exploring usage tips and scenarios
The following are general tips for smooth operation of your print networking solution:
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Ensure that your network server, if you're using one, remains securely out of the reach of the users.
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Attach multiple printers to a print server to establish a common printer area.
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If using management software, set thresholds that alert you when consumables need to be re-ordered and parts replaced.
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Create departmental role-based print user groups, if possible, to restrict print usage as a means of controlling costs. For example, prevent some user groups from printing to color.
Note: HP Jetdirect servers have a discovery service that makes configuring them on your network a simple task.
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