Printable View
Hi...I have another stupid question (sorry!). Actually, 2 stupid questions...
1) Does a printer need to be attached to a "print server" in order to be shared on the network correctly? Or, can it just be attached to a workstation, where the other workstations on the network can connect to it?
2) What is the difference (to the user) between publishing the printer in AD and letting the user browse for it, and/or just connecting to the printers via the printer wizard?
Thanks!
dei
I'll take 1) and leave 2) to someone else....
You can connect a printer directly to your W2K server (parallel port or USB) and have other workstations use the printer. But you'll need to define the printer as "shared" (file and printer sharing must be installed (service under network in CP) and the printer shared). The workstations will the have to search for the printer on the network (not local printer) and install their own drivers (not necessarily the same as the server use).
Go on, Kallikru, I'll take 2) ;)
Control is the key word, by publishing to the AD, you can control the attributes of the printer, how it prints out, Quality etc
Driver issues can be overcome, by installing the latest drivers to the server without them being installed locally.
Finally, naming conventions on your network are not compromised
Thank you, Puta and Kalli for the answers! If I have the printers connected to just a workstation on the network (not the server), and clients are connecting to it (it's not a "print server"), is there a problem that I will run into? So far, it's working okay, but I think I've just run into something with maximum connections (can only connect a certain number of computers to it).
If there is a problem with doing this, is there a way to make the workstation a "print server"?
Thanks,
dei
There is a possibility that you may run into some spooling and queuing conflicts
You may have to give some workstations priority over others. I haven't seen a 'maximum' issue before, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. Personally, I would invest the $70 in a print server!
You may want to use TCP/IP as a potential solution as per this article
The w/s version of the OS will only allow a maximum of 10 simultaneous connections. If you need more you have to be running a server OS.
Otherwise the only issues I could envision would be performance lags on the PC with the printer attached. It's CPU has to deal with the overhead of the printing and that could be a problem.
But the same would apply if you connected a printer to a server, shared the printer, and called the server a "print server". One of those usually controls printers that are directly on the network either via an internal NIC or a device like jet admin that acts basically as an external NIC for the printer.
And some of those devices are called "print servers" just to add a bit to the confusion.
Wow...these are great answers. The "only 10 simultaneous connections" explains a lot. What do we do if we have 24 computers in a room with 1 printer, and they all need it as the default printer?
Does anyone know of anything else that I can do? We are a private, non-profit school, and I know we can't spend any more money this year! I wonder if I could write a VB script that the kids execute right before they need to use the printer, that connects them and then releases the connection? If I publish the printer in AD, they still have to search for it every time. {sigh}
dei
You might want to have a look at this Extremetechs Article on P2P Network printing, and at this article on P2P Printing, see if any of this helps.
I would imagine you may come across some of the pitfalls and deficiencies in large work groups, as pointed out .
I don't know if it would work, and maybe Newt, Kallikru or others in this forum could advise, BUT if you were to say have 1 workgroup with 3 sub-workgroups of 8 workstations, you MAY be able to work around this
I know Arizonan schools have been having budgetary problems, especially after the debacle of Proposition 300, but this is running things a bit too tight!! :eek: I would still see if I could get $64 from the budget for this Netgear print server
Thank you for the articles...they were very helpful. When I set up our network, I went through the steps in the first article to set up all of our printers. (Each printer is attached to a workstation on the network (in various places), and each is shared). Although, I honestly don't know what protocol is handling the printing (TCP/IP, NetBios, ????) We have them both installed.
I'm confused, though. Before we added the file server, we had a peer-to-peer workgroup network, and all of the workstations had file and print sharing enabled. When I added all of our computers to the domain, I left file and print sharing enabled on all of them, and each computer has a "shared docs" folder that is being shared for all of the other computers on the network to access (in case the students need to transfer files). Am I causing unecessary network traffic by leaving file sharing enabled on the workstations, now that we have a server? (Should I just set up a shared folder on the network and let them transfer files there?)
Also, when we were a workgroup, I never had a problem with 24 computers being connected to the printer all the time. All the computers ran Win 98, and I think we had NetBeui loaded...could they have been printing through that? We upgraded them all to Win XP/Pro, and now all we have installed is TCP/IP, NetBios and QOS Packet Scheduler, and Microsoft File and Printer Sharing.
Anway, the way I have it now is...I have the printer physically attached to a workstation (the teacher's computer), and the other workstations in the area "connect" to this printer through the Add a Printer wizard. The file server is way on the other end of campus, and there are no printers anywhere near it. With this setup, my two problems are: 1) I'm limited to how many I can have connected, and 2) the users have roaming profiles and need to change printers, depending on what room they're in. Every time they change rooms, they have to re-connect to the printer in that room. (booo!)
What should I doooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo???
This is so darn confusing! I guess my next question is...does a print server take care of the connection limit, and do I need a print server for each room where there's multiple workstations connecting? (I guess that was 2 questions).
Sorry for the rambling...it's almost midnight! :) I'm learning...ever so slowly...
Thanks,
Dei
If you have a Windows server, you can connect the printer to the parallel port and share it from there (this can be done, of course, on any windows systsm).
Using a dedicated print server spares you CPU/ system resources, BUT, most people run their print servers through a server based print queue anyway (particularly for control purposes).