Print Server FAQ

A Lot of people write in with their print server questions and queries and in this section we answer the more common ones. If you've got a print server question for the review team let us know via the mail form on every page.

Whats a Dedicated Print Server?

If you are impatient and don't want the hassle of setting up your own software print server or you want dedicated stable Hardware that you can rely on then a dedicated print server is the only way to go.

A dedicated hardware print server won't slow your PC down, you won't have to restart the spooler service once a week, and network print jobs won't cause bottlenecks on your network. Your PC will be faster and network printing more efficient and reliable with a dedicated print server in charge.

Dedicated Print Servers like the NetGear PS101
Take printing off your computers hands.

What is a Software Print Server?

If you are running Windows have an existing home or office network and a local printer attached to your local parallel, serial or USB port then you should be able to share your printer to the rest of the network. You may need administrator permissions and some networking knowledge to do so but you should be able to do this. Check out the windows XP TCPIP software print server guides in the resources section for more information on how to do this.

If you have a small home printer network and don't have any demanding printing requirements then a software print server might be just right for you. They don't cost anything other than some of your PC's resources but are unreliable when compared to dedicated hardware print servers. If you want network printing and are prepared to wait and reboot your print server computer once in a while then a software print server might be for you.

If you are printing large documents or photos or don't want the hassle of configuring a software print server then a dedicated print server may be the best buy

Do I Have to buy a separate Print Server?

No! we don't sell print servers we only review them. Read about software printers in the paragraph above. You can easily configure a networked windows XP computer to behave as a print server.

Do I Give my Print Server a DHCP assigned or Static IP Address?

This is more of an general TCP/IP networking question. If you are on a small home or office network that is reliable and your DHCP server is reliable then you can stick with DHCP assignment without too much trouble. If your network is larger you may want to assign your print server a static or fixed IP address. On very large printing networks naming rule conventions can be used to add clarity and instant identification of the device.

Ip assignment is something you should think about BEFORE leaping in. There are advantages to both DHCP and STATIC Ip Assignment and print servers are no different to any other IP device.

Do I have to be concerned about Print Server Security?

It depends on the size of your network and the sensitivity of your data. By default a lot of print servers are wide open to all sorts of mischief but unless your data is highly confidential then mischief is all you can make on a print server. They are useful devices for an intruder to have access to on a network. Print Servers aren't usually viewed as a threat by network administrators and can be an excellent source of information about a network for Intruders.

If you printer network is small and you only have one or two print servers then your time might be better spent with firewalls and virus protection. Larger networks with many print servers should definitely review their print server configurations and adopt a secure standard.

What Does Bi-Directional Mean?

In older printers information is only able to travel in one direction, from your computer or print server to the printer. A Bi-Directional Printer is able to send information back to the print server or computer that submitted the print job. On large printer networks Bi Directional Printers allow administrators to check the printers status, page counts, error messages etc from a central location, reducing network printing costs.

If your print server doesn't include Bi-Directional support then you'll have problems running most printer monitoring software from HP, Epson, Linksys, Canon, Xerox and others. Printers are a lot more complicated than they were 10 years ago and need to report as much information as they can back to the user as they can. You need to know when your printer's out of paper or the Toner needs Replacing.

What is Data Transfer Rate?

This is a confusing term. Is usually means the speed the network port runs at which is expressed in Mbps or Megabits per second. One Megabit = One Million Bits of information. Many Bits make a Byte, and many firewall's bytes make the 20 Gigabytes that the average laptop hard drive stores.

Back to the Speed. We're assuming that data transfer rate is talking about a print servers network ports. Mbps is the measure of the transfer of data per second or how fast your network is. The Current standard for home and office ethernet networks is 10Mbps or 100Mbps. Often both are combined on the same physical printing network.

Data Transfer Rate could also be referring to the speed of the printer port on the print server - The speed at which data is transferred from the print server to the printer. Print Servers include serial, parallel and usb ports. Within these printer connection types are various substandards like Parallel Ports RECAP and PP. USB Print Servers come in two types, USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 Print Servers.

Do I have to Upgrade my Firmware?

No. If you're perfectly happy with your print server then you can leave your firmware alone and you probably won't notice a thing. Many people adopt an 'If it aint broke I won't fix it' approach to print server firmware and will only ever apply firmware updates to fix problems or issues.

If you don't keep your firmware up to date you will miss out on upgrades, security fixes and print server performance enhancements but on a small home network you may not notice any benefits from a firmware upgrade. Print Server Firmware Upgrades are more reliable then other hardware upgrades and print servers are relatively easy to identify.

Can you give me the documentation or the password for a Print Server?

Not at the moment. We're setting up a print server buyers technology forum for both wired and wireless print servers. Post your questions there and somebody will help you out.