Wireless Networking/Printing help

[Swervin_Mervin]

Need some help here guys. I've been charged with the task of investigating the purchase and installation of a print server.

Mine reasons for getting one are to take some of the load of my machine which runs 3 printers at the mo, as well as allowing us to use software that can track how much is being printed to what job.

However, due to the layout of our office another requirement is that the printers can remain in their scattered locations, without the need to concentrate them in one room, 'cos we're lazy bastards and we's spend 90% of our time walking round the office to pick up prints.

Can they be run off a wireless print server even though our network isn't wireless?

What other methods of doing this are there? Really the main purpose is to keep a record of how much is spent printing, per job that we have. That can then be charged out to the client and more than pay for the printer maintenance and running costs. At the moment we rely upon people remembering to fill in a paper sheet with how many pages they've printed, at what size, and what the job number is. People rarely fill these in though.

My first scouring of the net would indicate that 2 wireless print servers and a wireless access point would allow us to run the 4 most important printers right?

[fab]

you only require one wireless print server,and there is no need for an access point.the print server acts as an access point and will connect directly to your existing LAN via ethernet or Token Ring.

[Swervin_Mervin]

But how do you then connect the printer to the print server? I though you'd plug the acces point in to the router, and then have the servers located at the printers, connected to the printers by USB or Parallel?

You see, 2 of our printers are in one side of the office and 2 in the other and we basically can't be fecked moving round the office.

The advantage, from what I can see with my limited knowledge, of an access point would be that the Associates could get wireless PSMCIA cards and connect to the network wireless-ly, which would free up 3 ethernet connections on our hub (which is currently running at capacity).

[fab]

you say three are atached to your machine at the moment.how are they attached?usb?

some wireless print servers come with usb ports so you can attach the printers directly to it.
in turn you configure the printers using the config software that comes with the server.
then any wireless device can print to the printers.

You may also be able to get printers with wireless cards in them and they in turn can be located anywhere so long as they are in range of the print server.

as for freeing up ethernet points for the Associates,you would need a wireless hub to allow them to access the network,if they chose to use the wireless pcmcia cards


another thing.how are you assigning ip address's on the netowrk.Are they been done by a DHCP server or are you manually entering a range?

[fab]

been thinking..
the easiest solution for you is to buy a pc with XP on it.doesnt have to be new or have massive performance.add it to your network as you would any pc.

install all the printers on it and enable the share option on them..(all printers will have to be plugged into a network point in order to see the new pc)
then every pc can print to any printer they want and you will be able to track prints from a central location.

If you want to expand your network points quickly and cost effectively just buy a 5 or 10 port hub and plug it in to any network point.

hope this helps.
Ideally I would need a network diagram to be able to give you better help.

[Swervin_Mervin]

Don't know about IP mate, I assume the former. None of us are IT bods you see as it's only a small engineering firm.

Basically I run two printers off my machine, another runs off a machine in the other side of the office, and then the main plotter runs off the sever.

Basically our setup is adsl>modem>router>PCs/Server.

I just thought that getting the wireless access point would allow the laptop users to connect wirelessly, and also run the print servers.

Like I say, for £50 we can get a wireless print server that will run 2 printers via USB.

So my idea was to effectively extend the network wirelessly and run the printers off that network. This would also help to move the company over time on to a wireless setup.

[fab]

If the main plotter is on a server(a physical machine as such) then add all the other printers to it and share them around your network.Again you would need network cards installed on all the printers,or use Jet direct box's for them.

If you go the wireless print server route for two of the printers then the wireless laptop users would be able to print to them via the wireless print server itself,and also the non wireless machines would be able to print to them also via their network cables.
On the other hand I am unsure whether the wireless print server will act as a connection point for the wireless laptop users for your network.With wireless cards they would be able to print to the printers however I'm pretty sure that they would still need an access point for file sharing etc,as all your other pc's have.
It depends on the model of wireless print server and its capabilities.

[Swervin_Mervin]

That's what I'm thinking Fab. If we put in a wireless access point as well as the print servers we can get around future connection shortage issues.

If we were to add all the printers to the main server, can we still keep them in their current locations? Only trouble is none of them have network cards.

[fab]

A wireless access point would certainly resolve connection shortages for the network now and in the future.Plug it in and it works.

The printers are another matter.
The problem lies with the fact that the printers you have are not capable of running on their own over the network because they have no network interface.
You could go the route of purchasing whats called Jet direct boxs for them but then these would need a network point for which you are short of anyways.
The wireless print servers if you were to buy one for each printer,would still require a physical network point,because they need some way of communicating with the pc's that do not have wireless cards installed.

Adding all the printers to the main server would certainly allow you to keep them in position and also monitor the print jobs successfully.

See ya later.

[Swervin_Mervin]

But according to the netgear site I was reading the access point would allow wired users to communicate with wireless users, hence the wireless print servers.

[FlamingMonkey]

Yeah most access point/routers have wired and wireless ports. Mine does at home and the ones I have at work do

[Swervin_Mervin]

What do we do about security on the access point though?

[fab]

But according to the netgear site I was reading the access point would allow wired users to communicate with wireless users, hence the wireless print servers.

An access point router will allow users to connect to the printers however the printers will need to remain attached to your machine.They will still need an interface with your network if you want to take the load off your machine.

A wireless print server is only just that.it only allows users to access the printers and not your network.

As for security it can be set on the access point.

[FlamingMonkey]

What do we do about security on the access point though?

hmm I setup wep on my router, and used a pre shared key, all this bumf would come with router/access point, but it is advisable, loads of people dont setup security on wireless stuff, makes me laugh when i get free internet :twisted:

[fab]

loads of people dont setup security on wireless stuff, makes me laugh when i get free internet :twisted:

shh dont tell anyone,but at home I have a wireless signal coming in and its free free free!got a high gain antennae to boost the signal also :twisted: :lol:

[Swervin_Mervin]

LOL!

Right then, looks like I've got my setup sorted hardware-wise thanks guys. Now I just need to find some software that will print log. Our Lexmark Laser jet has it included but I need to find something for the others. Trouble is all the ones I've seen on the net have been super-duper all dancing bits of kits, when all we really need is something that logs teh no. pages, size of prints to a job no.

[FlamingMonkey]

Event viewer in XP will do all that, example from my print server.


Document 121, Microsoft Word - POS Development Communications Log.doc owned by hsenekal was printed on Reception PCL via port IP_192.168.1.67. Size in bytes: 58465; pages printed: 4

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

[Swervin_Mervin]

Right. The Lexmark one pops a window up demanding people enter a job no. That's what I want for all really.

Mind you there's no info with the Lexmark to say where the fook this data is stored so I've had to mail them. :roll:

[fab]

what make are the other printers?

[Swervin_Mervin]

2 HP 1220s and an HP DesignJet Plotter.

[fab]

i take it the HP's dont have the option to enter a job number on them?

[Swervin_Mervin]

No mate.

[fab]

without having to write some VB script take a look at the following app.It may suit your needs.

http://www.softperfect.com/products/pinspector/