Do I need a dedicated print server? Can I have workstations printing directly to the physical printers?

PaperCut monitors printing by "watching" the jobs pass via a print queue. It needs to intercept the print jobs between the workstation and the printer so that it can analyze the job and control the job for various reasons (e.g. delete it if the user doesn't have quota available, or hold it if using a release station). If workstations print directly to printers, then interception is not possible (unless the workstation is set up to host the special monitoring software).

The best solution in a medium to large network is to host your printers and the PaperCut application on a "print server". In same cases a print server may be a dedicated server, however on most networks and existing file server or domain server will fill this task. Hosting printers on a centralized server also has a number of administrative advantages over direct printer connection. e.g.

• Automatic driver deployment from the server
• Consolidated queue management, which allows you to
  • use windows security to secure the printer (e.g. a staff only printer)
  • view/manage all print jobs in a queue

Can I monitor a locally attached USB printer?

Yes. PaperCut NG and PaperCut ChargeBack and monitor locally attached printers. This works by installing a small monitoring component onto the workstation. This component intercepts the jobs and reports the printing back to the central PaperCut server (the primary server) using XML Web Services calls. More information on this architecture and setup is covered in the PaperCut NG manual. You can read the online version here.

keywords: print server, printer setup, configuration, installation

Categories: Implementation, Deployment