Choosing the Right Mobility Print Deployment Method

PaperCut Mobility Print provides multiple ways to get printers onto user devices. While mDNS is the default for a quick setup, it is often the wrong choice for schools and businesses with multi-subnet or routed environments. This guide helps you identify the most robust configuration for your specific environment.

Discovery Methods Compared

Review our Recommendations

Before diving into the questions, review the primary configuration choices and their considerations:

The “Best Practice” (Known Host)

For the vast majority of education and business customers, Known Host is the most robust choice. It eliminates the dependency on network “multicast” traffic (which many enterprise WiFi systems limit) and removes the need to manage complex internal DNS records. [Configure Known Host]

• Considerations: Requires Google Management for Chromebooks and needs an iOS/macOS profile (a configuration file containing print server information) to be installed on users’ devices.

The “Enterprise” Choice (DNS-SD)

DNS-SD is ideal for large organizations that need a seamless “native” experience on Apple and other devices across hundreds of subnets, provided they have the DNS expertise to configure and maintain the records.

• Considerations: Requires internal DNS configuration. Cannot be used with public DNS servers.

The “Small Office” Choice (mDNS)

mDNS is fantastic for its simplicity. If your server and all your users are in the same network “bucket” (subnet), mDNS is highly reliable and requires no effort to maintain.

• Considerations: Not designed to cross subnets or VLANs.

Decision Guide: 5 Questions to Ask Yourself

To determine the right setup, answer these questions in order.

1. Are your users and the server on a single “flat” network?

• Yes: mDNS is an excellent, zero-configuration choice. It is highly reliable in these network environments.
• No (Multiple VLANs/Subnets): mDNS is not recommended as it is not designed to cross subnets.
• NOTE: Proceed to evaluate Chromebook management as the next step.
• Note: mDNS can be extended across subnets if your network hardware supports mDNS reflectors or Bonjour forwarding, but this adds complexity and PaperCut does not recommend this approach for multi-subnet environments. [deployment examples]

2. Do you have Managed Chromebooks (Google Workspace)?

• Yes (Managed Chromebooks): Known Host is the strongly recommended method. Use the Google Admin Console to push the Mobility Print extension and a JSON policy containing your Mobility Print server’s IP address or hostname. This is the most stable configuration for 1:1 Chromebook programs. [Managed Chromebook Deployment]
• No (BYOD Chromebooks): For BYOD users, the supported discovery methods are mDNS (if all users are on the same subnet), DNS-SD (for complex, multi-subnet environments), or Cloud Print (for off-network printing). Known Host is not supported for BYOD Chromebooks. A customer is looking for the solution first, but as an explanation: this is because the Known Host method relies on pushing a JSON policy via the Google Admin Console, which is only possible for managed devices (this is a ChromeOS/Google Workspace limitation, not a PaperCut-specific one).[Cloud Print Overview]

3. Do you have a dedicated DNS Administrator?

• Yes: DNS-SD is a robust choice if you require “Zero-Touch” discovery for iOS devices. It requires configuration of internal DNS records. Depending on your network architecture, you can create a delegated NS subzone (pc-printer-discovery) or through the use of DNS Conditional Forwarders. Both methods involve creating specific records, including A, NS and PTR (b and lb) records. [Mobility Print DNS record examples] Note: DNS-SD cannot be used with public DNS servers.
• No (or I want the easiest setup): Use Known Host. It provides the same multi-subnet capability as DNS-SD but with zero DNS configuration required.
• Note: Known Host supports connecting to only one Mobility Print server at a time (except for managed Chromebooks, which support multiple servers). [Printer discovery]

4. Is “Zero-Touch” for BYOD iOS devices a strict requirement?

• Yes: (Users must see printers in the AirPrint menu without a profile). You must use DNS-SD. For discovery to work, your client devices (including BYOD) must be pointed to your internal DNS server. DNS-SD cannot be used with public DNS servers.
• No: Use Known Host (Users can click a one-time setup link to install a profile). It is significantly easier to troubleshoot and avoids common issues where printers fail to display correctly—a frequent challenge when relying on mDNS in multi-subnet environments.
• Note: A “profile” is a small configuration file installed on an Apple device that securely tells it exactly where to find the Mobility Print server and printers. BYOD iOS/macOS users will need to download and install a Mobility Print profile via a one-time setup link provided by the administrator. Managed iOS devices can have the profile pushed silently via an MDM tool.

5. Are you currently seeing “Printers Not Found” errors?

• Yes: You have likely outgrown mDNS or have an incorrectly configured DNS. Migrate to Known Host. Known Host tells the client exactly where the server is (via IP Address or Hostname), it bypasses common network “broadcast” blocks. For mDNS-specific troubleshooting, see the [mDNS troubleshooting guide].

Understand Print Deploy and Licensing

Mobility Print can be used as a standalone (free) print delivery solution, or paired with PaperCut NG/MF to allow administrators control and management of printing in their environment. Mobility Print is perfect for the BYOD and unmanaged device scenarios described above.[Print Deploy Licensing]

• Print Deploy: Print Deploy includes one management zone in a PaperCut NG/MF license and allows for multiple print management zones and VDI support at an additional cost. It is the professional choice for managed fleets where you want to skip “discovery” entirely and simply push the right printers (and manufacturer drivers) to the right users.

• Better Together: These solutions are not mutually exclusive. Many organizations use a mix of the above solutions to provide a seamless experience for staff, students, and guest BYOD devices. [See: What to use when]