Print Server
A Print Server is responsible for making all the printers available and ready to be used. If you have ever worked in an office or used printing services within an educational facility you may have noticed these servers in action.
What is a Print Server?
A Print Server is a device connected to a network via a router or network switch dedicated to managing print jobs and printers. The server is used in conjunction with a print queue, which manages the order of each job, to print out jobs for the users on the network.
When the server is added to the network it must be configured to connect to all the printers within the network so that it has access to them and display them to other users. Once this is done, each workstation must connect their computer to the server and it is here where they can view all the available printers.
The advantages of using a Print Server include:
- Users have multiple printers to chose from
- If one printer is unavailable users are able to use other printers. This saves downtime within a business.
- An administrator is able to monitor that status of each printer within the network
- An administrator can add and delete printers which is a convenience for users.
A Print Server is not only limited to large scale networks such as offices, but can be applied successfully and used efficiently within a home network.
The use of a Print Server can really make a network efficient with the potential of increasing productivity as well being a great way to manage printers.
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