How To Succeed In Print Server Deployment

There comes a time when businesses will deploy their first print server. It also may not be the first server but could be just another addition to what they already have in place. But the truth remains that print server deployment must be done the right way. To avoid getting it wrong, there are great deployment strategies to help organizations avoid any hiccups that might surface.

Before going ahead with the plan, you need to analyze and determine what the best topology would be. Are you going to make use of localized server distributions throughout the organization, or will your print server have one centralized network?

Localized Vs. centralized print servers

The thing with localized print servers is that they let you retain a lesser number of clients for every server. And there’s a nice reason for that – an increase in the count of clients that are connected can create some issues with the server performance. So, it’s better to have fewer clients on each one.

However, print management could get complicated due to an increase in available print servers. This is because there needs to be maintenance of software, print queues, as well as user pool, and drivers for all of them. This leads to a rise in costs. Concerning upgrades, there is always reliance on a migration tool to ensure that each server is updated.

In the case of a centralized print server, the print management structure is consolidated in a single location. This means that while print management becomes simplified, it can still generate some complications. One such situation is WAN vulnerability as remote locations are linked to the network print server via WAN connection. If an interruption occurs in the connection, the print activity will come to a halt in the affected location.

Then, we also have the case of a single failure point that comes with centralized print servers. Redundancy measures need to be implemented as a precaution, but this costs a lot and also means that the management team has more work to do.

When you understand the twists and turns that come with these two topologies, it becomes easier to determine the best structure for deploying your print server. You become better equipped to create a foundation that will speed up deployments and upgrades in the future should you decide to scale. Remember that there are limits to the level of scalability of print servers, no matter what the configuration is. So, your preferred architecture will affect the expansion and evolution of your IT environment in the future.

Before deployment, it is important to conduct tests on your initial drivers because print spoolers can crash as a result of rogue drivers. Two things that could help are –

Using updated drivers, and

Activating driver isolation

Conclusion

When it comes to the task of deciding what network print server setup is best for your organization, it is good to start in the best way possible. You’d be at an advantage if you try to avoid as much clutter as possible. Avoid using too many drivers as this will demand too many of your resources and lead to print spooler issues.

The task of deploying your print server needs adequate planning, but you need to put in the time to ensure that you get things right.