As soon as the first local network appeared (and printers appeared even earlier), a very common idea arose - you can organize access for several or all of the computers included in the "LAN" to a common printing device. But it’s obvious that this requires something between the network and the printer. This "something" is the print server. Of course, you can immediately purchase a printer with the ability to directly connect to a local network, but for this option you will have to pay at least the equivalent of $ 50.
Like many network concepts, such as a firewall or gateway, a print server can be software or hardware.
A software print server is implemented on the basis of a conventional computer, to which one or more printers are connected locally. Using the operating system, all other computers and their users, if they have the appropriate access rights, are given the opportunity to remotely work with these printers. This principle of implementing a print server is most often used at home or in small offices.
The hardware print server externally is a small box (usually the size of a large ashtray) with several input / output ports. The minimum required set of ports is one standard RJ-45 network port and one USB connector (a device with an LPT port, due to its obsolescence, is already extremely difficult to find). Manufacturers equip more expensive models with several USB connectors, so the server can serve several printers at once. Recently, many manufacturers are beginning to promote such a type of device as a wireless print server. The Wi-Fi adapter of this device is designed to replace a wired network connection and eliminate the need to stretch an extra network cable to the print server . How much such a decision is justified in a stationary office in the immediate vicinity of a no less than a stationary printer is up to the administrator to decide.
In addition, print servers are increasingly being built into low-cost Internet routers designed primarily for home use (the SOHO market segment is small office, home office). Everything said above and below about hardware print servers is also true for these devices.
Now it's time to consider all the pros and cons of each method of implementing network access to a local printer.
The main advantage of a software print server is the lack of the need to purchase some new, highly specialized equipment, the cost of which can range from 40 to several hundred dollars. There is a computer, there is a printer, there is a cable connecting the printer and the computer, and there is a system administrator who knows how to make this work - that's all! Any modern operating system allows you to provide network access to any printer connected to the computer. But such a print server has one major minus: with large volumes of printing (for example, in bookkeeping the day before the deadline for submitting the annual report), the computer that serves as the hardware base for the software print server will spend a lot of system resources on ensuring the operation of the printing device . If this computer is very outdated, which is not uncommon in the same bookkeeping, the "slowdown" of even ordinary routine tasks will be very noticeable. In addition, if we are not talking about a conventional printer, but about an MFP (multifunction device), its additional features in the form of a scanner, copier or fax can be used only on the computer to which it is connected locally.
The main advantage of a hardware print server is the absence of the need to allocate additional computing resources to serve the print queue. Actually, this is the goal of creating all specialized devices - to transfer the execution of the same type of tasks to specially "sharpened" equipment for them. Also, some advanced models of print servers allow you to use, say, the functions of a fax or scanner when connecting an MFP to them.
But, unfortunately, not every printer can work through a hardware print server. At risk are primarily obsolete models, as well as low-cost devices, most of which are in small offices. Print server manufacturers publish a list of supported printers on their sites and in the specifications of their devices. But, if you have already bought / borrowed / stole a hardware print server, and only then you got acquainted with such a list and did not find your printer in it, do not despair. This means that the manufacturer of the print server simply does not guarantee the trouble-free operation of the bundle of these two devices.