Network print server

Network print server

There are technical definitions of the word network print server. There can be different uses of network print server and accordingly also they can be defined.

The server can be a computer or the dedicated device. This makes it confusing for many people. The computer working as a network printer server will have different technology as compared to a dedicated device used as a network server.

Let us consider different examples in network printer servers. In first example we have many client PCs. This means the network is formed by different PCs. You can have one printer or many printers. The host PC is acting as a server. This host computer is having a windows operating system. The client computers are connected to the system using Microsoft network printing protocol. This host computer will be called as network print server.

Let us consider that all the above system is in place, but there is one important difference. The host computer is not having windows operating system. Please note that Microsoft network printing protocol is still in use as above. In this case the host computer will have either a Linux or UNIX operating system. There will be SAMBA software on the host computer. In this example also the host computer will be called as network print server.

In this next example we have a computer having LPD service. And this computer is serving LPD clients. The LPD clients will place their print orders with this host computer. The host computer having LPD services will be called as network print server. This LPD is a short form of linear printing daemon protocol. If you have a UNIX like operating system then this protocol is supporting the network printing.

There can be dedicated device which is connected to one or more printers on one hand and to a LAN on the other hand. This device will be called as network print sever. This dedicated device will have a socket for the LAN connection. The connections to the printers are provided by the physical ports. The client computers send a printing protocol to this dedicated device. The printers accept certain printing protocol. The job of this dedicated device is to convert client printing protocol into printer printing protocol. The printers can accept only their printing protocol. There can be many types of printing protocols and the dedicated device or the dedicated network print server can support many of these printing protocols. These dedicated network print servers can have very simple in their features. There are other devices called as wireless routers or a firewall. These devices can be integrated with this type of dedicated network print server.