Print & Device Operation Failover

Incident response is an essential part of many IT operations.

MyQ offers features that aim to help organizations continue operating even when the print server is not currently available.

High-availability solutions are essential for businesses and organizations that need to ensure minimal disruption and maximize uptime.

Print & Device Operation Failover

Client Spooling With the MyQ Desktop Client

With this feature, entire print jobs are not sent to the print server. MyQ Desktop Client sends only job metadata instead, keeping the job stored on the user’s computer. And when the user chooses to release the document, it is sent to the device from their computer.

Deploy Client Spooling

1. Set up Windows/macOS printers for Client Spooling.

2. Install MDC on the computer.

3. Enable Client Spooling in MDC.

Offline Login

MyQ Terminals remember users who log in on the device, and when the Server is unavailable, these users can keep logging in offline and using the device.

In combination with Device spooling, this offers a robust solution for offline operation.

Currently supported on Kyocera, Ricoh, and Canon Terminals.

Deploy Offline Login

1. Enable Offline Login in MyQ.

2. Wait for Embedded Terminals to reconfigure.

Device Spooling

A printer on the user’s computer can be configured to send print jobs to the device where they wait for release or are printed immediately. If more printers in the local network support this feature, the user will see their job on those printers, ready to be released.

Embedded Terminal reports statistics once it connects to the server again, meaning no accounting data is lost.

Currently supported with Kyocera and Ricoh Terminals.

Deploy Device Spooling

1. Enable Device Spooling in MyQ.

2. Wait for Embedded Terminals to reconfigure.

Fallback Printing with the MyQ Desktop Client

The printer port can be configured to route jobs to the Desktop Client, which then sends them either to the print server or to a fallback printer. When a user needs to print while the MyQ Print Server is unreachable, MDC steps in.

MDC can always be configured to send jobs to a predefined printer or to allow the user to manually select one of their recently used printers or find it by typing in an IP/hostname.

MDC remembers the accounting data and reports to the print server once it is reconnected.

Deploy Fallback Printing

1. Set up Windows/maOS printers for print to MDC.

2. Install MDC on client computers.

3. Configure the Fallback Printing behavior in the client as desired.

Local Print Monitoring with the MyQ Desktop Client

Users may also have a local printer connected to their workstations. If configured, MDC can monitor local ports and report print jobs released on these local printers.

If the print server is offline at the moment, MDC stores information about printed jobs and reports this data to the print server when it is reconnected.

Combine Fallback Printing with Device Spooling

You can combine Fallback Printing to a Device Spooling-capable device, and Offline Login into one robust solution.

With this setup, when the print server is operating normally, the MDC will send jobs there. But once the print server goes offline, the Desktop Client can route jobs to a fallback printer.

The entire print experience is very similar to when the server is online and operable. The user is not impacted as much as if they didn’t have these fallback options configured.

If your devices do not support Offline Login and Device Spooling, you can still make use of Fallback Printing to standard device ports for job reception (RAW, LPR, etc.).

Enable Device Spooling and Offline Login in MyQ

In the MyQ Web Interface’s Settings – Printers & Terminals, you can enable both functionalities. Let the printers reconfigure to apply the new settings. The Embedded Terminals on supported vendors will start listening on the device spooling ports.

Install the Desktop Client with Fallback Printing Set to Device Spooling

On the client computers, install the MyQ Desktop Client and in the Fallback Print section, configure how you want the user to select the fallback printer when the print server is unreachable. You can choose from:

• Select a printer from a list of the recently used printers.

• Prompt the user to type in a specific IP address or hostname of a printer.

• Use a fixed preconfigured printer of your choice.

Also in the Fallback Print section, select the option for “MyQ device spool”. You can choose from the following options:

• 10010 -- Direct print

• 10011 -- Secure hold print

• 10012 -- Pull print

• 10013 -- Delegate print

Configure Printer Ports on Client Computers to Print to the MDC

Create printers on client computers using the desired printer drivers. Assign ports that are configured for the MDC’s Client Spooling.

• hostname will be localhost (127.0.0.1),

• LPR port 515,

• the queue name from MyQ this printer should send jobs to.

Once configured, when the user prints to this printer, the job is controlled by the Desktop Client. If the print server is up and running, the job is processed on the server.

However, if the server is unreachable, the Fallback Printing options will be presented to the user. They can choose the target printer depending on how the client is configured.

Thanks to the MyQ device spooling option, the print file is sent to the selected Device Spooling port once the user selects the desired fallback printer to use. Depending on what port it is, the job can be printed immediately (direct print) or held, waiting for the user to securely release it after they authenticate on the device.