Easy Configuration of Server and Direct print
With the demand for reliable, cost-effective, and easy-to-maintain print environments on the rise, it is more important than ever to properly identify what your organization needs. Regarding print, the question is – do I need to manage print jobs centrally, or is direct print to devices together with the right monitoring tools the way to go?
Server print
A print server acts as a centralized hub that receives print requests and sends them to the appropriate printer. Not only large, but also medium and small organizations can benefit from the level of control and flexibility a print server offers.
In more detail
Print jobs are sent from the source computer to the MyQ Print Server. A job is additionally processed – the job is authenticated (job sender detected), parsed for print properties set in the printer driver, policies are applied, and the job is set as ready for release.
Release conditions depend on the type of print queue the job has been sent to – direct queue, Pull Print queue, tandem queue, or delegated queue.
When to use
You want to manage your environment centrally, all in one place, and have great control over all the devices, users, cost and accounting, and everything else
You have multiple locations/sites servicing a considerable number of users and devices
You need to monitor and potentially apply policies in your print environment
You already know that you need secure hold print or Pull Print in your organization
Your organization has complex needs and requires solutions that would not be feasible without a print server
Direct print
Direct printing to devices, as opposed to a remote print server, can be more efficient, for example, in case of unstable network conditions, where it is desirable that the print job does not travel long distance, but finds its shortest way to the printer.
In more detail
Print jobs sent to the printer omit the print server. In order to monitor such jobs, apply policies, and include them in reporting, some form of monitoring has to be introduced.
With MyQ X, monitoring can be supplied by:
Reporting of statistics by the MyQ Embedded Terminal after a direct print is performed
Counter checker on the Print Server, thanks to which print outside of MyQ can be detected and included in reporting, even without the Embedded Terminal
Monitoring and accounting capability of the MyQ Desktop Client installed on the computer a user is sending a job from
When to use
Your connection might not be reliable enough to send print jobs to a centralized location
You manage a small print environment that consists of a small number of printing devices, and installing a local print server in each would be excessive
Server print
If you deploy a print server in your organization, you will unlock a broad collection of features the MyQ Print Server offers. We described all these features on the upcoming pages of this Overview guide and in the rest of our Online Docs.
101: Printing to MyQ
Set up the Queues in MyQ, configure required settings, assign printers and users
Play with the rest of MyQ settings to achieve exactly the print environment you want
Install printers on your client computers with ports directed at the MyQ Print Server
Users print to the server where jobs are processed and accounted, allowing for full control over the print environment. Conditions of how and when the job is released depend on the queue type the job was sent to.
Print to MyQ direct queues
Direct release of a job is still possible with the use of MyQ’s direct queues with a single device assigned. Job travels to the Print Server, but it is forwarded to the device immediately, and printed. MyQ takes care of authentication and accounting of the print job.
Secure Hold print and Pull Print
A great benefit of the combination of MyQ X print management + MyQ Embedded Terminals is Hold and Pull Print. What are they?
Hold print – the job is not released immediately; it is stored instead, and printed only after the owner of the job authenticates on the device, preventing unattended documents be left around the office
Pull Print – the job can be released not only on one particular device it was sent to, but on any capable device in your print system
While they may be supported for direct print by individual devices as well, with MyQ X, you can enable them across all your devices in a quick and homogenous way.
Find all the benefits of Pull Print queues allowing for hold and pull capabilities..
Read more about printing to MyQ
Continue to our reference guide on Printing to MyQ and learn about direct print and Pull Print, delegated print, mobile printing options, and more.
Deploy printers with ease – read how to Deploy Print Queues & Drivers
Direct print bypassing MyQ
Direct print can still be a viable option for smaller organizations, or it can be used in your environment to fulfill specific needs. Direct print can still be monitored to some degree.
Activated printers in MyQ are regularly read for their page counters. Jobs printed on these machines out of a user session (without prior authentication) are detected and reflected in reporting, accounted under an *unauthenticated user.
If you primarily manage your environment from a print server, you might want to prevent direct print to devices as it would not be monitored by MyQ. You can do so by setting up IP filters on devices where you need to restrict direct print.
Direct print with Client Spooling
You can use MyQ Desktop Client (MDC) and its monitoring and accounting capabilities to omit sending jobs to a print server and still get the key benefits as if you were doing that. With the Client Spooling setup, MDC collects metadata about the job that is being sent to a device and reports it to the MyQ Print Server.
Client Spooling, besides other benefits such as decreased network traffic, allows proper authentication of jobs sent to printing devices directly from the user’s computer.
101: Print with Client Spooling
Set up the Queues in MyQ, configure required settings, assign printers and users
Deploy MyQ Desktop Client on computers with the Client Spooling feature enabled, and connect the client to the MyQ Print Server
Configure printers on client computers according to Client Spooling – ports will be set to localhost and the queue previously configured in MyQ
Users can now print using the configured printer that sends jobs locally to MyQ Desktop Client which will do the rest – send the job metadata to the print server and the job itself to the printing machine.
Secure Hold and Pull Print
Thanks to Client Spooling, you get all the benefits of Pull Print while still maintaining direct print to devices. How?
When a user prints from their computer, MyQ Desktop Client stores and processes the job, so that it does not need to be transmitted to a print server
MyQ Desktop Client sends only the job metadata to the Pull Print queue on the print server
The user can authenticate on the device’s MyQ Embedded Terminal, and the client-spooled job will be there, in their My jobs, available for release
When the user clicks Print, the print server notifies MyQ Desktop Client that it is time to send the job and to which printer
Find all the benefits of Pull Print queues allowing for hold and pull capabilities.
More about Client Spooling
More on Client Spooling in our Print Server documentation
Also check out the MyQ Desktop Client overview covering its features and benefits for you and your users