Printing to shared network printers from Workstations

[magicka]

I have a new site/office opening but which will be part of an existing domain. I want to reduce the amount of network traffic going accross the 10 mb link. One idea is to install the printer drivers for two HP 4100DTN printers on each Workstation (15) locally and therefore sidestepping the requirement for involvement by the File and Print server which is on the other side of the private circuit.

Is this possible?

Many thanks

Chris G

 

[djhawthorn]

AFAIK, when you install a network printer on a workstation, it copies down the print drivers off the server and installs them locally. It needs those print drivers in order to be able to format the documents correctly, before sending the print data across the network to the print server, and from there onto the printer.

Unless you setup every client to print directly to the printer (not recommended - makes print job management a nightmare), you can't side-step the print server. MCSE NT4/W2K

 

[magicka]

What about setting up a print server on the right side of the private circuit - something like a high end workstation? Does it have to be a BDC or can it be a member server?

Chris

 

[wolluf]

Surely there's not a problem here - once drivers are installed locally (ie, copied down) on each machine - it only happens once.

 

[djhawthorn]

You can set up a print server on NT Server or Workstation, regardless of its role in the network.

It doesn't really need to be "high-end" either. It's just handling a print queue... nothing fancy. MCSE NT4/W2K