Distributing Printers on the Network

As an administrator, you must determine whether each printer would be best used if it is dedicated to one system or available to many systems. In a network environment, it usually works best to distribute your printers on several print servers. The advantage of setting up several print servers is that when one print server has a problem, you can route print requests to other print servers.

If you use a centralized print configuration, you can still connect printers to users' systems for convenience or for improved response. A printer that is connected to a user's system is still available to other systems on the network.

The figure below shows an example of how you can have a centralized print configuration and still connect printers to users' systems.

Figure 3-1 How to Distribute Printers on a Network