Before connecting a printer to a local area network, to prevent problems from occurring down the line, businesses should make sure that their networking, hardware and software setups will allow the workstations in the office to connect to the device. A major aspect of this is configuring the printer's Internet Protocol, or IP, address; the printer uses a private address provided by the router. Computers need this address to communicate with the printer.
The IP address is unique to the printer. It acts as an identifier and tells a computer how to find the printer on the network. When a client sends a print request to a printer, it sends packets, or units of data. These packets contain the information the printer needs to print the document. To ensure the packet arrives at the correct host, the computer also attaches addressing information: the IP address of the destination (the printer) and the IP address of the source (the computer). This tells the packet where to go and which route to take to reach its destination.
Routers assign either a dynamic address or a static address to a printer connected to the network. Networks with dynamic host configuration protocol enabled assign an IP address to a device once it establishes a connection with the local area network; typically, this designation is taken from a pool of 253 available addresses. If the printer disconnects from the network, it loses its IP address and is given a new one when it reconnects to the router. For the best results, a business should set up a static IP address to use with a printer; this address remains with the printer regardless of its connection status.
Print servers can manage one or more printers on a network. The printers connect to the server via a peripheral port, such as line print terminal, and the server connects to the router via wireless or, in most cases, Ethernet. The router or an administrator assigns a single IP address to the print server, and this same address is shared among all of the printers attached to the device. When installing a printer from a print server, you can designate which printer to add using a port or queue name (such as, "LPT1" or "LPT2," depending on the port to which the printer connects).
Businesses can assign an address to a network printer or print server either from the device's control panel or its accompanying software; the process to assign the static IP varies depending on the make and model of the product. Before setting up a static IP address, however, limit the number of addresses available to the protocol that configures the network, -- the DHCP, or Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. For example, on a network 192.168.1.1, set 192.168.1.3 as the starting address and 192.168.1.254 as the end address. Then, assign 192.168.1.2 to the network printer. You can configure DHCP from your router's Web-based utility.
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