WHITE PAPE R

Eliminating
Print Servers
An Architectural and Use Case Overview
Table of Contents

Introduction...................................................................................... 3

Eliminating Print Servers................................................................. 3

Background of Traditional Print Management................................ 4

The Drawbacks of Print Servers..................................................... 5

The PrinterLogic Architecture......................................................... 9

PrinterLogic Features.................................................................... 12

Quick Review: The Benefits of Eliminating Print Servers..............17

Conclusion......................................................................................17

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Introduction
PrinterLogic completely eliminates your print servers, delivers centralized print
management, and empowers end users to install their own printers with a single click. In
addition, the platform solves the most prominent pain points in print management by:

• Eliminating print job-related WAN traffic

• Removing script- and GPO-based printer deployments

• Streamlining printer driver management

• Reducing infrastructure to drive Zero Trust adoption

• Integrating with popular IdPs to authenticate end users

• Delivering powerful reporting and auditing features

• Simplifying printing in virtual environments (Citrix, VMware, IGEL, and more)

• Enabling users to print securely with mobile devices

Eliminating Print Servers

PrinterLogic’s centralized, cloud-native platform eliminates the
need for print servers, simplifying print management, reducing
infrastructure, and lowering costs. This white paper discusses the
background of traditional print management, server drawbacks,
PrinterLogic implementation, PrinterLogic features, and the
benefits of using PrinterLogic to streamline print management and
enhance the end user experience.

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Background of Traditional
Print Management
In a typical print environment, admins implement and provision print servers to service the
printers on the network. IT organizations traditionally use three types of print management
models: centralized, distributed, and direct IP.

In a centralized model, a print server sits in the data center and services every network
printer in the enterprise. The name, printer driver, and configuration of each printer are used
by the print server to distribute printers to end users. To deploy printers to end users, admins
create Group Policy Objects (GPOs) to define who gets the printer and how it is configured.

1 2 3
Centralized Print Servers Distributed Print Servers Unmanaged Direct IP

Helpdesk

Private Private Private

WAN WAN WAN

Branch Branch Branch Branch Branch Branch

Figure 1: Centralized and distributed print servers as well as unmanaged direct IP are the three basic models
used to manage printing for multiple sites.

An end user initiates a print job from a workstation. This sends it to the print server, where
it is spooled, rendered, and sent to the network printer. If the end user is in a branch office,
print jobs will travel both to and from the datacenter, creating additional WAN traffic. In
addition, when the server goes down, the entire organization can no longer print.

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To alleviate WAN traffic, some IT departments implement a distributed model in which print
servers are placed at each location. Distributed print environments still suffer from the single
points of failure that are constituent of the print server architecture, but these now tend to
be more isolated to individual branch disruptions. Likewise, distributed environments also
require complex scripting and GPOs to manage and deploy printers to end user devices.

One way to overcome the disadvantages of print server architecture is through a direct
IP model. This model eliminates the need for print servers because it creates a direct
connection between the workstations and the printers. However, this model lacks many of
the deployment and management features of a print server.

In the direct IP model, an IT staff member configures each workstation to print to the
network printer by manually associating the two devices. To manage printers, IT maintains a
spreadsheet that contains printer names, IP addresses, physical locations, and printer driver
file locations. Although this model eliminates the single points of failure, WAN traffic, and
GPOs, it introduces a myraid of management challenges. Inevitably this model will generate
additional calls to the helpdesk every time an end user wants to install a new printer.

The Drawbacks of Print Servers

Historically, print servers were designed to provide self-service printing, GPO-based
deployments, centralized print management, a printer driver repository, print security, and
queue management. Each of these features was designed to address the problems IT
departments faced when managing and deploying printers to end users.

Print servers were initially a good idea. However, modern IT environments have found that
they require additional management, create risk through a single point of failure, complicate
printer deployments, consume IT resources, increase helpdesk tickets, and drive up costs.
These problems are outlined in detail below.

Costs
Each print server at every site requires hardware procurement and licensing, cooling,
power, physical security, management, maintenance, upgrades, virus scans, and so on.
The average cost per print server is between $2,000 to $5,000 USD per year. Secondary
costs come in the form of print-related helpdesk tickets which account for up to 50% of an
IT team’s workload.

Risk From a Single Point of Failure

If a print server crashes, no one can print. This results in lower productivity by end users,
directly impacting costs in an organization. Clustered print servers do not crash as often,
but the trade-off for the high availability of clustered print servers is higher costs for
hardware, licensing, management, power, and maintenance. Distributed environments
offer multiple points of failure, however, employing more servers compromises resources
and requires admins to relinquish centralized management and control.

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Scripting and GPO Management Overhead
Managing scripts and GPOs to deploy printers to users can consume significant IT staff
time and resources. Often even the simplest of tasks, such as changing a printer’s name
or replacing a printer with a new model and printer driver requires a script. Scripts can get
complicated and are often difficult to create and troubleshoot. GPOs require elevated
permissions to manage, slow user logon times, and cause deployment and printing
problems due to their hierarchical nature.

Security Concerns
Windows Print Spooler vulnerabilities like PrintNightmare created security concerns for
organizations. Attackers who successfully exploited this vulnerability could run arbitrary
code with SYSTEM privileges and gain access to a company’s network. This gave attackers
access to critical information stored in the print queue, created constant issues for admins,
and required workarounds that may have left their networks vulnerable.

Along with server-related vulnerabilities, printers in general have become a priority target
for hackers as their printer caches store valuable personal information. If left unprotected,
print data is at risk of being intercepted by cyber criminals. Other significant threats to print
data include internal document theft caused by leaving documents unsecure in the print
tray and hybrid workers printing to unsecure off-network printers in their home offices.

Low Visibility Into Print Activity

In distributed print environments with multiple sites, printer support becomes a constant
drain on IT resources. It is difficult to track costs, audit print jobs, and identify printer issues
in real time that impact an organization’s bottom line. Without centralized control, IT is
unable to gather vital data on the micro (e.g., individual print jobs, toner levels) and macro
(e.g., departmental trends, consolidation guidance) levels to make informed decisions
about consumables, company wide printing behavior, and cost-saving initiatives.

Excessive Helpdesk Tickets

Unless IT has the necessary protection in place, spooler crashes in print environments are
inevitable. Depending on which management model is in place, server crashes can impact
a single location or a whole organization, which means IT must put aside their current
strategic initiatives and scramble to address printer-related tickets to resolve issues.

Configuring and managing policies introduces more challenges to IT teams. Policies can
be difficult to manage and, when set up incorrectly, users don’t get access to the printers
they need and end up calling the helpdesk. In addition, mobile employees moving between
departments and office locations require access to nearby printers to maintain productivity. In
many cases, users aren’t able to install printers and resort to soliciting dedicated IT support.

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Management Headaches
Print servers require operating system upgrades, patches, security, virus scanning, and so
on. All of which take time and money to carry out. Print server management requirements
can be painful in many different ways:

• Difficult driver updates: If you have 40 sites, you have 40 print servers. Each
time a manufacturer releases a new printer driver that solves some problem you
are experiencing, you must update the driver on all 40 print servers. Rolling back
problematic driver updates can be even more time-consuming.

• Complicated caveats: Another troublesome situation is when you need to support a

32-bit workstation with a 64-bit print server, but the manufacturer does not provide a
model-specific, 64-bit driver. In this case, the only solution is to use a 32-bit universal
driver with the exact same name as the 64-bit universal driver, and then force all 32-bit
workstation users to change to the newly named driver. If left unresolved, the printer may
not be recognized, print jobs may fail to complete, or the workstation may crash.

• Driver conflicts: Printer drivers do not always coexist gracefully. Just to keep
drivers from conflicting, IT sometimes creates individual print servers for each printer
manufacturer, such as a model-specific driver print server, a universal driver print server,
another model-specific print server, a driver test print server, and so on. Otherwise,
printer drivers can conflict and crash the print server.

Traditional print server architecture suffers from all these pain points, costs, and complications.
Conventional direct IP printing introduces other problems, including a lack of oversight and
constant helpdesk calls to install printers. An ideal scenario would be to combine the simplicity
of direct IP printing with the management features of a centralized print server.

PrinterLogic provides the best of both worlds on a secure, cloud-native platform.

PrinterLogic’s next-generation print management software migrates your entire print
environment to centrally managed direct IP printing, empowering you to manage all users
and devices from a single console and eliminating the need for print servers.

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The Solution: Eliminate Your Print
Servers With PrinterLogic
PrinterLogic is designed to support organizations of all sizes in a streamlined, efficient
way. There are three quick steps to installing PrinterLogic’s application and eliminating
your print servers.

1. Install the Application

IT staff use the PrinterLogic installation package to automatically install the IIS role,
PrinterLogic web application, and database on a virtual or physical Windows Server
2008 R2 (or newer) at your organization’s data center or HQ.

2. Import Printers
IT staff use a web browser to access the PrinterLogic Admin Console and import
printer objects and associated drivers from existing print servers via Active Directory.
During the import process, all of the existing printer drivers, port settings, device
settings, and preferences are copied from the print servers into the PrinterLogic
application without changes. From then on, IT staff can use the PrinterLogic Admin
Console to create and manage printer objects.

3. Install the Client

IT staff use a small MSI, PKG, or DEB file to deploy the PrinterLogic Client silently to
all workstations. Once installed, the Client silently converts all existing printers that
were connected to print servers into centrally managed direct IP printers that print
to a physical printer. All print jobs are queued on users’ individual workstations and
sent directly to a selected network printer. Customized printer settings that were
configured on the printer, such as the default printer setting or duplex and paper tray
configurations, remain intact through the conversion.

After this step is complete, you can eliminate your print server(s) and users continue
printing without any problems as shown in Figure 2. From then on, you can use the
PrinterLogic Admin Console to centrally manage printers without any print servers,
group policies, or scripts.

Data Center

Figure 2: PrinterLogic enables

centralized, direct IP print
management and keeps all print jobs Branch Branch
on the local network by sending every
Private
print job directly to the printer. Self Service
WAN
Self Service
Portal Portal

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 The PrinterLogic Architecture
The PrinterLogic software consists of three main components:

1 2 3
The The The
PrinterLogic PrinterLogic PrinterLogic
Admin Self-Service Client
Console Installation
Portal

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The PrinterLogic Admin Console
This web-based console enables IT to manage all printers in their entire organization from a
single user interface. On the left, the Admin screen presents a tree view of your organization
that you can organize by country, state or region, building, and floor number and select any
particular printer in your fleet (see Figure 3).

On the right, you can enter or edit any

attributes for that specific printer.

For example, under the General tab,

you can enter or edit the printer name,
location, add a comment, view the
direct URL to the driver install, check to
indicate a color printer, or check to hide
that printer from the PrinterLogic Portal
so that no end users can see it. You can
use the Port, Drivers/Profiles, Deploy,
and Security tabs to configure and
Figure 3: Admins can view all their networked printers and
manage many other printer settings.
manage printer settings in the PrinterLogic Admin Console.
You can also perform many additional
print management functions as explained in this document. This screen can also be used to
add, edit, and delete printers.

Add printers: With PrinterLogic, creating a printer is as simple as it should be. Select the
folder for the desired location to add a printer, then create the new printer.

Edit printers: Printer object attributes can be modified quickly and easily by selecting
a printer in the tree and then changing the desired attribute(s). Any changes made are
automatically applied to that printer on all workstations.

Delete printers: When deleting a printer, that printer is automatically removed from all end
user workstations.

Self-Service Installation Portal

The PrinterLogic Self-Service Installation Portal empowers end users to quickly find and
install printers without relying on the helpdesk for assistance.

For example, when an end user travels to a remote office where they need to print, they
almost always end up calling the helpdesk for support. Users seldom know all the information
required by the native Windows Add Printer dialog, such as the printer type (network or local),
printer name, and print server name hosting the printer, let alone where the printer is located.

If the helpdesk is not available immediately, the user can be blocked from completing a
vital task. For example, printing out a proposal, contract, or letter to be signed at a meeting
can be critical to the organization. Not being able to print cuts into productivity and causes
critical business processes to come to a standstill, leaving end users frustrated and resulting
in immediate helpdesk calls.

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PrinterLogic solves this problem by
providing a web-based portal that
enables end users to quickly find and
install printers with just a few clicks. This
significantly reduces printer-related
helpdesk costs, and boosts productivity
by empowering end users.

An end user can access the portal at any

time by clicking the PrinterLogic icon in
the system tray, typing the URL directly Figure 4: PrinterLogic’s Self-Service Installation Portal

into their default browser (printers. offers a comprehensive floor plan map to help end users

domain.com), or clicking a link on the identify and install the nearest printer.

company intranet site.

PrinterLogic’s Self-Service Installation Portal displays optional floor plan maps that can be
easily uploaded. Hovering the cursor over any printer on the floor plan shows that printer’s
name, model, location, and an optional field for comments. Users are able to identify color
and greyscale printers based on the printer icons. The end user simply clicks any printer
icon to install it. If a floor plan map hasn’t been uploaded to the portal, printers are also
displayed in a clickable list.

PrinterLogic Client
The PrinterLogic Client is a software agent that is deployed to end user Windows, Macintosh,
or Linux workstations using the provided MSI, PKG, or DEB installation packages. The
Client runs in the background as a service to automatically perform print management tasks
without any user intervention and allows for self installation, without the end user requiring
elevated privileges. These tasks include installing a printer, updating a printer driver, etc.

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PrinterLogic Features
Print management tasks that were previously accomplished with
print servers, group policies, and scripts, can now be streamlined
in the PrinterLogic application. PrinterLogic provides a rich set of
features and benefits, including:

Admin Console
You can manage your entire organization’s printers from a single Admin Console,
regardless of whether you use domains or no domains. Any changes made to a printer
object are automatically applied to that printer on all workstations.

For example, if you change a printer’s name in the Admin Console, the Client will change that
printer’s name on all your user workstations. You can use the same screen to add, edit, and
delete printers that will disseminate through the organization and update all workstations.

Self-Service Installation Portal

Here are some of the added benefits of the PrinterLogic Self-Service Installation Portal:

Auto-locate: When a user visits the portal, their current location is automatically selected
based on their IP address, so they can simply click the desired printer to install it.

Floor plans: Optional floor plan maps make it even easier for a user to find and install the
nearest printer, especially when they are constantly on the go.

Search: Users can enter a partial printer name and see the location of any matching
printers. When users select a printer from the list, they are taken to the right folder with the
printer selected. They can simply click a prompt to begin the installation.

Customization: You can change the portal header to show your company logo and any
instructions or comments in the local language, based on the end user’s location.

Security: With Active Directory integration, you can hide or show the tree folders or printers
according to the user’s group, OU, or even IP address range.

Single enterprise portal: Whether you have one corporate domain, many disparate
domains without trusts, or no domains at all, all users can still securely access the web
portal and see the printers that they have the rights to install.

Fewer helpdesk calls: Whether a user is in Los Angeles or London, and no matter where
they roam throughout the enterprise, they can simply click the PrinterLogic icon in the system
tray (or a link in the company intranet) and the portal opens to their current location. Then they
can install the nearest printer without calling the helpdesk or waiting for a ticket to be filled.

Citrix and VMware support: End users can access the PrinterLogic Portal in Citrix and
VMware Horizon View sessions so they can quickly find and install the nearest printer.

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End-to-End Print Security
PrinterLogic helps your organization implement Zero Trust into your print environment via
seamless integrations with popular IdPs such as Okta, Azure AD, and Ping to authenticate
all users before they print. This not only safeguards your data, but keeps external threats
out of your network by barring access to printers in your environment.

Additionally, you can defend against document theft or forgotten documents in the print
tray by having users release their print jobs at the printer with PrinterLogic’s Secure Release
Printing feature. Users can simply print to the printer of their choice, and authenticate at
the printer via QR code, mobile application, badge reader, web browser, or control panel
application to release the print job.

For hybrid and remote environments, PrinterLogic removes the need for VPNs and
empowers users to send print jobs to any printer on your local network from anywhere.
Using Off-Network Printing, end users can securely print from their hybrid workstation. All
print jobs are encrypted via TLS 1.2 and sent over HTTPS to the External Gateway using
port 443, and remain encrypted behind the company firewall. Users can either pick up the
print job later when they arrive at the office or collaborate with a colleague to ensure the
document is retrieved.

Along with keeping all print jobs on the local network and authenticating users before they
print, PrinterLogic’s cloud-native platform removes the need for manual security patch
installations by automatically rolling out security updates to your environment to pre-empt
possible exploits and close existing loopholes.

PrinterLogic continually monitors and modifies its security posture to ensure your data
is protected as an ISO 27001:2013 certified solution. ISO certification encompasses the
protection of all kinds of confidential and sensitive data and helps organizations satisfy their
unique business, legal, and regulatory requirements.

Mass Printer Edit/Create/Management

Enterprise customers with larger environments can benefit from the mass edit feature
provided in the PrinterLogic Admin Console. Authorized IT admins can see all printers and
attributes at the same time and use find-and-replace to make numerous changes to printer
objects, deployment assignments, drivers, and so on. The same feature enables authorized
admins to quickly create, modify, or delete hundreds or even thousands of printers at a time.

Advanced Printer Deployments

PrinterLogic eliminates the need for time-consuming Group Policy Objects (GPOs) or
scripts to deploy printers to end users. Instead of giving rights to IT staff to manage group
policies—with the risk that they could make drastic non-printer-related changes—use the
Admin Console to safely empower IT staff to manage printer deployments.

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Here are some of the added benefits of using PrinterLogic’s built-in printer deployment
feature, instead of GPOs and scripts:

Active Directory integration: With PrinterLogic’s web-based GUI, you can easily deploy
printers to Active Directory users, computers, groups, containers, OUs, or even IP address
ranges. PrinterLogic shows you all printers with all deployment assignments, so you can
make mass changes as easily as individual deployment changes.

No GPO rights required: You can enable any IT staff—including helpdesk personnel—
to add and remove printer deployment assignments, without having any rights to GPOs,
scripts, or print servers.

Desktop and thin client support: You can deploy printers to Windows, Mac, and Linux
desktops, and thin clients such as Citrix, VMware, and IGEL.

Write filter for thin client support: PrinterLogic can disable any write filters (either
enhanced or file-based), install the required printer(s), and then re-enable the write filter.

Proximity printing/location-based printing: PrinterLogic enables you to add printers to

a workstation according to the workstation’s IP address, name, or even Active Directory
computer, group, or OU membership. This provides a simple way to provision the nearest
printers to any user accessing that workstation.

Faster logins: With group policies or scripts, whenever a printer is installed during logon,
the logon process is delayed, often for several minutes. With PrinterLogic, any required
printer installation begins after the user’s login is complete and the desktop is available.
That way, the user can begin working immediately, while the printer is installed in the
background.

Advanced default printer options: You can set a default printer either the first time that
printer is installed, every time the user logs on, or by the user’s current location. To achieve
this without PrinterLogic would require time-consuming custom scripting by someone with
advanced programming experience. With PrinterLogic, all it takes is the click of a checkbox.

Orphan printer removal: You can remove printers from workstations as easily as you deploy
them within the PrinterLogic Portal. Simply remove the deployment assignment and the
printer will be automatically removed from all workstations where it was installed. No more
slowdowns caused by orphaned printers trying to connect to printer shares that don’t exist.

Printer Driver Management

You can use the Admin Console to change the selected driver for any printer. If the driver
you want is not in the drop-down list, you can upload it to the database to make it available.
The PrinterLogic Client will then update all installed printers to use the new driver.

To replace a driver so that all printers use the new driver, you simply go to the driver
repository and replace the old driver with the new driver. In traditional print environments,
you would have to install the driver on each print server, and then change the driver for each
printer on every print server. PrinterLogic allows you to update the driver in a single location.

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Printer Driver Profile Management
You can use the printer driver profile to configure driver settings such as DPI, duplexing,
paper size, paper source, paper trays, and so on. Since PrinterLogic displays the actual
driver’s interface, you can configure all the settings provided by the driver.

You can also configure the profile to apply each time a user logs on or even after each print
job is printed. For example, suppose a company has a paper-saving policy so that all print
jobs must be printed double-sided (duplexed). If a user manually disables duplex printing for
a one-sided job like labels, the duplex profile is automatically reapplied to the next print job.

Port Management and Redirection

If any printer has a hardware problem, causing a need to redirect all its print jobs to a similar
printer, you can use PrinterLogic to make a single port redirection change. From then on, all
print jobs will be routed to the second printer. When the first printer comes back into service,
you can easily remove the redirection.

SNMP Monitoring and Alerts

SNMP monitoring shows the status of your organization’s entire printer fleet. Any
notifications like low ink or paper, empty trays, ping status, etc. are shown on this screen to
make monitoring your printer fleet easier. Set up email notifications to automatically alert IT
workers of a problem, allowing them to proactively manage all printers.

Role-Based Access Control

Since PrinterLogic integrates with Active Directory, you can specify which users can logon to
the Admin Console with an existing Active Directory username and password. Once an IT or
helpdesk person is logged on, you can control end user privileges by assigning predetermined
roles or creating custom permissions. These roles determine an employee’s access to print
management functions. You can use roles to empower each site administrator to manage
their site’s printers, or to give central control over all your printers to a single staff member.

Print Job Auditing and Reporting

Although print jobs are sent directly to a physical printer, the PrinterLogic Client on each
workstation sends certain metadata to the Admin Console. This enables you to see print job
statistics in an exportable format.

Admins can use these reports to determine print job usage and print job costs, and answer
valuable questions about the cost of printing on a single printer or the cost of toner and
paper for the entire organization. It will also help you change any policies or help optimize
your driver profiles for more efficient use.

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The Admin Portal has many predefined reports to determine departmental usage, printer
usage, and potential waste. Reports can be as granular as the number of print jobs that are
color vs. grayscale, duplex vs. simplex, and large vs. small print jobs. Administrators can
also set up scheduled reports to educate the organization on printing usage and costs.

Queue Management
PrinterLogic provides your IT staff with a single web-based portal for managing all your
printer queues. The Client notifies the PrinterLogic application of all print jobs in each
workstation’s local print queues, so that IT staff can cancel or troubleshoot any problem or
unnecessary print jobs.

Printer Driver Caching

Some multinational enterprises have large presences in countries with a very limited or
expensive WAN link, where they don’t want users downloading drivers from PrinterLogic to
install a printer. To address this concern, you can create an IP Address Range object and
specify a beginning and ending IP address, and a Windows share (e.g. \\server\share) at the
remote region or location.

From then on, when a user logs onto a PC in the IP address range and needs to install a
printer, the system will download drivers from the specified Windows share instead of the
PrinterLogic server. Meanwhile, PrinterLogic will automatically keep the cache up-to-date
with new drivers.

High Availability
Ensure that end users can keep printing—even in the event of an internet failure—with
greater redundancy and availability through reducing legacy hardware. Users can maintain
productivity via the Self-Service Installation Portal by viewing and installing their own printers
instead of calling on the IT helpdesk. Admins can address print-related issues with just a
few clicks, deploy printers automatically to users based on IP address range, and maintain
printer uptime through print monitoring and auditing—all from a centralized console.

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 Quick Review: The Benefits
of Eliminating Print Servers

Reduce infrastructure: Minimize attack surfaces:

Eliminate all print servers and Adopt Zero Trust by
experience increased printer authenticating all users before
uptime by simplifying your they print and utilizing secure
infrastructure. printing features.

Streamline print management: Unify across environments:

Manage all printers and users in Discover seamless integrations
the entire enterprise, track costs, with popular VDIs, EMRs, EHRs,
and simplify printer deployments and ERPs to achieve a scalable
through a single web-based and flexible print environment in
Admin Console. your industry.

Empower end users: Increase visibiity:

Reduce helpdesk tickets in Track and audit all print jobs in
your organization by enabling your organization, and identify
end users to install printers departmental usage, printer
themselves via the Self-Service usage, and potential waste to
Installation Portal. keep costs down.

Conclusion
All the cost, effort, and complexity of traditional print servers are
no longer necessary. PrinterLogic replaces all the functionality that
print servers can’t provide in a single, integrated platform. Through
the combination of centralized management and direct IP printing,
IT can streamline printer deployments, control costs with increased
oversight, adopt Zero Trust-compliant print security, and deliver an
unrivaled printing experience to users across the enterprise.

Ready to eliminate your print servers?

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