Travel Technology - How do I add a printer to our office network so that it has an IP address?

We have two printers on our office network that are set up so that 1) they can be printed to by anyone logged on to our domain network and 2) they have IP addresses so I can print to them from where ever in the world I am, as long as I have internet access.

I want to add a third printer to our network but our outside IT consultant is unavailable? Can anyone point to a tutorial or step by step instruction set? I have full administrator access to our network.

Thanks,

Onedog

1) what kind of printer (make/model)
2) what kind of print server (Windows 2003 server, stand alone print server, built in to printer, etc)
3) what kind of firewall/router access do you have? If you want to make it available outside of your network you'll need to forward ports. You may also run into a problem with the other 2 printers unless you have static IPs or they use different ports. If they are all on the same print server this may not be a problem.

See my answers inline.

Thanks,

Onedog

1) what kind of printer (make/model)HP 4000N
2) what kind of print server (Windows 2003 server, stand alone print server, built in to printer, etc)We are currently running Windows 2003 server
3) what kind of firewall/router access do you have? If you want to make it available outside of your network you'll need to forward ports. I guess I can wait until our IT consultant comes back in a couple of weeks to make the new printer available to the outside world. You may also run into a problem with the other 2 printers unless you have static IPs or they use different ports. I believe that the other two printers have static IP addresses. How do I go about "getting" a static IP address for this new printer? Or is this interrelated to the firewall/router issues? If they are all on the same print server this may not be a problem.

Down and dirty-just share the printer(s)
attach each printer to workstation,intall the proper drivers.
Once the printer is set up on the workstation
right click on the printer(Under start menu-> settings->Printers and Faxes)then properties-> sharing
Pick a name to hare it as. When others need to add the printer, select add printer->network or attached to another computer


added after updated op
the 4000N is newtork ready-plug into power and a network outlet-in can be configured with either static or DHCP address.
If you have a VPN set up, outside users can accesss it when they connect

Down and dirty-just share the printer(s)
attach each printer to workstation,intall the proper drivers.
Once the printer is set up on the workstation
right click on the printer(Under start menu-> settings->Printers and Faxes)then properties-> sharing
Pick a name to hare it as. When others need to add the printer, select add printer->network or attached to another computer

All of our workstations are connected to the network via ethernet cables that go from our workstations to network switches. Both of the other printers are connected via ethernet back to the switch? Do I just connect the printer back to the switch? I want the new printer to be in a central location, and so it is not possible to connect the printer directly to a workstation, but it does have access back to the switch.

Thanks,

Onedog

Well Windwalker's approach may have answered it...
Sometimes I forget to see the forest for the trees :D

If you are still lost, here are some details.

That's a fairly old printer and if memory (and a quick google) serves it doesn't even support USB. That measn you'll probably have to use the paralell port.
Does it have a jet direct card installed? Look on the back and see if you see an ethernet port.

If it has a jet direct then this will be a little easier in some respects but harder to make it available to the outside world.

If it does NOT have a jetdirect card (no network port) then you'll have to connect the printer via parallel cable to the windows 2003 server (assuming it has a parallel port. Then install the drivers. Then right click on its icon, select shareing and security, and go through the motions...its fairly easy.

Then comes the tricky part about making it accessable to the outside world. Come to think of it, for security reasons you may want to use a spare XP workstation if you have to go the parallel cable route...exposing (any part of) your windows 2003 box is risky.

Let us know if you see a network port...we'll go from there
Also if it has a JetDirect card, you'll need a way to configure it...
Found this on a quick google:
http://www.landmarkprinters.com/free_hp_jetdirect_software.htm
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/pscmisc/vac/us/en/en/network_software/wja_overview.html
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/pscmisc/vac/us/en/en/network_software/wja_pcdiscovery.html

Well Windwalker's approach may have answered it...
Sometimes I forget to see the forest for the trees :D

If you are still lost, here are some details.

That's a fairly old printer and if memory (and a quick google) serves it doesn't even support USB. That measn you'll probably have to use the paralell port.
Does it have a jet direct card installed? Look on the back and see if you see an ethernet port.

If it has a jet direct then this will be a little easier in some respects but harder to make it available to the outside world.

If it does NOT have a jetdirect card (no network port) then you'll have to connect the printer via parallel cable to the windows 2003 server (assuming it has a parallel port. Then install the drivers. Then right click on its icon, select shareing and security, and go through the motions...its fairly easy.

Then comes the tricky part about making it accessable to the outside world. Come to think of it, for security reasons you may want to use a spare XP workstation if you have to go the parallel cable route...exposing (any part of) your windows 2003 box is risky.

Let us know if you see a network port...we'll go from there
Also if it has a JetDirect card, you'll need a way to configure it...
Found this on a quick google:
http://www.landmarkprinters.com/free_hp_jetdirect_software.htm
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/pscmisc/vac/us/en/en/network_software/wja_overview.html
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/pscmisc/vac/us/en/en/network_software/wja_pcdiscovery.html

The printer does have an RJ45 jack in the back.

Can anyone point to a tutorial or step by step instruction set?Here you go: http://h20000.www2.HP.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&taskId=115&prodSeriesId=25474&prodTypeId=18972&prodSeriesId=25474&objectID=bpj05735

a copy of HP's webjet admin will be helpful
HERE (http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/DriverDownload.jsp?pnameOID=13039&locale=en_US&taskId=135&prodTypeId=18972&prodSeriesId=27905)

The printer does have an RJ45 jack in the back.

That's what the N stands for in the model N=Network
get the webjet admin program.
Plug the printer in and connect an ethernet cable to it(. Hope that it has not been configured once before with an IP address that is not in your scope) The JA software should automatically find iit

That's what the N stands for in the model N=Network


Well its only been since highschool (like 12 years ago) that I worked on HP stuff...but I should have cought that :D

That's what the N stands for in the model N=Network
get the webjet admin program.
Plug the printer in and connect an ethernet cable to it(. Hope that it has not been configured once before with an IP address that is not in your scope) The JA software should automatically find iit


What is "JA"?

I printed out the configuration and the printer has not been previously configured with an IP address, although it does appear as it has been connected to a domain network before. "Pheobe" must have been the name of the network at the company that previously owned the printer.

Host Name: Pheobe
Config By: NOT CONFIGURED
IP Address: 0.0.0.0
Subnet Mask: NOT SPECIFIED
Def. Gateway: 0.0.0.0
SYSLOG Server: NOT SPECIFIED
IDLE Timeout: 90
BOOTP/DHCP Server: 0.0.0.0
Config File: NOT SPECIFIED

Should I cold reset the printer back to factory defaults?

Thanks,

Onedog

Looks like you can either assign it an address manually or turn on DHCP which will grab an address on the network automatically.

Pheobe was the printer's name at some point (whats up with companies useing greek/roman/egyptian gods all the time?)

Pheobe was the printer's name at some point (whats up with companies useing greek/roman/egyptian gods all the time?)

or maybe it was a "Friends" printer.
you know lived and worked with Rachel and Monica.(Rachel-mmmmmmmm)


We use Elements in our naming scheme

What is "JA"?Onedog

Jet Admin-see post above on where to get it

You should, in theory, be able to simply plug it into the network, and it will get an IP address. (plug it into the port that goes directly to the switch.) If it doesn't work, then you have to figure out how to enable dhcp on the printer. If it still doesn't work, then it's possible your network is locked down and doesn't give out IP addresses automatically. (If you can plug a random laptop into the network without pre-approval, and it gets an IP address, then it's likely there's a dhcp server that will give out an IP address to anything that requests one.)

If you want the printers IP address to be fixed, you have to modify the switch (or dhcp server, if it's not the switch) configuration, but you can just wait for your IT guy to get back to do that. Chances are it won't change once you plug it in anyway.

-David

You set the static IP address on that printer through the menus, you do not need to make any modifications to the switch or router.

You set the static IP address on that printer through the menus, you do not need to make any modifications to the switch or router.

What IP address do you suggest the OP should use? (I don't know either. Remember, his IT person is out, and he's trying to use the printer.)

That's why I said, just use the dhcp server to get one. If you have to reserve one if you want a static IP address, that's done wherever the dhcp server is running. Yes, I suppose there might already be a reserved range of static IP addresses in which case, you don't have to modify the dhcp server config if you know which ones are available.

-David

I didn't say not to use DHCP. I prefer not to use it for printers, but that's another story, I prefer those to be static.

What I said was that you don't need to have access to the routers or gateways to set an IP address on that printer, you can do it through the menus. When the IT people get back they can set it up the way they want it, but to get it up and running, you can put in the IP address through the menus. I would assume that there is no way you could get to the routers or switches to make changes, or the IT people didn't do a very good job locking them down.

What IP? I would see what IP address my pc had, and start pinging numbers in that scheme until I got one that didn't answer and use that until IT got back to set it up the way they want.

What IP? I would see what IP address my pc had, and start pinging numbers in that scheme until I got one that didn't answer and use that until IT got back to set it up the way they want.

It was a rhetorical question, Mike. If some box is down that's using that IP and comes up later still using that IP address, you'd have two machines using the same IP address. In theory, if the down box is using dhcp, the dhcp server should see that somebody else is using that IP address when it tries to renew the old IP address, so it might work. (They should use ARP or RARP, I forget which one, to broadcast "is anybody using IP xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.) But it's basically easier just to use dhcp on the printer until the IT guy gets back.

I also use static IP addresses for printers.

-David

We have two printers on our office network that are set up so that 1) they can be printed to by anyone logged on to our domain network and 2) they have IP addresses so I can print to them from where ever in the world I am, as long as I have internet access.

I want to add a third printer to our network but our outside IT consultant is unavailable? Can anyone point to a tutorial or step by step instruction set? I have full administrator access to our network.


Getting a printer setup for network printing on the LAN is relatively straightforward. Getting it setup for reasonably secure access from the Internet would be the hard part. If you are accessing the printer from the Internet while using a VPN (in my experience, this is more likely than punching a hole in your firewall for print services), then you'd treat configuration of the printer as if it were a local printer.

For network printing on your LAN, I'd recommend HP's Universal Print Driver:
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/pscmisc/vac/us/en/sm/network_software/universalprintdriver_overview.html

It will take care of device discovery for you, so you could easily use DHCP in the short term, as well as operates with any PCL5 printer (practically every laser printer, though very few inks) so you won't need to mess around with driver configuration.

Except for HP's Jetdirect 635N IPsec card, no printer manufacturer offers security features embedded in the device that are robust enough to be deployed on the Internet. Some manufacturers are doing Secure IPP on their higher end devices (not the LJ4000N with stock Jetdirect card) which will give you encryption of the print job, however the access controls to the device are either very limited or non-existent.

HP should have the basic instructions for getting your printer on the LAN (IP configuration) and Microsoft will have instructions on getting print clients configured (you'll configure the printer as a "local printer" with a TCP/IP port in the Add Printer Wizard on your individual client PC's, or do it once on a server and share it out to others as a "network printer"). Don't waste your time installing HP's Web Jetadmin ... while it is useful for managing a fleet of devices, it is way overkill (with associated learning curve) for a handful ... you can use the printer's embedded web server once it has a valid IP address instead.

Except for HP's Jetdirect 635N IPsec card, no printer manufacturer offers security features embedded in the device that are robust enough to be deployed on the Internet. Some manufacturers are doing Secure IPP on their higher end devices (not the LJ4000N with stock Jetdirect card) which will give you encryption of the print job, however the access controls to the device are either very limited or non-existent.

In this regard, to get reasonably secure Internet access to a printer, you'd be advised to put a server on the front end that can provide the access control (this might be a Windows server set up with a print share and associated access controls based off of your Domain). If you can figure out what your consultant did for the other printers, you might be able to replicate that for your third ... opening up your network to external access is a risky thing to do though, and only something you should be doing if you really understand it.