IP Based Location Printing - Terminal's

[MafiaAndre]

Hi all

I'm new at this whole IP Based Location Printing thing...

I'm currently managing a small school's network. They've got 3 printers on IP. All printers are shared via the domain PC (running the DC).

One printer is in the Computer Lab, the other in the Staff Lab, and the other one in the Library.

I came across the problem the school has. Students are printing to other printers on the network, which they shouldn't be doing. The computer teacher and I have no control over printing now.



I was wondering, how do I set up location based printing, so that if the student is logged onto a Library PC, that he/she can only see the Library Printer and not the other 2 printers, and so on for the other locations.



Our network works via vSpace nComputing devices, with Terminal Services. We run Windows Server 2008 R2 as an operating system. The Printers are deployed via the Group Policy. They are installed on the computer running the domain.



Can anyone please help me with a tutorial or guide to set up location based printing?

 

[ussnorway]

In server 08 there is 3 different types of printer account.
I’m paraphrasing but they are;
1. Can print.
2. Can change the type of printing done i.e paper size, colour etc.
3. Can load | change print drivers and address.
What do you mean by “The computer teacher and I have no control over printing now.” Have your accounts been locked out or are you just saying it’s a mess?

In any event there are several different solutions but the simplest is to assign a new school security group for each printer. A group policy can apply to the user or to the computer, so for example we add a security group called “lib_printer_group” and everyone (remember that’s computer not student) in that group has print access to the printer in the library. The issue gets a little harder to control if you need roaming profiles (laptop etc) but that would normally be resolved by having different network addresses assigned to them than the fixed computers get eg,
The library has 10 fixed computers with addresses ranging from 192.168.100.20 – 192.168.100.30
Any laptop connecting from wireless get an address of 192.168.100.100 – 192.168.100.200
And some fixed systems (the server, printer and staff computer) get 192.168.100.5 (.6 & .8) respectively.

This example is a small network with only 254 maximum computers but the principle holds true regardless of how many networks we add in. we can add filters into this system by routing policy so for example computers in the 20-30 range are allowed on the internet between the hours of 9am and 3pm or the computers below 20 (ie staff) are the only ones with change access to the printers… the point is open to endless variations.

 

[MafiaAndre]

Hi Thanks for replying.

What I meant with “The computer teacher and I have no control over printing now.” is that the students can print to the library or staff printer from the computer lab, and the teacher and I wouldn't know about it. So they can be wasting paper and ink on printing nonsense, and we wouldn't know about it.

Problem now is, we use Terminal Services and basically, theres 2 main computers and we use it as terminal servers. The company that created the networks and stuff, set the IP addresses to change at every log on session.

 

[ussnorway]

1. I assume that getting the people whom set this up to just come back and update it is not an alternative for some reason.

2. Setting up a network takes planning and fixing a broken one has to be cost effective… I’d just walk across to the printer and tap the off switch then buy a new network capable one and set that up to allow only the teachers (or at least ask for a teachers password)… at the end of the day, new printers are so cheap and confident it staff still takes so long that it usually isn’t worth the stress.

Something like the Samsung ml-2165w can be tucked in a corner without blowing your budget… http://www.ddcomputer.com.au/prod-M...-2165W_20PPM_Wireless_Mono_Laser_Printer.html