Print server

A print server, or printer server, is a computer or device that is connected to one or more printers and to client computers over a network, and can accept print jobs from the computers and send the jobs to the appropriate printers.

The term can refer to:

1. A host computer running Windows OS with one or more shared printers. Client computers connect using Microsoft Network Printing protocol.
2. A computer running some other operating system, but still implementing the Microsoft Network Printing protocol (typically Samba running on a UNIX or Linux computer).
3. A computer that implements the Line Printer Daemon protocol and thus can process print requests from LPD clients.
4. A dedicated device that connects one or more printers to a local area network (LAN). It typically has a single LAN connector, such as an RJ-45 socket, and one or more physical ports (e.g. serial, parallel or USB (Universal Serial Bus)) to provide connections to printers. In essence this dedicated device provides printing protocol conversion from what was sent by client computers to what will be accepted by the printer. Dedicated print server devices may support a variety of printing protocols including LPD/LPR over TCP/IP, NetWare, NetBIOS/NetBEUI over NBF, TCP Port 9100 or RAW printer protocol over TCP/IP, DLC or IPX/SPX. Dedicated server appliances tend to be fairly simple in both configuration and features. However these are available integrated with other devices such as a wireless router, a firewall, or both.^[1]
5. A dedicated device similar to (4) above, that also implements Microsoft Networking protocols to appear to Windows client computers as if it were a print server defined in (1).

The term print server usually refers to (1) or (2) above, while print server device or print server appliance usually refers to (4).

References