Touchstone Task 2.1 – Planning Network Printer Connectivity
Review the scenario and client expectations about Greenfield Properties. Make sure you also review the additional client expectations related to this Touchstone Preparation.
Based on the information provided by the client, answer the following questions in 2-4 sentences each. Be sure to explain your answers in detail.
| What are the pros and cons of using a print server, and what are the pros and cons of using direct IP printing? (Internet research) |
| One of the pros of using a print server is centralizing printer administration and configuration. This is beneficial to organizations with many printers and client computers. The other advantage of using a print server is increased security. Using printers on a separate network from client computers is essential in preventing unauthorized access to sensitive data (Kralicek & Kralicek, 2016, p. 205). On the other hand, the cons of using a print server is that the organization may only be able to print if the server is offline for whatever reason. The other disadvantage is that not all printer drivers play nicely with GPO-based deployment.
Some organizations may prefer direct IP printing because of the low maintenance and cost of adoption; the printer has no single point of failure on the network, and the respective users enjoy total control of their own drivers and print settings. The only major disadvantage of direct IP printing is that admins cannot track costs, which could be better for remote work environments (Kralicek & Kralicek, 2016, p. 212). Another disadvantage is its time-consuming configuration and tedious printer replacement. |
| Given what you have learned, how will you deploy the printers? |
| Based on what I have learned, the best way of deploying the printers in organizational settings is through the Group Policy Objects (GPOs). Whereas this group policy can aid in deploying settings to users and computers, the same applies to GPPs. For printing purposes, an organization may deploy a printer to a computer or by individuals and groups of employees in respective departments. When a printer is deployed via GPPs to a computer, the printer will be installed for users who log in to a client computer (Biswas et al., 2021, p. 48). Therefore, deploying printers with GPPs is quite a simple and straightforward task. One would first require a group policy to work with and comprehend how a GPO can be linked with an organizational unit (OU) while properly targeting the GPO. After this, the organization has to decide if it wants to deploy printers to users or computers. Some of the information that would be needed to add a printer to a GPO includes but is not limited to printer update action, printer path, and the party that will receive the printer installation. |
| Which approach makes more sense for this scenario, and why? |
| The best approach for this scenario is for an organization to deploy printers to computers, as this provides better security for the confidential information being passed across. Some sensitive data that can be retrieved from a printer includes employee salaries, running budgets, purchase orders, and contracts. Therefore, deploying printers to users increases the level of risk, and the data may be infiltrated at any time (Biswas et al., 2021, p. 57). However, deploying printers to computers is a secure method because many organizations have adopted a secure-based storage service that is also faster to deploy. |
References
Kralicek, E., & Kralicek, E. (2016). Deploying Workstations and Printers. The Accidental SysAdmin Handbook: A Primer for Entry Level IT Professionals, 203-218.
Biswas, M. C., Chakraborty, S., Bhattacharjee, A., & Mohammed, Z. (2021). 4D printing of shape memory materials for textiles: Mechanism, mathematical modeling, and challenges. Advanced Functional Materials, 31(19), 2100257.