Printing from 3 different physical networks

Question

We have 3 different companies in the same building wanting to be able to print to the same printer. Each company has there on ISP and physical network. The printer is already in use on one of these networks.

There are two available slots to add two more NICs to the printer. If I connect each physical network to its own NIC on the printer will this actually work?

Probably. A lot depends on the printer. – peelman Aug 09 '10 at 15:43 — peelman, Aug 09 '10 at 15:43
It would help if you named vendor and model of that printer – Kurt Pfeifle Aug 09 '10 at 16:54 — Kurt Pfeifle, Aug 09 '10 at 16:54

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 09 '10 at 20:51

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Adding 2 more NIC's should solve your current situation, but what if a 4th company moves in? You could consider a print server using Internet Printing Protocol (IPP). It doesn't take high end hardware or OS. Even an old desktop with Windows XP can support sharing a printer via IPP.

answered Aug 09 '10 at 20:51

Aaron Copley

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I've read the Ricoh Afico 2232c manual and there isn't a lot on how to setup IPP. Like what ports to open on the firewall/router. Do I have to use a workstation to share out the printer? I've done some googling and the tutorials are just not well written. I know IPP is enabled on the printer, and I have to setup a url in the configuration part of the printer, but after that I have no idea why I'm lacking. Also, if the internet goes down, can we still print locally? – Aug 11 '10 at 13:56
If the Ricoh itself supports IPP that saves you from having to use a workstation but it sounds like it's giving you some trouble. So you could try a low end Windows workstation to share the printer. From the Wikipedia article, IPP uses UDP and TCP with port 631 as its well-known port. These would need to be opened at the router and forwarded to the printer or workstation. Also, you could still print locally if the Internet goes down. Just make sure the local computers are configured to print locally, not to the WAN IP. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Printing_Protocol – Aaron Copley Aug 11 '10 at 15:29

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 09 '10 at 16:26

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Or you could try bridging the networks or setting up a ad-hoc network. That is made possible by Wireless networks. If you are running windows you can set up advance permissions one one network so different companies can see each others files/ PC's

Just a thought.

MichealH

answered Aug 09 '10 at 16:26

megubyte

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Ricoh Aficio 2232c – Aug 09 '10 at 17:42

Printing from 3 different physical networks

2 Answers2