Wireless Print Server

firemtngems · ‎02-09-2007

We are in need of hooking up our printers to our Cisco wireless network. Most of the printers were previous hardwired; however, are now located in our new wireless warehouse. Some printers have parallel, USB2, and/or RJ45 connectors.

Our warehouse Cisco network consists of multiple 1242's using LWAP with TKIP encryption. The traffic to the printers should also support encryption.

Is there a recommended solution for previous hardwire printers in a wireless environment? Thanks.

robert.wright · ‎02-09-2007

could always use the 5ghz antenna to do a bridge to another AP? then connect the rj45 printer to the AP... it should work. Might be might expensive compared to obtain printers with modules for 802.11. Then still use the BG for client traffic.

firemtngems · ‎02-10-2007

At present I'm reviewing the HP Jetdirect EW2400, or the Linksys WPS54GU2. Unfortunately using another AP to bridge each printer would likely not be cost effective.

I'd love to hear of what others are using, if its working/dependable and are compatible with our Cisco 1242AP's using TKIP encryption.

Thanks.

csannedhi · ‎02-11-2007

There are several choices http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?CatId=371

I personally like Negear and D-Link products. Most of these products say, they support WEP and WPA-PSK for authentication and TKIP encryption. Not sure if there are any print servers that support EAP-TLS, EAP-TTLS, PEAP, LEAP.

HTH

robert.wright · ‎02-12-2007

i would be careful of mixing your environment with multiple vendors.. While the initial costs look great on paper, your management overhead is going to be much higher...

When browsing for upgrades on your APs you will need to check several vendors and respond to a larger range of security alerts.

andrew.brazier · ‎02-12-2007

Linksys print servers are OK if you're just using WPA-PSK + TKIP. I'm not a fan of the HP ones as (unlike the Linksys models I've used) they don't have an ethernet interface so if the config process goes wrong (which it usually does) you have to factory it and start again. The last HP one I looked at would not do WPA-PSK either, needed a RADIUS server as well.