How does Bonjour work with PrinterOn? - c06596862

What is Bonjour?

Bonjour is an automatic network discovery service for Printers. It simply consists of IPP, combined with printer discovery. Bonjour is a default network protocol that comes out of the box with most printers. Bonjour broadcasts printer detail summaries over the local network, making these details available to every machine on that network. If a user would like a more detailed printer profile, they can submit a request directly to the printer, and these details will be submitted to the user. Administrators will often disable this functionality from the router, although it’s not always necessary to do this since the printers will often reside on a different network from the PCs and mobile users. Bonjour also presents issues when using stored printer profiles. If a user wants to use a stored printer profile on the same subnet as the Bonjour broadcasting printer, then there will be a conflict that could cause print jobs to fail. On the other hand, a user would have no way of finding the printer through Bonjour if they are on separate networks. This is where PrinterOn can help.

How does Bonjour work in Print Delivery Gateway (PDG)?

With PDG, the printer summary information is broadcast on the network using Bonjour. This printer summary information is pulled from the PrinterOn Enterprise Central Print Services component instead of the printer. When a user submits a print job, they accept the printer information being broadcast by Bonjour. A PDG instance must reside within the internal network of any location where print jobs might be submitted. PDG can act as a software alternative to hardware-based Bonjour, broadcasting customizable printer information about any printer on any network. PDG can also use networking protocols to circumvent the printer profile limitations when the user and printers reside on the same subnets. Someone in a remote office can print to a printer at another location, using an experience that is identical to printer-based Bonjour, and with more administrative control. When a user submits a print job, they accept the summary printer information which is being broadcast from PDG using Bonjour. The cached printer information on PDG is periodically synchronized with CPS, which acts as the central repository for all printer definitions across the solution. CPS also maintains a copy of these printer definitions, which are updated using manual PDG synchronization.

How does PDG get the printer information?

Printer details are manually configured in CPS, or they can be imported as a CSV file export from the company’s asset management system. The control for finishing options would be managed from the printer definitions created in CPS. For example, if a printer supports colour, but administrators only want to allow users to print in monochrome when submitting jobs, the printer definition can be created without colour support enabled.

What are the advantages of using PDG Bonjour instead of the printers?

Better network security

Network administrators have better control over what printer information is broadcast across their network. PDG also offers the ability to isolate printers on their own networks, confining the damage in the event of an IoT malware attack.

Better adherence to industry standards

In order to maintain AirPrint compliance, there are very specific rules around printer behaviour and the information that the printer must supply. Although PrinterOn cannot take a non-compliant printer and make it AirPrint compliant, PrinterOn can use PDG to enforce AirPrint rules and standards, make it behave in the same manner as an AirPrint compliant printer.

Locking down printer functionality

With PrinterOn , administrators can create printer profiles that override default printer characteristics. This enables better control over who can access what capabilities within any given printer.

Eliminate conflicts between Bonjour and profiles

When Bonjour and print profiles are used on the same network subnet, it can cause issues with traditional Bonjour. PrinterOn offers administrators more control over how profiles and Bonjour use the company’s network.