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Discover a new printer

You can use the printer discovery tool to easily add printers to PRISMAdirect. The newly added printer is not automatically available in PRISMAdirect. You have to close and open PRISMAdirect to load the printer in the application.

With this printer discover tool, you can detect printers on your network and get the configuration of the printers by standard SNMP protocol. The SNMP protocol must be enabled on the printers. When SNMP is not enabled, you can still add printers manually.

Click the [Discover] button to launch the [Printer discovery tool].

[Printer discovery method]

You can discover printers on the network either by broadcast, by scanning a range of IP addresses or by defining a subnet mask. By default, the range of IP addresses and the subnet mask are retrieved from the local IP address and the local Windows subnet mask.

Discovery method

Description

[Broadcast to local network]

Use this discovery method when printers are connected to the local network.

SNMP enabled printers that recognise this type of broadcast will respond.

NOTE

Not all SNMP enabled printers respond to the broadcast.

[Scan range]

Use this discovery method when printers are connected to another subnet of the network than the local network.

NOTE

When you have multiple network cards in your system you should use the scan range discovery method.

Scan a range of IP addresses for SNMP enabled printers from the lowest to the highest IP address.

[Scan subnet]

Use this discovery method when you network is divided into sub networks.

Scan the defined subnet for SNMP enabled printers. The system uses the subnet mask to determine the scan range. You can change the subnet mask.

Click [Search] to start the discovery of printers.

Or you can define the additional settings for [Advanced...] first.

[Advanced discovery]

Click the[Advanced...] button to define SNMP parameters. These parameters are used during the scan process. Some of them are also used to configure the discovered printers.

Table 1. Scan process properties

Setting

Explanation

[Retries:]

Define how many times the tool tries to contact a printer.

[Timeout (ms):]

Define the response timeout of a printer in ms.

You can select which SNMP version is supported by the printer:

  • SNMP V1

  • SNMP V3

You can define the following settings when you select SNMP V1:

Table 2. Settings SNMP V1

Setting

Description

[Read community:]

The read community name is used to identify the group of devices that support printer monitoring.

Default value 'public'.

You can define the following settings when you select SNMP V3:

Table 3. Settings SNMP V3

Setting

Description

[Security user name:]

Define a user name for the authentication service.

[Context:]

'Context' refers to the collection of management information accessible by the SNMP entity. This setting is optional.

[Authentication protocol:]

Select the authentication protocol that is used by the printer.

  • None

  • MD5

  • SHA

[Authentication password:]

The 'Authentication password' is the password required for the authentication service.

[Confirm password:]

Confirm the authentication password.

[Privacy protocol:]

Select the encryption algorithm that is used by the printer.

  • None

  • DES

  • AES

[Privacy password:]

The 'Privacy password' is the password required for the privacy (encryption) service. This setting is optional.

[Confirm password:]

Confirm the privacy password.

Search result window

Once the discovery starts, using the selected scan method and its parameters, progression status information shows the current number of scanned IP addresses and the current number of printers found. The result of the scan process is updated progressively and displays the following information:

Column header

Explanation

[IP address]

The printer IP address.

[Printer name]

The Windows printer name if the printer is already defined in the local Windows system, otherwise the model name is used as the printer name.

[Printer model]

The printer model.

[Status]

The printer configuration status. The following status can be shown:

  • [New]

    The printer is not yet available on the local system.

  • [Not configured]

    The printer is available on the local system but the printer is not yet configured for PRISMAdirect.

  • [Configured]

    The printer is available on the local system and the printer is configured for PRISMAdirect.

  • [Not responding]

    The printer is available on the local system and the printer can be configured for PRISMAdirect. However, the printer is not responding.

  • [Invalid configuration]

    The printer is available on the local system. However, the printer is configured for another printer model or another version of the print server.

  • [Invalid printer]

    The printer is defined on the local system with the same printer address. However, the printer does not match the discovered printer model or its version.

The following actions are available depending on the configuration status of the printer:

  • [Add]

    The configuration status of the printer is [New]. Click [Add] to add the printer to the local system and/or configure the printer for PRISMAdirect. If the driver is required but not yet installed, the action button also launches the printer driver installation wizard before adding the printer to the local system.

    For printers for which no driver is needed, the action button opens a dialog that allows you to add the printer to PRISMAdirect. No printer is added to the local system. The finishers are automatically retrieved from the printer.

  • [Edit]

    The configuration status of the printer is [Configured]. Click [Edit] to edit the configuration of the printer.

  • [Configure]

    The configuration status of the printer is [Not configured] or [Invalid configuration]. Click [Configure] to configure the printer for PRISMAdirect. The available finishers are automatically retrieved from the printer.

  • [Remove]

    The configuration status of the printer is [Not responding] or [Invalid printer]. Click [Remove] to remove the printer from the local system and from the PRISMAdirect configuration.

Add a printer manually

Click the [Add additional printer] button to add a printer manually. For example, SNMP is not enabled on a printer. Therefore, the printer discovery tool cannot find the printer.