Webinar Recap: The Best SysAdmin Tool You’re Not Using

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As a sysadmin, you’re asked to do miracle work at a rapid pace. You’re tasked with helping your company drive forward (sometimes on a tight budget) and are in charge of making critical decisions on which solutions can solve all the pain points plaguing you and your end users. 

What if we told you there is a tool you can add to your toolbox to simplify the end user’s experience and reduce your workload?

On July 25th, two of our experts, Katie and Kayla, collaborated to discuss the Best SysAdmin Tool You’re Not Using and uncovered how making a few subtle changes to your print environment boosts productivity and positively impacts your company’s bottom line. The webinar recording is below to catch anything you missed, and we summarized the key points for easy reading. 

Watch the webinar

 

Eliminating print servers to reduce costs

What’s the key to reducing print costs? Moving your current print infrastructure to the cloud. 

Switching to a serverless printing infrastructure allows you to streamline print management and minimize IT intervention by helping you take the following steps:

  • Migrate your existing printer objects from your print servers to a cloud-native platform.
  • Manage all printers, drivers, and settings from a centralized Admin Console. 
  • Deploy printers, updates, and changes to end users—without scripts and GPOs.
  • Print securely by keeping print jobs on the local network and utilizing robust features.

And if it sounds too easy, that’s because it is. You no longer need print servers and can manage all of your printers from a single pane of glass. Additionally, you may find underutilized printers in your fleet that you can throw out—translating into more savings.

 

Enhancing the overall printing experience

Serverless printing boosts productivity for both IT teams and end users by providing a few key features to streamline printer deployments and installations. For admins, all printer drivers can be deployed from a centralized Admin Console which provides admins with granular control over which users have access to which printers. Plus, you can configure automated deployments based on IP address if you employ a mobile workforce to allow easier access to printers on-the-go.

But what’s in it for end users?

For an even more hands-off approach to deployments, admins can empower users to install printers themselves without calling the helpdesk via the Self-Service Printer Installation Portal. All the user has to do is click their desired printer on a floor plan map or dropdown list. Productivity increases and users can move around the organization knowing they don’t need IT for printer installs. This feature alone has reduced print-related helpdesk tickets by up to 95% for PrinterLogic customers.

 

Bolstering security with advanced features 

Many companies are on the fence about cloud-based print management because of their industry’s strict security requirements. But with PrinterLogic, you can meet industry compliance standards and achieve a Zero Trust print environment with features that protect confidential documents and information, including:

  • Secure Release Printing (pull printing)
  • Off-Network Printing
  • Integrations with major IdP providers

In addition to security features, PrinterLogic’s SaaS solution is certified by ISO 27001:2013 and SOC 2 Type 2, meaning we have the systems, people, and processes in place to keep your customer and company data secure on a global scale. 

 

Freeing up your time with serverless printing

Saving money and strengthening security is great and all, but how does that translate into more time for sysadmins? 

Well, instead of worrying about hardware refreshes, security patches, and Windows 2012 Server end-of-life, you can finally start pursuing other projects to help drive your business forward. Overall, print-related issues decrease because users no longer have to call the helpdesk to have printers installed. Plus, you can start tackling digital transformation or other Zero Trust initiatives since printing is already checked off your list.

And remember that new important project you talked with your team about a while back? Yeah, you can finally do that too. 

 

The top 5 reasons you deserve PrinterLogic

The truth is, you deserve a way out of print-related issues so you can finally start doing tasks that promote company growth and provide ample opportunities for you and your team to succeed. 

So what are you waiting for? 

It’s time to spoil yourself a little and simplify the way you manage print for these five reasons:

  1. You can reduce costs.
  2. You can be more proactive rather than reactive.
  3. You can better support end users.
  4. You can bolster your organization’s security.
  5. You can have more free time to focus on more impactful projects.

If you have more questions about eliminating your print servers, tune in to the Q&A portion of the video where many of your peers’ burning questions are answered by Katie and Kayla. 

 

Learn how much you can save on printing

Want a breakdown of how much you’ll actually save on print management by eliminating your print servers? 

We’ve developed a free print savings calculator tool that accounts for time spent on print-related helpdesk tickets, annual print server costs, and paper usage to help you learn how much you can actually save on printing by moving to the cloud. 

Try the print savings calculator.

Guest Printing Made Easy

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You know that familiar saying that goes “Guests, like fish, smell after three days?” The inventive guy who coined it—Benjamin Franklin, as it happens—clearly had the unrelenting demands of hospitality in mind, but the sentiment behind it could just as easily apply to enterprise print environments.

No, guest printing has never been particularly pleasant for anyone. Guests either have to go through the long, complicated, and often frustrating process of installing printers and their related drivers on their personal machines while the IT staff scrambles to make sure they have the necessary access, or they have to find some way to transfer their files to an authorized workstation for someone else to print. Mobile devices add even more difficulties to the mix. All these roadblocks demonstrate why guest printing problems are widespread.

PrinterLogic changes all that with two options for guests:

  1. Email Printing — enables an end user to forward an email (from a smartphone, tablet, or laptop) to a printer that has been explicitly designated for printing from email.
  2. Off-Network Printing — a secure, Zero Trust solution for guests that allows them to send print jobs to a printer located behind the company firewall without a VPN or special firewall rules.

 

Guest Printing Is Simple and Secure

Here’s what makes guest printing with PrinterLogic simple:

  • Guests, contractors, and freelancers can print from any mobile device, anywhere, anytime via email-to-print functionality.
  • It integrates rapidly and seamlessly into any print environment running PrinterLogic.
  • Thanks to PrinterLogic’s built-in capabilities, any network printer can handle guest print jobs.
  • It’s secure. You retain complete control over which users, printers, and jobs are authorized.

With a guest printing solution like PrinterLogic, all your guests—among them contractors, freelancers, consultants, and even remote or BYOD employees—can print any file type with the same simplicity as sending an email. From any device—on- or off-network. 

It doesn’t matter whether your organization employs 10 or 10,000 employees, whether it’s distributed over two cities or two continents, or whether you’re running legacy devices or cutting-edge hardware. Plus, there are no print servers or proprietary third-party software or printers to install or add.

Does that sound far too simple to eliminate guest printing problems? The strength of guest printing with PrinterLogic actually lies in its simplicity. To print, all guests have to do is follow three easy steps:

  1. Obtain the dedicated email address for their desired printer.
  2. Email their files. These immediately enter the print queue like any other job.
  3. Pick up the printed documents at the printer.

It’s so straightforward, in fact, that it’s been repeatedly shown to cut down on the number of print-related service desk calls in real-world scenarios. That saves your guests time and energy, boosting their satisfaction and productivity, and it also saves your IT staff from having to field calls about installation woes and other guest printing problems.

Yet there isn’t a trade-off when it comes to oversight. Guest jobs can be audited according to criteria such as user, file type, and printer—just like jobs initiated from a workstation. Plus, you can set any number of limitations: monochrome-only printing, for example, or restricted access to certain paper trays.

 

Off-Network Printing Makes Hybrid Work Easy

Zero Trust Network Architecture (ZTNA) has become necessary in these days of hybrid work. While many companies may be looking at returning to offices, we all know hybrid and remote work is here to stay. And that means ZTNA needs to be in place now; it isn’t something IT teams can continue to push down the road.

Because of that, PrinterLogic created its Off-Network Printing feature. Here’s what you need to know about it:

  • Print jobs are encrypted end-to-end so sensitive data is never exposed or at risk.
  • Security is further enhanced with confidential data never at rest in the cloud, limiting risk factors common with traditional print solutions.
  • It mimics regular printing—which means you don’t have to train guests or employees on how to use it.
  • It’s supported on iOS and Android devices without the need to install client-side software.

What does all of that mean for you? Well first, it means fewer costs. Off-Network Printing reduces infrastructure and lessens the need for home printers. Second, it’s far more secure and gives your company more visibility into when confidential data is exposed. And third, it’s easy. No more dealing with workarounds or VPNs for printing.

So how does it work? Well, for your employees and guests, they basically get to print like normal. They can even utilize Secure Release Printing to hold the print job until they release it, keeping the printed information protected as well. On the back end, two components make it work:

  1. The External Gateway receives incoming print jobs from remote workstations, their user identity, and a trusted certificate over a safe TLS connection. 
  2. The Internal Routing Service resides behind your firewall and maintains a constant outbound connection with the External Gateway to watch for print jobs.

When the External Gateway receives a print job, the Internal Routing Service opens a new connection for that job. It then downloads and delivers it to the designated printer. If the Secure Release Printing feature is used, the job then waits for the user to release it at the printer using credentials, a QR code, or a badge.

It’s that easy.

 

Guest Printing Should Not Be Hard

In today’s world, being able to keep business moving forward without unnecessary complications is vital to success. And printing is often something that IT teams hate dealing with. PrinterLogic makes it easy for your team to stop worrying about print and instead focus on keeping your company on the cutting edge of the next big thing. Check out PrinterLogic’s full serverless platform for additional capabilities that can help your business now and in the future.

 

5 Common Printer Redirection Problems with Remote Desktop Services (RDS)

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Many organizations rely on remote desktop services (RDS) to provide them with lean, flexible computing environments. Many of those same organizations also struggle with remote desktop printer problems, which detracts significantly from the benefits of RDS. 

At the end of the day, admins just want printers to print without hurting productivity and overloading their team with helpdesk calls. However, obstacles like heavy WAN traffic and failed printer redirections tend to result in unpleasant downtime for organizations—and increased workload for IT.

 

5 Common Problems with Printer Redirection

The full list of potential problems is a long one, but there are ways to simplify and streamline everything about enterprise printing in RDS environments—which we will discuss later. Here are five common cases of RDP redirection not working when using Windows print servers and what you can do about them.

 

1. Print jobs disappear

This is one of the most frustrating of all the possible remote desktop printer problems. After connecting to the server, the client can see the desired desktop printer in the list of available printers. The client can successfully send a print job to the printer, and it even appears in the queue. But then—poof!—it’s gone, and the print job is never actually printed.

 

2. An installed printer is not visible to the remote client

In this scenario, a printer appears to have been successfully installed on the administrative side but that printer is not showing in the remote desktop session. It might be problematic for just a single client, or it might be an entire client pool. Whatever the case, the client (or client pool) is unable to locate it and therefore unable to print.

 

3. Print jobs execute but the text is garbled

When a print job fails to print or an RDP printer is not showing in the remote desktop session, you can at least isolate the problem to a single step in the printing process. But what about when the print job appears in the output tray with garbled text or symbols instead of text?

 

4. Long printing delays

Sometimes everything in the printing process will work fine. The printer is accessible, the print job is successfully relayed to the printer, and the document prints out just as it should. However, this process will take an inordinate amount of time—far longer than it should actually take for data to travel from the local client to the printer via the remote server.

 

5. Application-specific RDP problems

This can test the limits of an admin’s sanity. Here the end user can print from the word processor, for example, but can’t print from the accounting software. It can be a matter of one particular printer not showing in the remote desktop session for that particular application, or that a printer is accessible but the print job will not execute for some reason.

 

RDP Redirection Troubleshooting Tips

Though it’s very hard to pinpoint the exact cause of each of these remote desktop printer problems, the general troubleshooting advice is that they often result from a driver issue, especially if you’re relying on non-manufacturer print drivers. Try updating the driver on the client or moving to a newer version of your non-standard driver. And as soon as you attempt to print, check the Event Viewer and print server logs. Those error messages should offer you some more specific direction.

If none of these methods help, the reason could be one of the following:

  • The client may not support RDP and/or the user isn’t using a Microsoft device
  • Group Policy may be halting redirection 
  • The server can’t identify the printer 

I’m sure you’ve discovered the common theme by now: RDP redirection is more trouble than it’s worth. It shouldn’t be this hard for users to print in RDS sessions. That’s why we have one more option to help you enhance printing in RDS environments. 

 

Want to get rid of RDP redirection issues for good?

A more comprehensive, long-term, and cost-effective solution to all of your remote desktop printer problems is PrinterLogic. Our next-generation print management software removes issues with RDP redirection not working with Windows print servers by seamlessly replacing or enhancing your conventional print infrastructure.

In short, we eliminate your print servers and enable you to manage your entire printer fleet on our SaaS platform. 

No print servers means you can deploy printers without GPOs or scripts and empower your end users with self-service installation while enjoying centralized administration, precise automated deployments, and effortless printer and driver management. You can even use PrinterLogic to deploy session printers instead of using printer redirection in your RDS environment. So if you find yourself battling remote desktop printing problems, PrinterLogic is the quickest way to get rid of them permanently.

What Causes Slow Network Printing? And How Do You Fix It?

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Nothing irks end users more than long wait times at the printer. After begging the printer to spit out paper to no avail, the responsibility falls on IT to find the root of the issue. Unfortunately, there are many reasons for slow printing such as print server overload, network traffic from other offices, or outdated printer drivers.

Whatever the issue may be, there are ways to speed up printing without adding more hardware to the mix—which, let’s be honest, is never the best option. 

 

How to fix slow network printing

Before considering adding a print server, going the decentralized route, or increasing your hard disk space, it’s worth starting with a rudimentary approach to fix the problem. 

Here are a few steps you can take to speed up printing:

 

  1. Access the printer’s properties
  2. Adjust some settings
  3. Speed up slow spooling on your print server
  4. Try using fewer printer drivers 
  5. Use dedicated disk drives

 

Step 1: Access the printer’s properties

If you’re using some variant of Windows Server, I have some news for you. This happens to be the platform where most slow network printing issues arise. The first thing you’ll want to do is access the printer’s properties. Enable the “Spool print documents so program finishes printing faster” option. This actually helps the network printer avoid getting overwhelmed.

 

Step 2: Adjust the settings

Next, check the “Start printing after last page is spooled” sub-option. Not the “Start printing immediately” option. This is one of the top workarounds for slow network printing. It’s because it won’t split print jobs in the middle of printing. It also won’t delay the network printer for other users if another larger job is taking a long time to spool.

 

Step 3: Speed up spooling

In the same properties box, be sure to review the “Print spooled documents first” sub-option. If your network printer’s response is slow and a large client pool accesses the server, checking this option could speed things up. It prevents small jobs from getting stuck behind large jobs that take a long time to spool.

 

Step 4: Try using fewer printer drivers

Using too many printer drivers in Windows comes with a few glaring disadvantages. Drivers eat up resources and, even if you uninstall them, printer drivers can leave monitoring services running which takes up more space on your disk drive. A way to cut back on this is by using universal printer drivers or standardizing which drivers are used when you can. 

To find out more about centrally managing your printer drivers, click here. 

 

Step 5: Use dedicated disk drives

To optimize print performance, try using dedicated hard drives for spooling instead of a shared drive for spooling and the OS. If you have the budget, using solid-state drives (SSDs) can speed things up further and be more reliable.

On the off chance these steps don’t pan out, we have a surefire way to put an end to slow network printing—forever. 

 

If all else fails…try this alternative

Unfortunately, many of these solutions are temporary, costly, or not guaranteed to work. One of the best and most reliable workarounds for slow network printing is eliminating your print servers and managing your print environment from a central location. 

Consider the benefits for a second.

You get rid of the single point of failure, all printer objects are managed in the cloud, and you’ll be able to identify issues a lot quicker with increased oversight. Getting rid of print servers creates direct IP printing connections between clients and printers, removing the spooling process permanently and putting any worries of another PrintNightmare vulnerability to rest. 

Put all of these possibilities together and you can see how managing direct IP printing in the cloud translates into fewer print-related helpdesk calls. Overall, serverless printing is more stable and users will be more productive with faster print speeds. 

 

Never deal with slow printing again

PrinterLogic accelerates day-to-day enterprise printing in distributed environments that rely on a centralized print server. Because print jobs generated at remote sites have to first travel to the central server for rendering, then back again to the local printer, printing speeds are subject to WAN traffic loads. This frequently results in the local network printer being slow to respond. 

Available in on-prem or SaaS offerings, our platform is centrally located to minimize infrastructure and reduces print-related WAN traffic by keeping print job communication between user workstations and your printers without leaving the local network. So the next time you get calls about slow network printing, remember there is a way out

Learn more about eliminating your print servers and delivering faster print speeds to your end users.