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Choosing the print protocol

This page applies to:

To create a dependable printing setup, you need the right print delivery method for your environment. You can either let PaperCut Hive and Pocket automatically determine the print delivery method (Auto option), or you can set the method(s) yourself to those that best suit your environment (Custom option).

How print job delivery works

When a computer has PaperCut Hive or Pocket installed, the computer can send print jobs to a printer using one of these three protocols:

  • Raw printing: 9100
  • Local Queue Delivery (requires a print queue set up on a computer)
  • IPP (Internet Printing Protocol)

The delivery method used depends on how your network is set up and the specific printers you use.

If you need help on what protocols to use in your network, check out our handy guides on common network environments.

Why change the print protocol?

As an administrator, you might want to control exactly how a print job is delivered to your printer, right down to the protocol used. For example, it is common for port 9100 to be blocked in a network environment. Therefore, to prevent PaperCut Hive or Pocket from even trying port 9100, you might want to customize your print protocol to use IPP only.

Another common scenario is that as an administrator, you know there are legacy print queues installed on some users’ devices. These queues may have print drivers for a different OEM to the current fleet of printers. Therefore, if PaperCut Hive or Pocket try to route a print job through the legacy print queue, it is likely to fail. In this scenario, you would want to make sure PaperCut never attempts to use local queues.

Delivery methods explained

Raw Printing:9100

This method does not require a printer driver to be installed on a computer (edge node). However, in the Queues and Drivers page you need to establish a Find-Me queue that uses a manufacturer driver.

Local Queue Delivery

Select this method to use print queues installed on dependable computers (with the PaperCut Print Client installed).

Often Local Queue Delivery is preferable when on a specific client, a specific local queue has been set up for print delivery.

To force PaperCut to route jobs through this specific client’s print queue, we recommend using a Print Delivery Profile to set up an “Individually selected client” for this client. This will force PaperCut Hive or Pocket to attempt to route the print data through this client for any printer within that Print Delivery Profile.

To learn more, take a look at Print Delivery Profiles .

IPP

This method does not require driver installation. IPP is a common Print Protocol available on most modern printers. If a printer supports IPP and IPPS, PaperCut Hive or Pocket will always attempt to use IPPS first.

Using the Default option

When you use this option, PaperCut Hive or Pocket determines what print delivery method to use based on the printer the user selects when they send their print job.

The Default option endeavors to use Raw Printing: 9100 where possible. However, if the print job is using the default driver, it won’t be able to use this method.

Next it will look for a print queue (driver), and if available, use that. If there are no print queues, it will use the third method, which is IPP.

To use the Default option:

  1. In the Printers list, click the printer. The printer details page is displayed.
  2. Click the Advanced tab, go to the Print protocol section, and then in the dropdown menu select Default.
  3. Click Save Changes.

Using the Custom option

You can determine how print jobs are delivered by setting the delivery method(s) yourself:

  • Primary delivery method - First method to use when when trying to deliver print jobs.
  • Secondary delivery method - The fall back method for if the primary method doesn’t work. This is optional.
  • Tertiary delivery method - The fall back method for if the secondary method doesn’t work. This is optional.

To use the Custom option:

  1. In the Printers list, click the printer. The printer details page is displayed.
  2. Click the Advanced tab, go to the Print protocol section, and then in the dropdown menu select Custom. Sections for the primary, secondary, and tertiary delivery methods are now displayed.
  3. Decide if you want to use the Raw Printing:9100, Local Queue Delivery, or IPP.​​​
  4. Complete the fields for the primary method, and optionally, for  the secondary method and tertiary method.
  5. Click Save Changes.

Remember to test your setup!

FAQs

What happened to the "Handled by" option?
For the Q3 2024 PaperCut Hive & Pocket release, we removed the option to set the “Handled by” option at the Print Protocol level. This level of control is now performed with Print Delivery Profiles. To learn why and how to set this up, please click here for more information.

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