A print server is a computer, small network device or cloud service that sits between your staff and your printers. It receives print jobs, holds them in a queue, hands out the right drivers and sends each job to the correct printer with the correct settings. Some offices still depend on one every day. Others have replaced it with cloud print management or simply print straight to each device.

Which camp you belong in comes down to how many printers you run, how many people share them and how much control you want. A five-person real estate office and a 60-person medical practice need very different things. Our technicians set up and support printing for offices across Colorado Springs and Pueblo, and this question comes up whenever an old server in the closet starts acting its age.

What Happens When You Click Print

NIST defines a server as a device that manages network resources and lists print servers that manage one or more printers as one of the standard examples. In practice, it works like a dispatcher for your office’s printing.

The trip from your desk to the tray

Your computer converts the document into a print job and sends it across the office network to the server. The server writes the job to disk, a step called spooling, then passes it to the printer when the printer is ready. Spooling is why you can close a 40-page report and keep working while it prints, and why two people sending big jobs at once do not end up with their pages shuffled together.

Queues, drivers and permissions

Three jobs make a print server valuable:

• The queue. Every job waits its turn in one place, so IT can see what is stuck, pause a printer for service or move jobs to another device.
• Drivers. The driver translates your document into a language the printer understands. With a server, IT installs and updates drivers once, and every computer pulls the right one automatically. Nobody has to visit 25 desks after an update.
• Permissions. You can limit color to certain staff, keep the check printer in accounting off everyone else’s list, or block printing to a device after hours.

The protocols underneath

Printers and computers talk using a few common protocols. You rarely need to choose one, but knowing the names helps when a new laptop or phone cannot find a printer.

Protocol	Usual port	Where you see it
IPP (Internet Printing Protocol)	631	Modern standard, supports encryption, used by AirPrint and most cloud printing
Raw / JetDirect	9100	Simple, fast direct printing supported by most office devices
LPD (Line Printer Daemon)	515	Older protocol still found on many printers and Linux systems

If a device that should work cannot see a printer, the fix is often turning on the protocol it expects or opening the right port. A tidy office network setup for printers prevents most of these surprises.

Your Four Options

The server built into the printer

Almost every modern office printer and copier has a small print server built in. It gives the device its own network address and lets several people print to it. For an office with one or two shared machines, that is often all you need. Small external print server boxes do the same job for older USB-only printers. The limit is control: each device is managed on its own, with no single screen for drivers, rules or reports.

A Windows or Linux print server

This is the traditional setup. A Windows server shares the printers, pushes drivers and uses the same staff accounts you already have. Linux servers usually run CUPS, the same printing system Macs use, and work well in offices with a mix of Windows, Mac and Chromebook users. Either can run on its own hardware or as a virtual machine on an existing server. Both need regular patching, monitoring and a backup, just like any other server.

Cloud print management

Cloud services move the queue and the management tools off site. Microsoft says Universal Print, part of Microsoft 365, is built on IPP and Mopria standards so compatible printers can connect without a local print server or per-computer drivers. Other print management tools work in a similar way, with jobs and rules held in the cloud and a small connector bridging older printers that lack native support. This suits offices with remote staff, more than one location, or no appetite for maintaining another box in the closet.

Direct IP printing

Each computer sends jobs straight to the printer’s network address with nothing in between. It is the simplest option and works fine for a handful of users. The trade-offs show up as you grow: a driver to maintain on every computer, no central record of who printed what, and a round of desk visits whenever a printer’s address changes.

Option	Best fit	Central driver control	Usage reports	Upkeep
Built-in or box server	1 to 3 shared printers	No	Limited	Low
Windows or Linux server	Several printers at one site	Yes	Yes, with software	Medium to high
Cloud print management	Remote or multi-site teams	Yes	Yes	Low on site
Direct IP printing	Very small offices	No	No	Per computer

Not sure which option fits your office? We can look at your printers, your network and how your staff work, then recommend the simplest setup that does the job. See our print management solutions or call 719.630.8600 to talk it through.

Signs Your Current Setup Is Struggling

Your printing will usually tell you when something needs to change. Watch for these patterns:

• Jobs stuck in the queue. This often means the print spooler service has stalled, or the server is low on disk space or memory. If restarting the spooler has become a weekly ritual, the server needs attention.
• Printers disappearing after updates. Garbled pages, missing tray options or printers that vanish after a Windows update point to driver or protocol changes. Central driver management turns a dozen desk visits into one fix.
• No answers about usage. If nobody can say which department prints the most color or which printer carries the load, you have no data to plan with.
• One point of failure. If the server goes down and nobody in the building can print, you need a fallback.

Larger organizations with many sites and hundreds of users face these problems at a bigger scale. Our article on print management for an enterprise covers that side.

Keeping Any Setup Secure and Reliable

Each option needs a little care to stay healthy:

• On-site server: install security updates every month, watch disk space, back the server up and decide in advance what staff do if it goes offline. The Windows Print Spooler has had serious security flaws over the years, including the 2021 PrintNightmare vulnerability, so an unpatched print server is a real risk.
• Cloud print management: keep your internet connection reliable, manage user accounts carefully and confirm that jobs are encrypted in transit.
• Built-in servers and direct printing: update printer firmware, change default admin passwords and turn off services you do not use.

A simple outage plan helps too. Many offices keep direct IP printing configured on one or two key computers so payroll and patient check-in can still print if the server or internet connection drops.

If you do not have in-house IT, this is exactly the kind of routine work our managed IT services team handles: patching, monitoring and backups for print servers and everything else on your network, with 24/7 support. We can also work alongside an in-house IT person if you already have one.

Choosing What Fits

A small office with a couple of shared printers can run happily on built-in servers or direct printing. An office with many shared devices, sensitive documents or staff who move between locations will usually get more from a central server or a cloud service. Some offices keep a server because they have older printers or need tight local control, and that is a valid choice when it is maintained well.

Axis has supported printing and networks for Southern Colorado businesses since 1978. Because the same local team handles both the printers and the IT, nobody points fingers when a print job goes missing between the computer and the copier. Our own employee technicians keep customer fleets at 99% equipment uptime.

Ready to simplify how your office prints? Give us a call at 719.630.8600 in Colorado Springs or 719.543.8600 in Pueblo, or ask for a quote and we will review your setup with you.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a print server address and where do I find it?

It is the network name or IP address of the server that shares your printers, something like \\printserver or 192.168.1.20. Your IT contact can give it to you, and on Windows it often appears in the printer’s properties under the port or location field.

What does it mean when IT asks me to “add” a print server?

It means connecting your computer to the central server so you can see its shared printers. Once connected, your computer downloads the drivers and settings it needs and you just choose a printer.

Can I turn an ordinary office computer into a print server?

Yes. Windows, Mac and Linux computers can all share printers. Just remember it has to stay on during business hours and be kept patched, because printing stops for everyone when it goes offline.

Does cloud printing work when the internet is down?

Usually not for new jobs, since the queue lives online. Some services offer a local fallback, and you can always print directly to a nearby printer by IP address until the connection returns.

Do mobile phones and tablets need a print server?

Not necessarily. Most phones print over IPP directly to compatible printers on the same network. A server or cloud service becomes useful when you want those mobile jobs tracked and controlled like everything else.