The goal of setting up printers on a network is to give users access to one or more printers. As an administrator, you must determine whether each printer would be best used if it is dedicated to one system or available to many systems. In a network environment, distribute your printers on several print servers. The advantage of setting up several print servers is that when one print server has a problem, you can route print requests to other print servers.

If you use a centralized print configuration, you can still connect printers to user systems for convenience or for improved response. A printer that is connected to a user system is still available to other systems on the network.

The following figure shows an example of how you can have a centralized print configuration and still connect printers to users' systems.

Figure 2.1. How to Distribute Printers on a Network

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