Connecting Printer Devices
Discover printers on your network, and bring them under management with Avalanche's remote provisioning process. This process requires the Zebra Printer Setup Utility to connect printers to your network.
1. Create a printer device server profile
Printer device servers communicate with printer devices. A printer server profile allows you to configure your printer server settings. Printer management requires an SSL certificate on the printer device server profile. You can use either a third-party certificate (recommended), a certificate signed by Zebra, or a self-signed certificate. For information about obtaining third-party certificates, see Obtaining SSL Certificates. For information about creating a self-signed certificate, see Creating self-signed certificates for printer device servers.
To create a printer device server profile
1.From the Profiles tab, click New Profile.
The New Profile dialog box appears.
2.Click Printer device server.
3.Type the name of the profile in the Name text box, enable the profile, and configure the profile settings.
To add a certificate to a printer device server profile
1.In the Avalanche Console, navigate to the Profiles tab.
2. Select the printer device server profile you want to add the certificate to.
3.Click Edit.
4.In the HTTPS Configuration section, click Browse.
5.Locate the certificate file and click Open.
6.Enter the password associated with the certificate.
7.(Optional) Click View Certificate to verify the certificate imported correctly and has the full certificate chain.
8.Enter the public address of the printer device server.
9.Click Save at the bottom of the profile.
10.Perform or schedule a deployment from the My Enterprise level. For more information, see Applying Profiles.
2. Create a printer folder
Printer management uses dynamic placement to assign newly enrolled printers to folders. It is important to create a folder with printer selection criteria before enrolling printers.
A good way to start organizing your printers is to create a parent folder to gather all Zebra printers, then child folders for specific models. For example:
Manufacturer = Zebra*
Model = 105SL
Model = ZM400
Model = ZT510
To create a folder with selection criteria for printers
1.In the Navigation Tree, select where you want to add the folder and click New Folder.
The New Folder page appears.
2.Type a name for the folder in the text box.
3.If you do not want inherited profiles and device groups to be visible, enable the Hide inherited profiles and device groups option.
4.Next to Printer selection criteria, click Launch Wizard to configure selection criteria for the folder.
5.Enter selection criteria for the folder.
For example, entering Manufacturer = Zebra* will put all of your Zebra printers into this folder. For information about creating more specific selection criteria, see Selection Criteria.
6.(Optional) Configure the latitude and longitude so the new folder is displayed on the map. Click the Use map to plot button to set the latitude and longitude by clicking on the map.
7.Click Save.
8.Perform or schedule a deployment. For more information, see Managing Folders.
3. Connect printers to your network
Printers must be on your network to be discovered by the printer device server. In addition to the following options, printers can also be placed in a cradle with an Ethernet connection, discovered and enrolled, then sent wireless connection information through Avalanche. Beyond enrollment, a wireless connection is required for printers to receive real-time updates from Avalanche.
To connect a printer to your network using the connectivity wizard (recommended for the first printer connection)
1.Open the Zebra Printer Setup Utility.
2.Connect the printer to your PC using a USB cable.
3.If the printer is not automatically discovered, click Install New Printer and follow the installation wizard.
4.Select the printer from the printers list.
5.Click Configure Printer Connectivity.
6.Follow the wizard to enter your network information.
7.On the second to last screen, you will see a set of SGD commands for the options you have configured. These commands can be sent to directly to printers to configure a connection without going through this wizard again. If you are provisioning multiple printers, we recommend copying these commands to a text file for reuse.
8.Select Printer and click Finish.
The configuration is sent to the printer. The printer will restart and connect to your network.
To connect a printer to your network using SGD commands (recommended for additional printer connections)
1.Connect the printer to your PC using a USB cable.
2.In the Zebra Printer Setup Utility, select the printer from the printers list.
3. Click Open Communication With Printer.
4.Copy the SGD commands you generated using the connectivity wizard.
5.Paste the SGD commands into the top text box.
6.Press the Enter key to ensure your cursor is on a new line.
7.Click Send to Printer.
The configuration is sent to the printer. The printer will restart and connect to your network.
4. Discover printers
Scan for manageable printers on your network. Discovery scans are performed by printer device servers. If a printer is enrolled with one printer device server, it is still discoverable by other printer device servers. Avoid placing a printer under management that is already managed by another printer device server. This can result in duplicate license consumption.
To run a printer discovery scan
1.In the Avalanche console, navigate to Enrollment > Printer Discovery.
2.Click Create New Scan.
3.(Optional) Enter a name for the scan. The name defaults to the date and time the scan runs.
4.Select a printer device server (PDS) to run the scan.
5.Enter the network range to scan.
6.Select whether the scan should run now or at a scheduled time.
If you select Run Now, you have the option to select how long the scan will run before timing out.
If you select Schedule, enter date and time the scan will begin. You also have option to enter when the scan will time out.
7.Click Save.
The scan appears in the Discovery Scans list.
To view the results of a scan, navigate to Enrollment > Printer Discovery, select the scan from the Discovery Scans list, and click View. The results appear below in the Discovered Printers list.
To rerun a scan, navigate to Enrollment > Printer Discovery, select the scan from the Discovery Scans list,, click Clone, and edit the run time of the scan.
5. Bring printers under management
Place any discovered printers under management. Once contacted by the printer device server, the printer reboots and begins receiving printer profiles.
To place a printer under management
1.Select a scan from the Discovery Scans list.
2.Select printers in the Discovered Printers list.
3.Click Place Under Management.
The printer device server contacts the selected printers. It may take a few minutes for the printers to fully enroll and appear in the printer inventory.
For information about management options for enrolled printers, see Getting Started with Printer Management in the user guide.