setting up a printer on wireless printserver

jasperok

Ok So i have 20pc's none of which are wireless capable all plugged in to a switch (d-link dgs1024d) this switch is plugged into a wireless router (sweex wireless router) through 1 of 4 ethernet ports it also has. Now in error i have a wireless printserver - If i install the driver for the printer on each pc can i get them to see the printer through the printserver through the switch if you catch my drift - i think someone said this is port forwarding but i am unsure of how to do this in this application.

liamo

Connect the print server to the printer. Try to ping it from one of the PCs. If that works then you've got connectivity. If not, you'll have to establish where it's breaking down.

When you're installing the printer, select Local Printer (not network printer), then when selecting a port, Create a new Port (Standard TCP/IP port) and enter the IP Address of the print server. The rest of the printer install is standard.

Regards,

Liam

jasperok

Thats exactly what i've done but i cant see the printserver thorugh either the pc's or a wireless laptop i have hooked up to the router - there must be a setting on the router to enable it to give printserver info to the switch and vice versa but i dont know what it is.
any more ideas?

oh the router is a Sweex Wireless Broadband Router 11G

liamo

The first connection that you must establish is the link between the wireless router and the print server.

Install NetStumbler and see if you can pick up the print server just to establish that it's actually working!

Is the wireless functionality of the wireless router actually enabled?

Have you configured the print server? Does it need configuring?

Is it connecting to the wireless router? Do you have an Access Control List on the router that's preventing the device from connecting? Do you have a "Connected Devices" list on the router so that you can establish if it's connected?

Do they have the same SSID? Will the print server connect to the first access point it picks up? Might it be connecting to your neighbour's access point?



Regards,

Liam

Foxwood

jasperok wrote:

Ok So i have 20pc's none of which are wireless capable all plugged in to a switch (d-link dgs1024d) this switch is plugged into a wireless router (sweex wireless router) through 1 of 4 ethernet ports it also has. Now in error i have a wireless printserver - If i install the driver for the printer on each pc can i get them to see the printer through the printserver through the switch if you catch my drift - i think someone said this is port forwarding but i am unsure of how to do this in this application.

You don't need any port forwarding in this scenario.

As Liamo said, ignore the whole switch issue - it's not causing your problem.

The key issue here is the connection between the wireless router and the wireless print server. How did you set up the print server? Did you have to connect to it wired a wired connection to set the SSID, etc? What address is it using?

Bottom line - if you can't ping the print server, it's probably because it's not set up properly, it's probably not due to the way your router and swicth are configured.

jasperok

well i am using a laptop with wireless to configure the printserver (no brand name) here are printserver main options---

mode= infastructure (ad-hoc or 8021.1b adhoc is also possible)
essid= <any>
Channel =9
basic rates=1,2,5,11 mbs
wep=disable
beacon interval=100
fragmentation=2346
authenticatin type=open system

obtain ip from dhcp=NO
ip address = 192.168.5.1
sub mask = 255255255224
gateway = 0.0.0.0.

i am totslly lost, if any one could shed some ight that would be great

jasperok

ok enabled dhcp that didnt help so its back off
changed the gateway to that ofhe router cause the subnetmask is same as router aswell
both router and printserver use same channel same ssid and same wep seting and password
still cant ping the printserver from the pcs

Foxwood

jasperok wrote:

well i am using a laptop with wireless to configure the printserver (no brand name) here are printserver main options---

mode= infastructure (ad-hoc or 8021.1b adhoc is also possible)
essid= <any>
Channel =9
basic rates=1,2,5,11 mbs
wep=disable
beacon interval=100
fragmentation=2346
authenticatin type=open system

obtain ip from dhcp=NO
ip address = 192.168.5.1
sub mask = 255255255224
gateway = 0.0.0.0.

i am totslly lost, if any one could shed some ight that would be great

Okay, let's slow things down a little bit. First off, those might be reasonable settings if you just wanted to connect to a printer from a laptop or PC wirelessly, and didn't care about any security on he connection. Just tell the print server to accept a connection from anyting that wants to connect to it. It's a reasonable default setting for a device that can be useful even without an internet connection - doesn't care about the SSID, doesn't need/want encryption. But that's not what you're trying to set up - you want the print server to connect to the Wireless router, so that it is availabe to any of the machines on the LAN.

So what you really need to do is have the Print Server connect itself to, or "log in" to your wireless router (rather than the other way round). So you need to tell the print server the information that it needs to log into the wireless router - the SSID of the router, and the WEP password (though it would be better to use WPA-PSK, it's possible that the no-name device doesn't support this).

So, how have you set the wireless router up? Have you set up an SSID and encryption? Can you connect from the wireless laptop to the wireless router, and if so, hat information do you need to know to do this? Basically, you need to tell the print server the same stuff that the laptop needs to know to log into the router.

The print server should not use DHCP, and you should assign it an IP address in the same subnet as the PCs are getting but outside the DHCP "pool". For example, a router will typcially use 192.168.1.100 to 192.168.1.199 for DHCP addresses. You could give the print server 192.168.1.3 as it's address in that case.

jasperok

yeah done all that
i dont think its possible to do though....
no way of getting the non wireless machines to se the wireless printserver

Foxwood

jasperok wrote:

yeah done all that
i dont think its possible to do though....
no way of getting the non wireless machines to se the wireless printserver

wireless vs non-wireless has nothing to do with it. If the Print Server is connected to the Wireless router, then the other machines that are connected to the router can talk to the print server. If they can't see the print server, it's not because the print server is wireless, it's because you haven't connected the print server to the wireless router.

Here's a little experiment that you can do to help you to understand what's happening.

Connect the laptop to the wireless router (wirelessly, obviousy). Check it's IP address. Ping the laptop from any of the wired PCs. Can you connect to a wireless device from a wired devce? Yes.

Now connect the laptop to the Print Server. Check the laptops address. Tell us what the address of the laptop is in both scenarios.