Best practices for printing with PaperCut Hive and Pocket

The PaperCut Hive and Pocket default settings help organizations get printing quickly. After the initial setup, you can use several advanced features to help users get their print jobs with less fuss.

Below is proven advice from PaperCut experts with the surest ways to improve printer availability and minimize user frustration.

Enable the Cloud Node

The Cloud Node allows users to submit print jobs from anywhere—home, cafes, or guest Wi-Fi, and release them later at the office. This is off by default so organizations can decide if printing through the cloud fits their security and data privacy policies.

As a bonus this can also help deliver the print job even if the user accidentally connects to the wrong network, or some other connectivity issue occurs. So we recommend turning it on to improve the user’s experience.

To enable Cloud Printing…
Follow the steps to add the Cloud Node to your mesh. Note that it can take up to 12 hours for all devices to begin replicating jobs to the cloud.

If you can’t use the Cloud Node…
Users must stay on the company network to print. Ensure port 9264 is open from the user’s device to other nodes in the edge mesh.

Deploy print queues with manufacturer drivers

By default, PaperCut Pocket and Hive deliver print jobs using IPP and local queue delivery which are activated immediately after set up.

However the best, most reliable print delivery protocol isn’t activated right away. In order to use it you have to go to Print Queues and start adding print drivers to deploy to users.

Once drivers are deployed, that unlocks the Raw printing:9100 delivery protocol and PaperCut will use it as the preferred printing wherever possible.

RAW/9100 is the most widely used and supported print protocol across the industry, and its broad adoption makes it the most reliable and feature-rich option available in Hive and Pocket. It also goes by some other names including AppSocket and JetDirect.

As an added benefit, deploying OEM drivers also unlocks manufacturer-specific functionality such as stapling, hole punching, tray selection, and other finishing options depending on what the printer hardware supports.

For step-by-step instructions, see Preparing a printer driver and Creating and deploying print queues.

Plan for Chrome and mobile printing

Chromebooks, iOS, and Android devices can submit print jobs in PaperCut Hive, but they come with some important limitations to accomodate.

• These devices can participate in the Edge Mesh as job submitters only — they cannot act as edge nodes to replicate or deliver jobs to printers. This means at least one Windows or macOS machine must be present in the environment to serve as an edge node.
• Additionally, jobs from these devices are always submitted as PDFs and can only be delivered via IPP or local queue delivery so neither of these protocols should be disabled.
• Some printers cannot accept PDF jobs over IPP. In those cases, a local print queue is the only viable delivery path for Chrome and mobile users.

To reliably support Chrome, Android, and iOS printing, set up a dedicated edge node running the Hive client continuously to relay print jobs. For additional reliability, configure a Print Delivery Profile with dedicated, always-available edge nodes to give jobs a predictable delivery path.

Assign static IPs to printers and priority nodes

Keeping IP addresses stable is one of the simplest and most impactful things you can do to ensure reliable printing in PaperCut Hive and Pocket. Static IPs can be configured on each device type, but we much prefer to assign IP addresses using DHCP reservations using a dedicated DHCP server or your networking hardware as this is much easier to manage centrally.

Printers and MFDs

These devices need a static IP for consistent printing and monitoring.

• Without a static IP, a printer’s IP address can change without warning during a routine lease renewal. When this happens, PaperCut Hive and Pocket will attempt to rediscover the device at its new address and merge it with the existing record, but printing may be disrupted while this process completes.
• If two printers share the same IP address, jobs can be silently routed to the wrong device. This is why it’s so important to manage static IPs with DHCP reservations in one spot.
• For MFDs running the PaperCut Hive embedded app, a static IP also gives Hive consistent access to monitor the device and its supplies. See: DNS considerations when using PaperCut Hive MFD embedded software.

Priority nodes (also known as super nodes)

Priority nodes, referred to as super nodes in the PaperCut Hive and Pocket admin console, are expected to be the most consistently available machines in your Edge Mesh. A dynamic IP address works against that goal. Our article Best practices for super nodes article spells out a couple reasons:

• iOS printing relies on a printer profile that is tied to the IP address of your priority node(s). If that address changes, iOS devices will be unable to find the node and print jobs will fail.
• Print delivery reliability - priority nodes carry more weight in the job handling process. An offline or unreachable node due to an unexpected IP change undermines the stability of your Edge Mesh.

Proactively check network connectivity

Network issues are one of the most common causes of print delivery failures in PaperCut Hive and Pocket. Proactively validating your network — before deployment and after major changes — can save significant troubleshooting time.

• Run the PaperCut Hive Compatibility Tool - The PaperCut Hive and Pocket Compatibility Toolis a standalone utility that validates your network environment against PaperCut Hive’s requirements. It does not require a PaperCut installation to run.
• Review firewall requirements - For the full list of required URLs and ports, see the Firewall and networking section of the system requirements page which includes a visual diagram.

Consider setting up Print Delivery Profiles

PaperCut Hive automatically selects the best path for a print job by analyzing network statistics. The system picks a group of computers with the highest success rate for reaching a specific printer. This mode is called Autopilot, and the system improves as users print more often.

However if you require specific control, configure a Print Delivery Profile to pre-plan a fixed path. This ensures specific computers handle print jobs, which can improve reliability in complex environments.

For many customers, Autopilot will work just fine but we recommend configuring configuring Print Delivery Profiles in these situations:

• Embedded applications on Xerox, Konica, or Toshiba: Print Delivery Profiles are needed to ensure that a reliable, always-on client is prioritized for tasks such as scanning, login, and other features.
• Keep print traffic local: For organizations with multiple locations, profiles keep traffic local and prevent the system from routing a print job over a slow wide-area network (WAN) to a computer in a different building or city.
• Zero Trust environments or segmented networks: Profiles allow specific clients to route jobs in environments where user clients do not have direct access to printer VLANs.
• Support for iOS, Android, or ChromeOS users: These devices do not have traditional print drivers and do not print directly to printers through PaperCut Hive and Pocket. Users benefit when an administrator selects a reliable computer to route jobs.
• Troubleshooting: Profiles allow you to define which clients handle print traffic to help identify issues. This ensures a specific print queue on a certain node delivers the print job.

To start using this feature, refer to the steps in Configuring Print Delivery profiles.