Q: Airprint with Enterprise wifi
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Jul 7, 2011 10:49 AMby wildkatsss,Thanks for the response.
I have tried to print from Safari, e-mail and photo gallery withthe same results.
While I agree in principle with purhcasing another printer that might work, we purhcased this printer exclusively since it was on Apple's approved AirPrint list and I feel that this must work.
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Jul 7, 2011 12:33 PMby wildkatsss,FYI to any others running into this issue.
I found the information below on HP's website:
Follow these steps to make sure that your router can forward Bonjour packets, and then turn the Apple device off and on.
Step one: Make sure that your router can forward Bonjour packets
Bonjour packets allow devices to automatically find each other by utilizing multicast Domain Name System (mDNS) service records. If your router forwards Bonjour packets, you do not have to enter an IP address to search for a device.The Bonjour service communicates across UDP port 5353.
I have asked my network deptartment to make sure we are not blocking port 5353. I will follow up once they have a chance to check out our network.
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Jul 7, 2011 12:51 PMby Bonesaw1962,We also had this experience a while back...we had to check the Access Point and the "controller" that manages the access points....the good news was that once our WAN team had it set up right, it was immediately visible..no questions asked. We used an HP 1525CW and once the issues in the infrastructure were cleared up, it worked great...one thing to consider, as I recall the Bonjour packet is mDNS and non-routable so it can't broadcast across a wide area network so the printer is only visible to users within the scope of the access point or "controller" ...also consider giving the printer a logical name that will distinguish it from other Bonjour enabled printers in the area..this way the users will be clear on which one to connect to.
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Jul 8, 2011 11:05 AMby wildkatsss,Just as follow up....I am now 100% sure either the controller or router interface is blocking the Bonjour packets. I was able to set up an ad-hoc network beween the Envy 100 and the iPad and printed with no issues. The iPad immediately saw the printer. I also borrowed a stand-alone AP, configured a unique ssid, connected both the Envy and iPad and printed with no issues.
I met with my Senior WLAN engineer and he is looking into it.
Hopefully more to come......
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Jul 8, 2011 11:39 AMby Bonesaw1962,Yes. It's pretty cool when it shows right up . This is the same exact set of experiences that we had. Once the infrastructure people make the necessary changes it will work great. In our environment, a "controller" which existed logically someplace managed multiple access points. Once they made the necessary change on the "controller" the printer was visible at all of the access points managed by that "controller". We got it to work, for testing, in the scope of 1 "controller" that managed three access points in 1 floor of our IT building. The printer was visible to iPad wi-fi clients connecting to those access points. As I recall the clients also had to be on the same wi-fi network (same ssid) as the printer, and perhaps in the same IP subnet. The printer connected to one of the 3 access points, and the iPad devices could immediately see the printer while connecting to any of the 3 access points managed by the same "controller".
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Mar 1, 2013 10:19 AMby Deanoeac,AirPrint will only work on a single wireless access point. AirPrint network capability is limited and cannot talk accross multiple wireless access points and makes it not very user friendly in a business environment.
We had to install multiple access points in our office and had great difficulty setting this up. To resolve the issue we had to set the second access point up in repeater mode and disconnect the LAN connection. This now works fine.
However setting the wireless network up like this significantly downgrades your wireless throughput and erased our investment in a wifi upgrade.
Network compatibility is something Apple need to work on. This maybe purposely restricted for Apple software security issues. Maybe Apple will post the reasons why?
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Mar 1, 2013 7:47 PMby iToaster,If you has ios devices and don't want to purchase airprint capable printers
if you have a spare pc all you need do is install lunix and CUPS
the latest versions of CUPS suport airpint out of the box
add your printer to the linux box
You can run CUPS on a raspberry pi , a small low power $25.00 computer
If you have osx server you can also edit a few lines in CUPS to enable AirPrint
There is also software for windows and mac that will enable AirPrint for none AirPrint printers
The machine running the software would have to be on 24/7
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Mar 1, 2013 8:06 PMby iToaster,that's not true in my case
I have multiple managed AP's
However I'm not using an AirPrint printer I have used CUPS and 3rd party software to enable AirPrint for none AirPrint network printers
Perhaps your problem may be subneting or vlan issues or perhaps your setup is not allowing Bonjour mDNS
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Mar 2, 2013 9:29 AMby Deanoeac,Hi and thank you for your reply. Think our IT guy has enabled bonjour as installed on all our PC's. think this is needed for Filemaker. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
I initially set up 2 wifi access points in our office due to lack of signal in our meeting room. All seamed to work ok for network and web access problem free on all devices including iPhones and pads. It was only when my director set up an air printer that problems started. He could print to when connected to same wifi AP but could not when connected to AP2. You can access the printer setup via IP from all locations.
I am sure our wifi is not managed or externally controlled and not sure how to do this on a limited budget and do not really want to purchase additional hardware. However can this be managed by our MS Small business server 2012? This would be a good solution with minimal expense.
Also your other solution may be useful (cups & software). We have a windows XP pro PC operating as a print server for our HP cad plotter and always on. Maybe this can also serve our air printer.
At home I have a brother network hard wired printer (1650/1670n) that I would also like to print to occasionally from iPad. Is this possible without leaving additional hardware running? Only one Wifi AP. All laptops can connect to this via IP. Is there not a driver or app that can allow basic IP printing on the iPad?
