Can pfsense also act als a print server?

krisken

Right now i have a HP OfficeJet 5510 (quite old, but he do all the stuff great, so why buy a new one ;)) and i want to connect it to my pfsense box using USB so i can share it with my other computers to print some stuff. Computers that only have Win XP and Win Vista. Is it possible to use pfsense 2.0 as a print server?

Kris

tommyboy180

Bad, bad idea. Mixing roles into a single device is a huge security concern.
To answer you question, however, yes; it's possible.
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/books/handbook/printing.html

EDIT: Why don't you share the printer on one of your desktops?

krisken

@tommyboy180:

Bad, bad idea. Mixing roles into a single device is a huge security concern.
To answer you question, however, yes; it's possible.
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/books/handbook/printing.html

EDIT: Why don't you share the printer on one of your desktops?

My router is turned on 24/7, but my desktops aren't :)

Buy a very inexpensive print server which plugs into your printer's parallel port. Problem solved.

tommyboy180

@krisken:

@tommyboy180:

Bad, bad idea. Mixing roles into a single device is a huge security concern.
To answer you question, however, yes; it's possible.
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/books/handbook/printing.html

EDIT: Why don't you share the printer on one of your desktops?

My router is turned on 24/7, but my desktops aren't :)

You can setup windows to 'wake up' if something needs to be printed.

krisken

@tommyboy180:

@krisken:

@tommyboy180:

Bad, bad idea. Mixing roles into a single device is a huge security concern.
To answer you question, however, yes; it's possible.
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/books/handbook/printing.html

EDIT: Why don't you share the printer on one of your desktops?

My router is turned on 24/7, but my desktops aren't :)

You can setup windows to 'wake up' if something needs to be printed.

True, but very inefficient and energy-wasted!

Firewalls have no business also being print servers. Its as simple as that.

krisken

@submicron:

Firewalls have no business also being print servers. Its as simple as that.

Well OK, so it will be a normal printserver solution :)

jimp

It's the same issue as Jurassic Park…

Just because something can be done, doesn't mean it should be done. :-)

fastcon68

JIMP, I love the comment.
RC