I have a SBS 2008 Server/Windows 7 environment. We have approx 25 users & 6 Networked printers.
What is the recommended way/what are the advantages disadvantages of having all the printers shared through the Server 2008 Print server vs having workstations connect directly to the workstation printers.
Off the top of my head using the server 2008 print server is a single point of failure but Should make it easier to deploy/manage the printers.
Best Answer
Deploying a print server has many advantages. To start you can deploy printers through group policy which requires no user interaction at all. Alternately you can list them in the directory and allow users to quickly and easily connect to them on there own. You also have centralized management so if a user calls with an issue you don't have to install the printer on your machine or take control of their computer to test it. Also with print management it allows you to list in an easy to browse interface all ports, forms, drivers, and printers available on the server.I personally manage (with other admins) 100's of printers and I could not imagine supporting a large volume of printers without a print server.
Keep in mind though there are disadvantages particularly when installing lots of drivers on one system like you would on a print server. Each driver is going to want to install it's own print processor and method for processing data. I have had a server refuse to allow connections to printers one day for no reason even after no additions or changes were made on that server. Even a call to Microsoft's paid techs was unable to resolve it, my only option was a clean install. Currently I have a print server that will randomly stop printing, with nothing in any of the printer queues, it's almost like it won't accept print jobs. The only problem I find with it is there will be 100's of files in the spool folder that need to be deleted. This is on top of the centralized point of failure, which you already mentioned.
I have only touched on what I personally find useful or a pain with using a print server. I am sure I have missed a lot of functionality that is available if there is a particular obstacle you are trying to overcome just ask.