Posted by Devin Anderson
Thanks to proximity-based printing in Citrix, it’s possible for users to have nearby network printers automatically installed on their devices based on their current location. For example, a mobile employee with her own laptop can visit a different branch every day and have the local printers installed from the moment she initiates the Citrix session. Because this feature is so convenient for the end user as well as the service desk, proximity-based printing is something that many organizations wouldn’t dream of operating without.
Even though “proximity” suggests geospatial criteria, the method Citrix uses is actually network-based. When nearby printers are automatically installed for our hypothetical branch-hopping mobile employee, Citrix is actually determining her IP and mapping to a network printer (along with the corresponding driver) in the same subnet.
Setting up proximity printing with Citrix is pretty straightforward. Here’s a general step-by-step for Virtual Apps and Virtual Desktops:
- Start by creating a unique Citrix policy for each subnet. These subnets can be assigned to branches, floors or even departments. The more specific your network is, the more accurate proximity printing will be.
- Enable proximity printing. You can do this using the session printing policy rule under Citrix policies.
- Choose the desired printers. Add the printers within that subnet to the Citrix policy.
- Select the default policy. Be sure to assign the default printer policy, not the user’s default printer setting.
- Set the filtering criteria. Enable the client IP address as the policy filter.
Of course, the absolute best way to set up proximity printing with Citrix is by using PrinterLogic. That’s because, even in advanced virtual environments like Citrix, deploying and administering printers or managing drivers across the entire enterprise can be a real challenge. And virtual environments come with their own inherent printing drawbacks, such as print jobs generating extra WAN traffic that can degrade network performance.
PrinterLogic builds on existing technologies like proximity-based printing while working seamlessly alongside Citrix to make enterprise printing and print management exponentially easier. By implementing PrinterLogic in a Citrix environment, you can also automatically install printers on a workstation according to multiple criteria such as:
- IP address
- Computer (host) name
- Active Directory (AD) computer or group
- AD organizational unit (OU) membership
And in addition to enhanced proximity-based printing, with PrinterLogic you and your end users can enjoy benefits like instant printer creation, improved Citrix server performance, support for the Citrix Universal Printer Driver, end-user self-service printer installation and freedom from the hassle of rights management.
There’s no doubt that Citrix and its proximity-based printing capabilities are incredibly useful, but it’s possible to take your enterprise print environment even further. To make it more feature-rich while making it even easier to manage. To empower your end users and reduce the burden on the service desk. That’s why setting up proximity printing with Citrix should involve setting up PrinterLogic too.