print server - technical definition

(1) A computer in a network that controls one or more printers. It is either part of the network operating system or an add-on utility that stores the print-image output from users' machines and feeds it to the printer one job at a time. The computer and its printers are known as a "print server" or a file server with "print services."

(2) A hardware device that enables a printer to be located anywhere in the network. Available as a plug-in card for printers that have an expansion slot or as an external unit that plugs into the printer's parallel port, print servers have an Ethernet port for network connection. The print server uses the printer's memory to queue the print jobs.

A print server can be used with or without a file server dedicated to print services (see definition above). If there is not enough memory in the printer to hold the entire print job, the print server causes the print services machine or the individual client machines to spool the print output in the background. See print spooler.