Network-Configuration / Printing Protocols / Printing Services

[LexusPolaris]

Hey there you guys!

At first, please excuse my possible incorrect english, I'm not a native speaker. 😃

I bought a Laserjet Pro MFP M148fdw the other day and wanted to set it up as a network-mfp. It's connected via Ethernet with my network. Wireless and WiFi-Direct are disabled.

Problem is, I got really confused by all the possibilities in the "advanced configuration" tab in the network-options, allthough I work as an IT-support / network technician. 😄 The device works perfectly well in standard-mode, but due to security reasons I want to alter this configuration. So maybe, you can help me figure out some of the options here, because almost none of them are documented in the HP-manuals. And in the HP-"minimum security guides" there even are some contradictions concerning the printing protocols.

So, let's start:

IPv4, IPv6, DHCP and DHCPv6 and "DHCPv4 FQDN compliance" are enabled (of course, no need for explanation here).

BOOTP and AUTOIP is disabled (ouf course, DHCP is enabled).

LLMNR is also disabled because my router acts as a DNS-Server (hope I got that right).

Also, there is no apple stuff on my network, so Bonjour, Airprint, eSCL (AirPrint-Scan), Airprint-FaxOut are disabled as well.

So far so good.

As far as I'm concerned IPP/IPPs is the best printing protocol because it has way more possibilities (bidirectional communication, etc.) and is more secure than LPD and 9100. So I'd like to turn off LPD Printing (including LPD Banner Page Printing) and 9100 Printing. Unfortunately with this constellation you cannot install the printer with the HP-software. You need to turn on 9100 Printing and the whole WS-services (WS-Discovery, WS-Printing, WS-Scanning), otherwise the hp-software won't recognize the device on the network and refuses to install it.

So the first questions are:

What are the WS-Services and in which cases do I need them to install / use the device?

How can I install the printer with IPP/IPPs enabled but all other printing protocols / services disabled, if that's even possible?

Do I need to turn on IPP and IPPs or would IPPs run without IPP beeing switched on?

During the installation of the device (I experimented a lot with the options) I figured out that you cannot install the fax-part of the HP-software (the software won't connect with the device) unless SLP is turned on.

Do I need SLP being switched on to make the fax-function work or is that only needed for the installation?

Of course I want to scan over the network, maybe Scan-To-Folder (which you need SMB for), etc.

What are SOAP-Scan, eCCL and eFCL? And when do I need them to make what functions work?

There is the last option "Show IP Adress", what does that mean? Does the device publicate only it's domain-name with this option turned off or how does it work?

And last but not least, do I need SNMP to be turned on? Of course, I want to check some informations (like toner level and amount of paper etc.) but don't want to monitor the device with some special software.

Ok, so much from me. Thanks for reading this little novel 😄 and thanks in advance for helping. After all, HP-products are really good (I had good experiences with them) but they definitely should work on their documentations. 😉

Greetings!

Alex

P.S.

I added a screenshot from the advanced-network-options. It's not from my device (found it on the internet) but there are all options shown.

[Repairatrooper]

HP has numerous documents on how to secure printers, here is one sample, but if you google you can find others.

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c03137192

If you are using IPPs because you want an encrypted data stream that is not the only way to achieve this, although I am not sure that low end consumer products like the one you have chosen will support all of the advanced functions of HP UPD drivers. For business enterprise applications an HP Enterprise MFP would always be the best choice.

The show address is simply means the IP address of the printer will be shown on the control panel of the printer. 

[LexusPolaris]

Hey Trooper,

thank you very much for your information and the link, that helped a bit. I already had this pdf but didn't realize that there are explanations at the end of the document. Just read the table with "disabling this will disable...", which wasn't very helpful.

But now that I realized that there are explanations, it will get me through some of the options. And thanks for the hint on "show ip adress", too. 😃

I talked to a colleague and he guessed that SOAP-scan would mean something like scanning from documents with specific informations (e.g. barcodes or qr-codes) and making the scanner-software convert this informations and put it in a database for example, is that correct?

And do you know what eCCL and eFCL stands for? Except for one posting in another HP-Community thread, with a not very useful answer, there is nothing on the whole web (except for one blogpost of a guy, wo said it is needed for waking up the printer).

Anyway, thank you very much for you answer and your help.

Greetings

Alex