Do I use FTP or SMBv1 for printers?

Federico Coppola 1,181 Reputation points
2021-01-22T18:43:24.187+00:00

Hi all,
In a very small office (there are just two virtual machine and more or less 6 PC joined to domain) there are two LAN Printer and Scanner devices.
In this moment the customer can not replace them and the customer uses these printers to scan paper too.
All scanned file are saved on File Server.

From a few days, we have upgraded servers from Windows Server 2008 R2 to Windows Server 2019, so now File Server is Windows Server 2019 Standard.
I have not enabled SMBv1 on File Server and I would avoid to do it just for two printers.

Do you suggest me to use FTP or SMBv1 inside LAN for scanner?

Printers are not new and I am not sure that I can upgrade firmware so I can use SMBv2/SMBv3.

Thanks
Federico

Windows Server Printing
Windows Server Printing
Windows Server: A family of Microsoft server operating systems that support enterprise-level management, data storage, applications, and communications.Printing: Printer centralized deployment and management, scan and fax resources management, and document services
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  1. Eleven Yu (Shanghai Wicresoft Co,.Ltd.) 10,756 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor
    2021-01-25T05:45:29.41+00:00

    Hi,

    FTP is mostly used to transfer files between the host computer and a server or a website. But by default FTP will transfer your credentials unencrypted. This may be okay on home network, but you will want something more secure when operating on a larger network.

    SMB is mainly used for shared access to printers, files, and ports. Additionally, this also provides an authenticated inter-process communication mechanism.

    Both should work in your environment. But for the purpose of scanning to folder, I think SMB should be better.

    I also did some research, people mentioned that FTP might be faster when transfering file but SMB is easier and more reliable. Most people prefer SMB.

    Thanks,

    Eleven

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