Printer load balancing implies the distribution of printing load between two or multiple printers. The easiest way to do this is to rely on the user to pick a free printer. This easily distributes the load. The term usually refers to load balancing through automatic means.
Software is easy to find
A number of proprietary technologies exist to implement sublimation printer load balancing. These could be purchased while buying the machines or it is possible to buy them separately as well. It is not hard to set up such a system in direct printing environments.
Printer load balancing can be achieved at a number of different layers. None of these layers are mutually exclusive. There are three layers associated with this process- the network or hardware layer, operating system layer and the proprietary software itself. The network layer is known as clustering. The operating system type is known as the printer pooling in multiple software environments. The proprietary software is the most used.
Balancing loads
The software adds the much-needed value to load balancing which is available in the clusters and in the operating systems by making sure that the sublimation printers carry equal loads. Fault tolerance services will be offered along with load balancing. The printer pooling frequently picks the printer available at the earliest and in a predefined order. Printers do not suffer even wear and tear. Heaviest work is done by the first printer. Many printers may sit completely idle. The bad effects of such electronics can be reduced by periodically rotating the printers. Premium software makes this duty redundant. The jobs get evenly distributed among the queues dependent on the complex algorithms which include a number of factors.
These are achieved by estimating the present print load by inspecting the past print history. This estimate is done by calculating pages per minute or PPM for an average printer. A better code, however, improves the PPM value by 'watching' the printer. It also learns over time. The selected printer is the one which will likely get the job done the fastest. In case all printers are equal, then any random printer gets selected. Load gets distributed evenly over time. If any printer has shown any error message, it should be avoided if it is possible to do so. If all fails, reset the printer. A better software provides an option to the user as to where they can send the print job.
