How PrintWayy works

Learn more about PrintWayy

PrintWayy is a solution for monitoring print environments, which
captures counters, supplies and alerts from printers and MFPs and
makes this information available to print outsourcing providers and their
outsourcing provider and its customers.

PrintWayy is divided into three parts:

PrintWayy Client

PrintWayy Client is the module installed in the environment where the printers are,
usually in a print server, and is responsible for capturing data from the
capture data from the printers. The Client is composed by an administration tool, Windows
desktop, and 4 services that run in the background.

Administration tool

It is only used by the provider's technicians to indicate, among other configurations, which printers should be monitored, right after installation.
The services that run in the background are:

NetClient Service

This service is responsible for monitoring the printers and generate a compacted and encrypted file with the captured information. Every 30 minutes the service communicates with each printer on the network, going directly to the IP address configured in the system, and requests some information through the SNMP network protocol and sequences existing in the standard PrinterMIB implemented by each manufacturer / printer model.

The following information is collected from each monitored printer:

For each counter the current value and the type are collected.
Example: B/W printing current value 15256 pages.

For each procurement, the type and current level are collected.
Example: Black toner at 80% of current level.

For each alert, its type and description are collected.
Example: "Toner low

Each set of data collected is inserted into a JSON file, which goes through an encryption and compression algorithm, both developed by PrintWayy. This way, we guarantee the confidentiality of the information collected and also a very low disk space required for the temporary storage of this file.
The generated file also has its own extension (.plog) and is stored in a
solution's working directory for later sending to the server.

This service is responsible for monitoring the .plog files directory and sending them through a webservice to the PrintWayy server. The webservice used in this communication has the following address:

The sending occurs with a secure connection through the HTTPS protocol, port 443, the same standard used by banks and well-known e-mail services.

Updater Service

This service is responsible for consulting the SouthWayy server, every 2 hours, in
for possible updates that have been made available. Updates include
corrections and improvements in the modules cited in this document, when necessary. A
search for possible updates is also performed via webservice, secure connection
at the following address:

Updater Guardian Service

This service is responsible for monitoring the activity of the services mentioned above
and ensure that they remain running.
When installing the PrintWayy Client package on the server, you can define Proxy settings, including server address, communication port and authentication if any.

PrintWayy Server

The data collected by PrintWayy Client and received on the PrintWayy server is stored in a robust and secure cloud computing structure, Microsoft Azure.
Once the information is received, the .plog files are unzipped and decrypted and a set of services process the information, which is then made available for viewing on the PrintWayy website.

PrintWayy website

The PrintWayy Website is a web application where the provider's users and its clients can consult the information about the data collected from the printers and MFPs. As with the communication between Client and Server, access to the
page is accessed through a secure communication channel (HTTPS). In addition,
access is individual, where each user must enter their email address and password to access. PrintWayy can be accessed at www.printwayy.com.

PrintWayy Client installation requirements

Operating System Requirements

Compatible with Microsoft Windows systems, minimum versions required:
Windows XP SP3 or Windows Server 2003 SP2;

Hardware requirements

  • 1Ghz processor or higher;
  • 1GB RAM or more;
  • 850MB of free disk space(for x86 architecture);
  • 2GB free disk space (for x64 architecture).

Environmental requirements

  • .Net Framework 4.0 - for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 environments;
  • .Net Framework 4.5.1 - for environments with Windows 7 and higher or Windows
    Server 2008 and higher;
  • You must run the installation and services with Administrator user or
    user who is in the Administrators group on the workstation;
  • UDP ports 161 and 162 enabled on the firewall. These ports are used to read data from network printers, via the SNMP protocol;
  • Internet connection and access to PrintWayy WebServices:
    https://ws.southwayy.com/southwayywebservice.asmx.

ARCHITECTURE AND OPERATION OF PRINTWAYY

IMPORTANT: all communications via web service and access to the PrintWayy portal are done through a secure connection, using the HTTPS protocol. Learn more about compliance and security of PrintWayy products by clicking here.

 

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