Print Server: Net Traffic After Turn Off Capture Printer

I have noticed that the network traffic light becomes very active after turning off a printer captured by an AppleShare Print Server. Can you provide any information as to why this happens.
If a printer is turned off after being captured by an AppleShare Print Server, the server will start sending out AARP (AppleTalk Address Resolution Protocol) packets at a rate of 10 every second. This causes some extra traffic on the network, but by most network standards this extra traffic is not considered excessive.

If this traffic becomes a concern, here are three options to workaround it:

* Select the printer in the Printer Server, release the printer before powering it off, then re-capture the printer on the Print Server after powering it back on.

* After powering the printer on, send a print job to the spooler. This will reconnect the printer and change the device type back to LaserShare, which will stop the AARP packet broadcasts.

* The problem will only arise if the printer is powered off. The third option is to not power off the printer.
Published Date: Feb 19, 2012