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Multiple Printer Limit

hexadecimalhexadecimal
in Questions & Answers
Hello, I currently have a Repetier Server license that I am using as the basis of a printer farm we are building at my company.  The farm will have close to 64 printers when complete.  My question is, realistically how many printers can I have on a single server?  I have 7th Gen Intel i5 or i7 processors and 16GB RAM for each Repetier Server instance at my disposal and can order large powered USB 3.0 hubs.  Obviously with so many printers I want to connect as many printers to a single Repetier Server as possible to cut down costs on computing hardware.  Webcams will not be required as the printers will always be physically monitored.

Thanks!

Comments

  • RepetierRepetier
    That is a good question. Have already heard about 25 printers on a small intel pc. CPU usage should not be a problem and ram usage is also neglectible.

    One thing with so many printers on one machine is of course if the pc crashes (or server) all prints are ruined. Would prefer linux here as OS because windows has the habit to update from time to time and reboot.

    Also you might consider having multiple server instances running listening on different ports. That way one server crash has limited impact. On our linux demo server we have 12 parallel servers running, so that is no problem. Just needs to start them with different configuration (which differ in port and storage directory).

    I would not be surprised if you can handle all 64 with one PC if you get no problems with usb and cable length which can cause communication issues (long cables I mean).
  • hexadecimalhexadecimal
    Thanks for the reply. That's great to hear that 25 have run successfully on a single PC.  I was planning on using Ubuntu Server 16.04 to avoid the Windows reboots you described.  Are Repetier Server crashes something I should be concerned about or is it usually pretty robust on Linux?  I will definitely consider running multiple instances per your suggestion.
  • RepetierRepetier
    It is pretty stable but we have no own experience with so much parallel printers. It is more a additional safety idea that costs nothing. Each printer gets his own 2 threads for communication so it makes not that much difference if you have 1 or 5 servers running on same machine.

    With version 0.9 you will also get a first version that can unify your servers into one ui and make them accessible from everywhere. But it will take a bit until that is finished. Completely new ui takes some time.
  • hexadecimalhexadecimal
    I see, that does make sense to run multiple instances.  Thank you for your help.  

    I totally understand.. UI does take quite a while.  Looking forward to the new release.
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