Connect printers to a public school network.

[Ogge500 1]

Hi!
My school, which I am helping, currently has 5 3D printers that we use for education.
Currently, the printers can only be accessed via USB however this is really slow. We've looked into setting up Digital Factory on at least our Ultimaker Printers but the network department considers it as a major security risk. We use eduroam for wifi verification. 
My plan is to connect a Raspberry Pi to the school network and share the internet connection via an ethernet cable hooked up to a router. The printers can then connect to the router and should have access to the school wifi without creating any security risks.
Raspberry Pi -> Ethernet Cable -> Router => Printers

Does this seem like a reliable option?

Another idea is using a 4G modem connected to a router instead. Therefore bypassing the school network all together.
 

[gr5 2,004]

So I believe the printer connects out only.  No firewalls need opening.  And they use web browser protocols.  Just like a cell phone or laptop.  So if you can get a wired connection (instead of wifi) then maybe you won't need to do the verification.

 

 

[Ogge500 1]

3 minutes ago, gr5 said:

So I believe the printer connects out only.  No firewalls need opening.  And they use web browser protocols.  Just like a cell phone or laptop.  So if you can get a wired connection (instead of wifi) then maybe you won't need to do the verification.

 

 

Okay. Are you talking about an direct wired connection between the network and the printers? Verification is needed for both ethernet and wifi sadly. 

[UlrichC-DE 107]

Hello

I think he means the story. That you have to perform a connection verification with WiFi.

You must have a screen to get WiFi working on the S5. (As far as I remember)

Whereby I would advise against WLAN. The Ethernet of the S5 is more reliable than its WLan.

Many greetings

[gr5 2,004]

Quote

Verification is needed for both ethernet and wifi sadly. 

Oh that sucks.  Do you verify once or every time?  If you only have to verify once per year you could do it with wget but it could take many hours to get the right packets figured out.

 

Can't they just assign your printers fixed IP addresses?  Then they could manually approve the printers in advance.

 

The printers have their own built in firewall which you can enable in the menu system.  Also they run linux, not windows.  Also, unless they are in developer mode, they block ssh.  So they are pretty secure.

[gr5 2,004]

I've used network printing and also USB printing on my S5 and the network printing is nice but really I find the USB printing pretty convenient and easy to do.  The occasional headache with network printing makes it just slightly less convenient and I'm pretty happy with USB printing.

[UlrichC-DE 107]

Hello

 

i suspect you two are talking past each other a bit.

Ogge500 needs to verify itself on the internal network. (Not the UM verification of the WiFi) I suspect it is a router / proxy software with a extendet securety layer.

The question is actually. Is it possible to tunnel the Printer via a Raspberry PI.

A proxy should be running on the PI. You can theoretically enter this for the Printer.

 

Not my world.

 

Perhaps the following will help:

https://support.ultimaker.com/hc/en-us/articles/360012113719-Ultimaker-Platform-network-requirements

 

 I also print only via USB ☺️

Many greetings

Edited February 27, 2022 by UlrichC-DE
no S5 question .. is um3

[Ogge500 1]

8 hours ago, UlrichC-DE said:

Hello

 

i suspect you two are talking past each other a bit.

Ogge500 needs to verify itself on the internal network. (Not the UM verification of the WiFi) I suspect it is a router / proxy software with a extendet securety layer.

The question is actually. Is it possible to tunnel the Printer via a Raspberry PI.

A proxy should be running on the PI. You can theoretically enter this for the Printer.

 

Not my world.

 

Perhaps the following will help:

https://support.ultimaker.com/hc/en-us/articles/360012113719-Ultimaker-Platform-network-requirements

 

 I also print only via USB ☺️

Many greetings

 

8 hours ago, gr5 said:

Oh that sucks.  Do you verify once or every time?  If you only have to verify once per year you could do it with wget but it could take many hours to get the right packets figured out.

 

Can't they just assign your printers fixed IP addresses?  Then they could manually approve the printers in advance.

 

The printers have their own built in firewall which you can enable in the menu system.  Also they run linux, not windows.  Also, unless they are in developer mode, they block ssh.  So they are pretty secure.

Thanks and I Will look into the article UlrichC-DE provided.

 

We are sadly not allowed to open any ports and/or allow any device connection without eduroam verification (Basically asks the user for username and password befors a connection cab be done).

The schools network has previously gotten an unacceptable low security score. So there is a strict policy that even any small devices (such as TVs etc) needs a major security scan from our network provider.

 

I am starting to belive that using a 4G modem might just be the easiest, although dirty, way to just skip the problem.

 

Just double checking here, ive done some research regarding a 4G modem and it seems like it should work. Does any of you see any major red flags in my solution?

 

Of course, major thanks for the help!!!