Printing service for employees

• Windows
• macOS
• Linux

The following web address can be used to upload PDF files and then print them out on all printers. piaweb01.ethz.ch

Please note that the Webprint Portal can only be reached via the ETH Zurich intranet. If access is needed outside of the ETH network, the VPN service must be used.

You can log in to the Webprint Portal using your nethz account

You will find here an example of how to upload and print a file via webprint: Webprint

Pricing

In spring 2018, the Executive Board of ETH Zurich decided to end the billing of the ETH Print Service as of 2019 for ETH employees.
This does not apply to the rental of additional devices.

From 2024 the new Service Level Agreement (SLA) terms will apply: Service Level Agreement «Print Service for employees»

Due to the end of print service billing for ETH employees, adjustments were also in this context made to the SLA.

You will find the most important changes listed below:

• All infrastructure devices must now have authenticated copying activated.
  The affected devices must be adjusted on site by the printing team.
• At locations where authenticated copying is still not preferred, an infrastructure device is now classed as an additional device and is therefore associated with a rental fee.
• The device category WPM4 (monochrome desktop printer) and WGC4 (color printer) will be removed from the portfolio. 
  
  

We will continue to generate the print and copy reports and send them to the budget managers if required.

Device categories and rental fees

The following table shows an overview of the device categories and their rental prices:

• For user-based billing (authenticated printing and copying)
  the total printing price for b/w simplex is 3 Rp., duplex 4 Rp. or color simplex 8 Rp. and duplex 14 Rp.
  
  
• For device-based billing (for example, for legacy devices for devices where the authenticated printing or copying is deactivated and all devices that are not controlled via the central print server)
  due to technical reasons, unfortunately the printing price can only be charged per page.
  This means that b/w simplex costs 3 Rp., duplex 6 Rp. or color simplex 8 Rp. and duplex 16 Rp.

 Information on the conditions of short-term rental equipment

As the print services are charged for, and because the devices are located in the hallways for everyone to use, certain restrictions must be observed.

Scanning, on the other hand, is free of charge, and the scan to usb function is above all recommended.

If an employee wants to authorise a student to use a device at the employee's expense, they can transfer an amount internally to the student. They must however know the nethz name of the student.

The employee logs into the website www.print.ethz.ch, where they will find the menu item Transfers. Please make transfers in the range of about 10.- CHF. We ask for a certain sense of proportion.

Here we introduce the current devices that can be ordered from ID via a framework contract. These devices must be connected to the ETHZ network because of the contract and the associated service. Here you will find an overview of the printers as well as the PDFs from the manufacturer describing the devices in detail. All devices are from the manufacturer HP.

Multifunktions-Geräte

The devices MC3 and MC3+ are A3-MFDs (the device with the + is particularly fast, but otherwise pretty much the same), an MC4 is an A4-MFD. All multi-function devices can be equipped with a function that enables the print jobs to be triggered using an ETH card (confidential printing).
All devices correspond with SGU requirements (see information sheet).

Software

We use PaperCut-MF as the billing and control software, the PaperCut-MF manual is available.

Generally, we use postscript as the page description language and for job control. In justified cases, PCL version 6 may also be used.

A so-called push queue is configured for each device, which is designated as follows:

p-building abbreviation-floor-room number-room sub number-other designations (if required)

Example: p-cab-e-44

If the device also has an ETH card reader for triggering jobs (for confidential documents, etc.), there is also a pull queue with the name prefix card- , such as

card-ethz

For Windows users, we use universal printer drivers wherever possible (from Ricoh for the new fleet of devices); the computer communicates with the selected printer and queries its configuration and abilities actively.

Printer settings must therefore be set on your own device. The general settings and device settings (preferences) are of interest here.

• Paper settings (standard is recycled paper),
• banner page on/off,
• grey scale(standard) or colour print.

PPD files

For Linux, we use PPD files (PostScript Printer Description), and the following are available for the new fleet models

Multi-function devices

Printers

Printer drivers for Mac OS X can be found on the Ricoh websites, such as for the device SP C3003 here, or under the name Nashuatec from Apple: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1495. For the printer queue card-ethz we always use the driver for the device SP C3003.

Please note

• For scanning, we recommend using the solution Scan-to-USB-Stick, the stick must be formatted with FAT or FAT32 (this is usually the case when buying a USB stick).
• The job hold time for jobs triggered by card is currently 24 hours, which is a compromise between resource consumption and possible lack of time. Following this period of time the job will be deleted.
• A logout will take place automatically after approx. 60 seconds. With the key on the right (third from above, key symbol), a logout can be completed manually.
• A link between card authentication and your own e-mail address is currently not possible due to the different devices in use and the embedded character of the PaperCut software.

Errors

It is possible to fill the Nashuatec devices (Ricoh devices) with too much paper per tray. The sensor will then be triggered and the tray in questions produces an error message, such as SC 501-02. The following may help in such a case:
- Switch off the device
- remove all trays (not the sheets of paper) and remove a certain amount of paper from each tray
- switch device on
- wait for it to boot completely
- then reinsert all trays
The corresponding tray will now be displayed and the error message is gone. If the error proves more difficult to resolve, please contact the Service Desk.

This service works with the SMB authentication protocol from Windows, which means the username of every user must be available in the Identity Management System of ITS, and the users must also have the correct password.

This is obviously the case for students, employees and long-term guests of the university, but there are nevertheless restrictions, which are of a technical nature that have been agreed on by the executive management of ITS.

• Daily guests, which can be created by any employee, cannot use the devices.
• Guest cards, which are often used as building keys, are entered in the Identity Management System as pseudo persons, which means they are also unable to make use of the print service.

The table shows which persons with which ETH relationship the free printing is enabled or with which ETH relationship freepages is made available.

MFG does not print PDF or PDF blocks the device (2019.10.02)
There are situations where a PDF document is not printed on a Nashatec (Ricoh) multifunction device, or the multifunction device is blocked after the job is triggered.
As a workaround, we recommend that the device is turned off by pressing the on/off button and then restarted.
If the problem cannot be solved, please report the case to our service desk.
The following devices are affected: Nashuatec (Ricoh) MP C3003, MP C3004, MP C3004ex, MP C3504ex, MP C5503, MP C5504ex, MP C305, MP C306Z, MP C307