Network Printer Issue with Pihole

Help
1

Hello,

I colleague of min has just implemented pihole into his network. Every thing seems to be working as it should except for 1 issue. In order to print (network printer) it is necessary to turn off the printer and switch it back ok each time. It is as though the computer is not waking the printer. It was working fine before pihole.

Setup:
Rpi3
Pihole latest stable version
Dhcp server in the router has been deactivated as the router offers no possibility to manually assign a DNS address. The dhcp server in pihole is being used.

Any thoughts on what may be causing the printer issue?

Many thanks in advance.

2

Just to double check. Is the printer configured as a DHCP client or is it setup to use fixed IP addresses? If the latter, is the gateway address set to the local router and the DNS to the Pi-Hole?

3

The printer is setup as an automatic dhcp client.

4

If the other clients on the network are able to use the Pi-hole successfully, then this really isn't a Pi-hole issue, but a network configuration issue with the printer. It appears that the printer is not properly negotiating with the Pi-hole's DHCP server to get its IP addresses. One option is to bypass DHCP and use fixed IP addresses for the printer as I mentioned earlier to see if this resolves the issue.

5

So what would be the correct ip and dns parameters for setting up the printer manually? At the moment:

Router 192.168.0.1
Pi 192.168.0.110 (static)

6

@englischdude

Since I can't see the printer network settings interface, I would assume the following would be correct:

For the printer IP address, it would be something in the 192.168.0.x range. You would need to check the DHCP range setting in the Pi-hole, then set the IP address outside of that range so that it doesn't conflict. So for example, if the range is set to 192.168.0.2 - 192.168.0.100, use .101 for the printer.

For subnet mask, enter: 255.255.255.0
For router, enter: 192.168.0.1
For DNS, enter: 192.168.0.110

7

Quick update. The printer ip has now been put on the whitelist in pihole. Problem is still there. Manual ip gateway and dns setup is still open. In the meantkme, any other ideas would be appreciated.

8

manual static IP setup has not solved the problem. network setting in the printer are as follows:

Ipv4 = 192.168.0.178 (printer)
subnet = 255.255.255.0
gateway = 192.168.0.1 (router)
ip configured by = manual
ip preferred address method = manual
tftp server = not specified
wins server = not specified
Preferred dns address = not specified
Alternate dns address = not specified

I dont see the PIHOLE ip of 192.168.0.110 anywhere. Any ideas?

9

Update: it seems that once the printer goes into sleep/standby mode it cannot be pinged anymore.

10

Another update: going into the web admin interface and disabling pihole has no effect. The printer still cannot be pinged to once it enters sleep mode.

11

This is where the Pi-hole's IP address needs to be added.

12

If it shuts down the network interface when it goes to sleep then pings will fail.

13

UPDATE:
still the same problem. The computer is not waking the printer since pihole is running. We have tried the following:

  • disabled pihole
  • updated firmware or HP printer
  • Disabled IPV6 in printer

Any Ideas?

14

I have a Canon printer and there are settings for how to handle the power. One of the settings is auto power. I have enabled "auto power on" to wake the printer when needed if it's gone to sleep. I also use auto power off to turn the printer off after 30 minutes of inactivity. Maybe you have similar settings for your HP?

15

Whitelisting an IP has no effect. If the client has the IP, it doesn't need to go to a DNS server to get the IP. The whitelist contains domain names.

Are you able to ping this IP directly from any network client?

This indicates it is not a Pi-Hole problem, but is a printer setup issue.

1 Like
17

In my experience, the way printer sleep mode works is that it shuts down all functions after a set time. On another timer, 5 minutes or so, it wakes up to see if there are any packets headed its way and either prints them or goes back to sleep. Pinging during the sleep period doesn't do anything, the interface is powered down.

18

Another point: A network device must not answer ping requests just because it is a network device. If the firmware doesn't support ICMP, no answers can be given. Also: A network printer normally needs no given DNS-Server adress in its IP configuration (if static set). Next point: What printer is it? I have one that supports IPv6 and in Windows 10 it was known with its IPv6 Global Unique Adress! A bad thing since i have a new prefix after 24 hours. So IPv6 is better disabled for a LAN printers that doesn't need to communicate with the www.
Another question: Does the printer have a web interface? Is it reachable via the LAN-IP? A network printer normally won't sleep that deep that it isn't temporarily not available for minutes or longer. It should anwer to every service request that may occur, it's a network printer therefore.

19

Another thought, how is the printer connected, WiFi or copper ?
If WiFi, you could try connect via copper instead.
This in case something goes wrong with WiFi wake-up in the firmware.

20

so, hopefully this will be the last post :grinning:

restarted EVERYTHING, printer, pihole and router and now it seems to be working. turns out the firmware update on the printer and the disabling ipv6 did the trick. What was missing was the restart.

Ill monitor the situation and post if the problem reoccurs.

Thanks all for your help.

Kind regards.

21

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