We've been using using Casper Admin to capture and add our printers to our JSS for deployment to staff through Self Service. For the most part this has worked fine. Prior to that staff would manually add printers via IP Printing using the lpd protocol and manually set the installable options. But sometimes staff didn't get the installable options properly configured so device specific features wouldn't always work. That's why we decided to use the JSS to ensure printers were consistently named and setup.
Recently, we have run into some odd issues which has made me rethink this approach. After reading through various posts in JAMF Nation, I've seen some folks are using the lpadmin command to setup printers through scripts. Our fleet of printers is mostly HP LaserJets and some Ricoh and Konica Minolta MFPs. I've been creating and testing lpadmin commands with our printers using the lpd protocol. In the CUPS documentation on using network printers it suggests not using lpd and using a different protocol (AppSocket or IPP) if available on the printer.
My question to the nation is, what protocol are you using and how are you setting up your network-based printers and why did you choose that protocol/method? We've been using the lpd protocol for years and it's worked very reliably with few issues, so I am hesitant to switch to something different. But I know things change and improve so I'm certainly open to trying something new. Soon we will be replacing all of our old fleet of HP LaserJets (9 different models) with new HP LaserJet Enterprise 600 M601 series printers so I thought now would be a good time to possibly try a new protocol. Our computers are mostly laptops running Mac OS 10.6 through 10.9 and we don't use or bind to AD. All accounts are local accounts with end user having admin permissions. We're not looking to add or use a print server. We just want staff to be able to reliably print directly to the print devices. Thanks in advance for any suggestions and information you're willing to provide.