printerid

Printerid is a term used in computer printing systems to refer to the unique identifier assigned to a printer within a given management scope. It is distinct from a printer's human-readable name or its network address and is not standardized across platforms. The printerid serves as a stable reference used by software components such as print spooling, inventory databases, drivers, and management APIs to track and control printers independent of user-visible labels.

Implementation and form vary by system. In some environments the printerid is a numeric key assigned by a central print server when the device is registered. In others it may be an alphanumeric string derived from hardware identifiers, vendor IDs, or the printer's UUID. Because of this variation, printerid values typically do not travel automatically when printers are renamed or moved between servers; migration procedures often require mapping the old printerid to a new one.

Role and usage: The printerid is used in job tickets, API calls, and logs to associate print jobs with a specific device; it can be used for auditing, accounting, driver selection, and policy application. In enterprise environments it is common to maintain a central registry of printers keyed by printerid to enable consistent configuration across clients.

Limitations and considerations: Since different systems implement printerid differently, it should not be relied upon for user-facing naming. Tools should map printerid to friendly names for display. Security: exposing internal printerids may reveal inventory or infrastructure details, so access should be controlled. When integrating systems, agree on a stable identifier or use a canonical GUID-based scheme.

See also: printer, print spooler, IPP, CUPS, printer queue, device management.