After setting up IPFire as my main firewall, I’m having issues with a network printer. Devices on the LAN can access the internet normally, but the printer sometimes becomes unreachable, and printing test pages fails intermittently.
I’ve checked basic firewall rules and ensured that the printer and client PCs are on the same green network. Disabling the firewall temporarily makes the printer work again, so it seems related to IPFire rules or services.
Has anyone faced similar printer connectivity issues with IPFire?
Are there specific ports, services, or firewall settings that need to be allowed for reliable network printing?
what operating systems are running on your client PC
I’ve run network printing for many years from Linux client PC, with an IPFire firewall protecting the LAN. As noted by @pscar13, IPFire does not filter printing.
If you have firewall also running on the client then that is likely to filter printing, requiring port 631 to be opened, on Linux clients.
Network printers that are older than ~2010 could also require a printer setup on each client PC. You are likely to have that, if printing was working.
Hello, when I need to troubleshoot a network printer I usually use tcpdump to observe the traffic and its flow. If packets reach the printer but it does not respond, the fault may be hardware-related; if the printer returns traffic, the issue may lie on the client side.
Tcpdump is installed with pakfire. One command you can use as a reference is shown below, interface can be green0 and simply adjust the IP address and port to match your environment:
tcpdump -i <interface> -n host <PRINTER_IP> and port <PORT>
If both the printer and your PCs are on the GREEN network, IPFire normally shouldn’t block traffic between them. Since disabling the firewall fixes the issue, I’d first check whether there are any custom firewall rules, IDS/IPS settings, or add-ons interfering with local traffic. Also make sure the printer has a static IP (or a DHCP reservation), as intermittent connectivity can sometimes be caused by IP address changes rather than blocked ports. It would also help to know how you’re printing. Are you using IPP (631), RAW/JetDirect (9100), or SMB (445)? Checking the firewall logs while a print job fails may also point you to the exact rule that’s blocking the traffic.
If the printer starts working again as soon as you disable the IPFire firewall, it’s very likely that the firewall is blocking printer discovery or communication rather than the printer itself.
A few things I’d check:
Make sure the printer has a static IP address or a DHCP reservation.
Verify that the required printing ports are allowed between clients and the printer (commonly TCP 9100 for RAW printing, TCP 631 for IPP, and TCP/UDP 515 for LPD if you’re using it).
If your printer relies on automatic discovery, allow mDNS (UDP 5353) or SNMP (UDP 161) where appropriate.
Try printing directly to the printer’s IP address instead of using automatic discovery to see if that changes the behavior.
Check the IPFire firewall logs while sending a print job to identify any blocked packets.
One thing that has helped me in the past is printing a diagnostic test page after each firewall change to verify whether communication is stable. I found this free collection of printer test pages useful for troubleshooting print connectivity and print quality issues.
If you can share your printer model and whether you’re using RAW, IPP, or LPD printing, it may be easier to narrow down the exact firewall rule that’s causing the issue.
As pscar13 wrote, if the PC and printer are on the green network, the firewall does not block anything.
The only potential problem is the proxy set on the PC using IPFire, but this may only affect web access to the printer (if available)