Skip to main content

Testing Your Deployment

You've built the whole stack across the previous tutorials. Before real users depend on it, prove it works systematically — not "I printed once and it seemed fine," but a pass you could rerun after any change. That's what this tutorial teaches; by the end, the Print Environment Validation Checklist will read as a summary of things you've personally verified.

You'll need: the previous tutorials completed, two or three test accounts that represent different assignment paths (one direct assignment, one group- or OU-based), and about 60 minutes.

Step 1: Test assignment resolution, not just printing​

Printing working for you proves little — the real question is whether assignments resolve correctly for different kinds of users:

  1. Log on as your directly assigned test user: their printer builds, and nothing extra.
  2. Log on as your group/OU-based user: the inherited printer builds.
  3. If you created any deny or block assignments in the Administration tutorial, verify the denied user does not get that printer.

A wrong printer appearing is as much a failure as a missing one — both mean the assignment structure doesn't match your intent.

Checkpoint: each test user gets exactly the printers you predicted, no more, no fewer.

Step 2: Test each printing path you deploy​

Print a document end to end for every architecture in your environment:

  • Print server path: session → print server → queue → paper, confirmed in the pipeline tutorial; rerun it as your test user.
  • Direct IP printers, if configured: session → printer, no server in between.
  • Redirected endpoint printers: connect from an endpoint running the Endpoint Client and print to a printer local to that endpoint.

Where you rely on advanced features — duplex, trays, stapling — test one representative job per feature.

Checkpoint: one successful physical printout per path your deployment uses.

Step 3: Test scanning (if deployed)​

As a test user in a session, open the Scanning Client, confirm the expected scanners appear, and run one scan end to end. The Scanning Client reference covers the tabs if anything looks unfamiliar.

Checkpoint: a completed test scan, or a deliberate "not deployed — skipped."

Step 4: Verify the evidence trail​

Operations depends on being able to see what happened:

  1. Your test prints appear in ScrewDrivers Reports with the right user and printer.
  2. Client plugin versions match the server — spot-check per Monitoring Client Versions.
  3. No license checkout errors during any of your test sessions (troubleshooting if there were).

Checkpoint: you can show a stranger the report entry for a job you printed ten minutes ago.

Step 5: Break something on purpose​

You tested failover in the print server tutorial; now treat it as routine validation: stop the primary print server's service, print, confirm delivery through the failover, restart the service. If you can schedule it, also reboot the SQL server during a quiet moment and confirm sessions keep printing (configuration is read into running components; brief database absence shouldn't stop print flow — verifying your environment behaves that way is the point).

Checkpoint: at least one deliberate failure test passed — and you know what your users would have noticed (ideally: nothing).

What you've learned — and what to keep​

You now have a validation pass that covers assignments, every printing path, scanning, evidence, and failure behavior. Two habits make it durable:

  1. Rerun the validation checklist after every upgrade (the upgrade guide builds its pilot stage around it) and any major change.
  2. Keep your test accounts — the direct-assignment and group-based users are permanent tools, not tutorial props.

Where next: you've completed the Pro/Enterprise getting-started path. From here, the Administrator's Guide is your daily reference, and printer profiles and Maps are the usual next capabilities to roll out.