Best practices for deployment testing
- Try to deploy your products for testing in an isolated, non-production environment.
- Make sure that the test environment mimics the production environment as closely as possible.
- Deploy to the same platforms employed by the end user in a production environment.
- Start with a test deployment to a small user group or device collection.
- Have an actual end-user (non-admin) of the product sign in to the test machines and verify product functionality.
- Scale deployments into the production environment after testing is completed in the staging environment.
- Consider deploying products during maintenance hours to minimize network usage during business hours.
Test the deployment
Before you distribute products to workstations, run the deployment on a test workstation to make sure that everything is working properly.
- Using a typical user profile, sign in to a client machine with a profile that doesn't have admin permissions.
- Run the product to verify that:
- There are no licensing errors.
- Major features critical to your work are functioning as expected.
- All updates, customizations, and add-ons have been correctly applied.
Distribute products to workstations
Autodesk recommends using a deployment tool such as Microsoft® Endpoint Configuration Manager (formerly known as SCCM) to manage software distribution to selected target systems through a remote process. For detailed instructions, see
Using Microsoft Configuration Manager to deploy and manage Autodesk products.
Other distribution methods include:
- Client installation: Give individual users installation instructions. Tell them to navigate from their workstations to the administrative image shortcut created for the deployment on the network share. Double-clicking the shortcut installs products on the user's computer. If you have set up a batch file to distribute the product, run the file from each of your workstations.
- Imaging installation: Install the deployment on a master computer. Then, create an image of the master computer's hard drive and apply the master image to the target computers.