How computer name-based deployment works

Overview

In a standard Secure Print Direct deployment, print queues are typically assigned based on the signed-in user’s group membership. This approach works well when users have dedicated workstations and can be uniquely identified.

In shared workstation environments, such as healthcare, manufacturing, reception areas, libraries, and kiosks, multiple users may use the same workstation throughout the day. In these scenarios, assigning printers based only on user identity may not be practical, especially when users authenticate at the application level or use a shared Windows login.

To support these environments, HP Insights includes computer name-based queue deployment. Computer name-based queue deployment uses the workstation computer name to determine which Secure Print Direct queues are installed or made available, rather than relying only on the signed-in user. This supports Shared Workstation Mode and other shared-device scenarios where the same queues need to be available regardless of who signs in.

Secure Print Direct supports two deployment methods:

Deployment method	Queue assignment is based on
User-based deployment	User group membership
Computer name-based deployment	Workstation computer name

Both deployment methods can coexist within the same HP Insights environment. For example, a “Marketing Color Printer” can be deployed using user-based deployment, while a “Reception Printer” can be deployed using computer name-based deployment.

How computer name-based deployment works

With computer name-based deployment, queue assignment is based on the workstation computer name rather than the signed-in user. Administrators configure one or more Computer Name Match rules that determine which workstations are matched to a printer or queue.

Printer level and queue level: The printer’s Target (User or Workstation) is set on the printer, and all of its queues follow it. You can’t make one queue on a printer user-targeted and another workstation-targeted. Queues inherit the printer’s Computer Name Match rules by default. A queue can override them with its own rule, but it still uses the printer’s Target. See Override queue settings.

When Print Scout synchronizes with HP Insights, it sends the workstation computer name. HP Insights evaluates the workstation computer name against the configured Computer Name Match rules. If a matching auto-install queue is found, Print Scout installs the queue automatically. Matching manual-install queues are available for users to add from Print Scout.

Where Auto-install is configured: Auto-install is configured on the print queue, not by selecting Workstation as the printer target. In the HP Insights web client, go to Direct Print > Direct Printers > Print Queues, select the queue, open Queue Properties, and set the queue’s installation property to auto-install. Queues set to manual-install are only made available for users to add from Print Scout, even when they match the workstation computer name.

Use location matching when needed

Queues deployed by computer name default to All Locations. In most environments, no additional location configuration is required because queues are assigned based on the workstation computer name.

You can combine computer name matching with location matching when additional filtering is needed. This is useful when the same computer naming convention is used in multiple locations. In this configuration, a workstation must match both the location and the Computer Name Match rule before the queue is assigned.

Example

An organization has:

• A workstation named RECEPTION-01 in Auckland.
• A workstation named RECEPTION-01 in Rochester.

A queue configured for the Auckland location and the computer name RECEPTION-01 is assigned only to the Auckland workstation. The Rochester workstation does not receive the queue because it does not match the configured location.

Best practices

• Use a clear and consistent workstation naming convention.
• Use the Starts with, Ends with, or Contains options when a simple string match is sufficient. Use Regular Expression only when more complex matching is required.
• Use location matching when the same workstation naming convention is used across multiple sites.
• Test new matching rules with a small set of workstations before deploying them broadly.
• Document queue-level overrides so that exceptions can be identified and maintained more easily.