diff --git a/deployment/check/data-model-ssh/nixosTest.nix b/deployment/check/data-model-ssh/nixosTest.nix
index 66566048..27743871 100644
--- a/deployment/check/data-model-ssh/nixosTest.nix
+++ b/deployment/check/data-model-ssh/nixosTest.nix
@@ -5,9 +5,10 @@
 }:
 let
   inherit (pkgs) system;
+  nodeName = "ssh";
   deployment-config = {
+    inherit nodeName;
     inherit (import ./constants.nix) pathToRoot;
-    nodeName = "ssh";
     targetSystem = system;
     sshOpts = [ ];
   };
@@ -58,9 +59,10 @@ in
       ssh.fail("hello 1>&2")
 
     with subtest("Run the deployment"):
-      deployer.succeed("""
+      output = deployer.fail("""
         ${lib.getExe deploy}
       """)
+      assert "Timeout, server ${nodeName} not responding" in output
       ssh.wait_for_unit("multi-user.target")
       ssh.succeed("su - operator -c hello 1>&2")
   '';
diff --git a/deployment/check/data-model-tf/nixosTest.nix b/deployment/check/data-model-tf/nixosTest.nix
index dc0fce5c..32f281a6 100644
--- a/deployment/check/data-model-tf/nixosTest.nix
+++ b/deployment/check/data-model-tf/nixosTest.nix
@@ -5,9 +5,10 @@
 }:
 let
   inherit (pkgs) system;
+  nodeName = "target";
   deployment-config = {
+    inherit nodeName;
     inherit (import ./constants.nix) pathToRoot;
-    nodeName = "target";
     targetSystem = system;
     sshOpts = [ ];
   };
@@ -51,9 +52,10 @@ in
       target.fail("hello 1>&2")
 
     with subtest("Run the deployment"):
-      deployer.succeed("""
+      output = deployer.fail("""
         ${lib.getExe deploy}
       """)
+      assert "Timeout, server ${nodeName} not responding" in output
       target.wait_for_unit("multi-user.target")
       target.succeed("su - operator -c hello 1>&2")
   '';
diff --git a/deployment/run/ssh-single-host/run.sh b/deployment/run/ssh-single-host/run.sh
index 581180e3..5c809015 100755
--- a/deployment/run/ssh-single-host/run.sh
+++ b/deployment/run/ssh-single-host/run.sh
@@ -37,11 +37,4 @@ NIX_SSHOPTS="${sshOpts[*]}" nix-copy-closure --to "$destination" "$outPath" --gz
 # shellcheck disable=SC2029
 ssh "${sshOpts[@]}" "$destination" "nix-env --profile /nix/var/nix/profiles/system --set $outPath"
 # shellcheck disable=SC2029
-output=$(ssh -o "ConnectTimeout=1" -o "ServerAliveInterval=1" "${sshOpts[@]}" "$destination" "nohup $outPath/bin/switch-to-configuration switch &" 2>&1) || echo "status code: $?"
-echo "output: $output"
-if [[ $output != *"Timeout, server $host not responding"* ]]; then
-  echo "non-timeout error: $output"
-  exit 1
-else
-  exit 0
-fi
+ssh -o "ConnectTimeout=1" -o "ServerAliveInterval=1" "${sshOpts[@]}" "$destination" "nohup $outPath/bin/switch-to-configuration switch &" 2>&1