Dynamically populating groups with queries

The Queries subnode ( Device Groups or User Groups > Your Group > Dynamic Population > Queries ) provides access to the query or queries associated with the currently selected device group or user group. Queries are assigned to groups for dynamic grouping. Assigning a query to a group means that the members of this group are automatically checked at regular defined intervals if they still belong to this group according to the specific criteria defined in the query or the conditions defined through the free query, and at the same time the whole system population is browsed for any object that may have changed its criteria/conditions and now belongs to this group.

However, if the group is managed by a Directory Server or a Compliance Rule, it cannot be assigned to a query at the same time. Also, if a query is assigned to a device group the device type of the group will automatically be modified to Devices with Agent , if this option was not yet applied.

The operations to manage groups that are dynamically populated with queries include: 

• Assigning query to a group
• Unassigning query from a group
• Modifying populator of a group
• Modifying operator of a group
• Re-evaluating members of a group
• Viewing query of a user or device group

The list with the query or queries associated with a group is structured as follows:

• Queries : Displays the names of all queries which are associated with the currently selected group.
• Status : Displays the status of the query. Possible values are active and inactive . If a query is inactive it will not be taken into account when defining the members of this group, even if the query operator is defined as AND . If the query is active , the members of the group are dynamically managed through the query. A query becomes inactive if it is being modified.
• Last Evaluation : Displays the date and time of the last evaluation of the members of the group as determined by the query.
• Time of Assignment : Displays the date and time at which the assignment between the query and the group was created in the database.

Populator

The populator defines the 'owner' of the group, that is, the administrator that assigns the query to the group and according to whose access rights the contents of the group are defined. This means that even if admin logs on, he will see the same group content as the populator. When the group is created the populator is the creator of the group. When a query is assigned to the group, the populator will automatically change to the administrator creating the assignment.

The administrator France is the populator of the group and assigns a query called AllUsers to the group. The group will only contain devices or users which are located in France, because the administrator France only has access rights defined for those. If admin logs on to display the group, he will also only see the devices or users located in France, even though theoretically he has access to all devices or users in the database.

Operator

This list defines the operator through which the assigned queries are connected. The possible values are AND and OR . If the queries are connected through the AND operator, they all together dynamically manage the membership of that group, that is, the group members must match the criteria/conditions of all queries listed, if the operator is OR , only one will define the group membership, that is, the group members need not match all criteria, but only one of one of the queries.