Setting up groups

You can specify groups as objects in authorization profiles.

Each group is a logical collection of monitored entities in BMC Helix Operations Management . The Groups functionality allows you to filter and group impacted devices based on an entity selection criteria and events based on the event selection criteria. You can use the selection query to define filters in a meaningful way so that it groups the impacted devices and matching events logically. Groups can be associated with authorization profiles if required. For example, all VMs in a particular region can be filtered and grouped, or all Windows or Linux hosts that must be monitored by a specific operator can be filtered and grouped. Groups created in BMC Helix Operations Management can be published as a service model, which can be viewed in BMC Discovery and BMC Helix AIOps consoles. There is no limit to the number of groups that you can create. However, as a best practice, keep this list manageable.

You can use groups to view details, such as group impact summary, group impact status, top three impacted groups, list of devices in each group, total number of devices, list of events on the devices, severity of each event, default priority of each event, host name, and event message, and quickly perform event actions.

To create a group

1. On the Configuration > Groups page, click Create.

2. Specify a unique name and an optional description for the group.

3. Create the selection query to group the entities, events, or both.

    Constructing the entity selection criteria

   When you click in the box, you are prompted to make a selection. Each time you make a selection, you are progressively prompted to make another selection. 

   The selection query consists of opening parenthesis, followed by the entity name, the operator, the value (which can be a string based on the type of entity selected), and the closing parenthesis. You can optionally select the logical operator AND or OR to add additional conditions.

   Example query: Select entities with the device name containing the string 'pun' and 'aus'.

   The green check mark indicates that the event selection query syntax is correct.

   
   

   To change the condition, double-click any of the terms in the condition. In the preceding example, you can change the Device Name slot by double-clicking it.

    Constructing the event selection criteria

   When you click in the box, you are prompted to make a selection. Each time you make a selection, you are progressively prompted to make another selection. 

   The selection criteria consists of opening parenthesis, followed by the slot name, the operator, the slot value (which can be a string based on the type of slot selected), and the closing parenthesis. You can optionally select the logical operator AND or OR to add additional conditions.

   Example criteria: Select all the events that are in "open" and "acknowledged" status.

   The green tick mark indicates that the event selection criteria syntax is correct.

   
   

   To change the condition, double-click any of the terms in the condition. In the preceding example, you can change the Status slot by double-clicking it.

   
   (Optional) Preview the result and click the device count or event count to view the details.

   Important

   The event count result is a sum of all unique events matching from both entity selection criteria and event selection criteria.

4. (Optional) Associate one or more authorization profiles from the list.

   Note

   To publish a group as a service, you must have selected an entity selection criteria in step2.

5. (Optional) Select Publish as Service to publish the group as a service model. The published group can be viewed as a service in BMC Discovery and the unpublished group is available only in BMC Helix Operations Management . For more information on publishing groups as service models, see Publishing groups as service models

6. Save the group.

   Can I create a new group using an existing group?

   You can create a new group quickly by copying an existing group and editing the configurations. For more information, see Copying a group.

To edit a group

1. On the Configuration > Groups page, do one of the following:
   
   • Select the group and click Edit.
   • From the group action menu, select Edit.
2. Edit the group and save the changes.

To copy a group

1. On the Configuration > Groups page, click the action menu of the group that you want to copy and select Copy. 
2. The Create Group page is displayed with the configurations of the copied group. 
3. Modify the configurations according to your requirements to create a new group quickly. 

To view the list of groups

On the Configuration > Groups page, view the list of group.

By default, the groups are sorted by last updated time. To sort on a different column, click the column heading.

To search for groups

On the Configuration > Groups page, search for groups by typing one or more characters. Groups that contain the matching search string either in the name, description, selection query, or authorization profile are listed in the results. 

For example, typing 'operator' in the search box lists all the groups containing the search string in any of these fields: name, description, selection query, or authorization profile.

To delete a group

On the Configuration > Groups page, do one of the following:

• Select one or more groups, click Delete, and click OK.
• From the group action menu, select Delete, and click OK.