Understanding device group types and their criteria

There are two general types of device groups:

Static device groups are those which are populated manually, that is, all devices are individually added by the administrator.

Dynamic device groups are populated and maintained through either:

a query,
a directory server which was assigned to this group, or
a compliance rule, which collects the group's members according to their compliance, non-compliance or inability to be evaluated.

The different types of group are distinguished by their icon:

Icon	Description
	static device group
	dynamic device group, managed via assigned queries
	dynamic device group, managed via a directory server
	dynamic device group, managed via a compliance rule. It contains all members which are compliant with the rule criteria
	dynamic device group, managed via a compliance rule. It contains all members which are not compliant with the rule criteria
	dynamic device group, managed via a compliance rule. It contains all members which could not be evaluated

Device group criteria

Device groups can be created according to the following criteria:

Geographical location of the devices: In this case the groups would be divided in the continents, countries, cities, buildings, etc.
Corporate structure of the managed devices: The organization through groups could contain in this case the administration and functional divisions of the company, such as Engineering, Support, Sales, Accounting, Directors, and so on.
Characteristics of the devices: This could either be a group organized according to:
- the physical components of the clients such as the size of RAM or hard disk, the type of processor, etc.,
- their operating systems, installed software, and so on, or
- the function they have within the network, such as relay, first level relay, second level relay, client, and so on.