Types of Server Groups

There are private groups and public groups, and each can be either static or dynamic.

Private Groups

If you belong to a user group that has access to the Manage Servers list, you can create groups that you alone can see and work with. Only you see your private groups. Other SA users cannot see them. Private groups behave the same way as public groups, with the exception that modeling is not available for private groups. See Public Group Modeling for information how the SA model affects groups.

When you create your first group, the default type will be Private Static, which can be changed to Private Dynamic, Public Static, or Public Dynamic. When you create a subgroup, the type of group is private if you are in a private group when you create the new group, and the type is public if you are in a public group when you create the new group. Public and private groups cannot be mixed in a hierarchy. In other words, if the parent group is public, the subgroups must be public, and if the parent group is private, the subgroups are also private.

Public Groups

Public groups can be created, edited, or deleted by anybody who has Manage Public Server Groups permissions. Public groups are visible to all users, and can be used by anybody, regardless of who created them, but only users with the Manage Public Server Groups permissions can change the rules that govern dynamic groups.

A link called Public Groups appears at the top of server lists. Clicking that link displays a list of available public groups.

Only public groups can be used for modeling.

Static Groups

Static groups can be either public or private, and no specific permissions are required for static groups. A static group has servers that are added to and removed from the group manually. When using static groups, you first create the group, and then select the servers to populate it.

Dynamic Groups

Dynamic groups contain servers that are added to or removed from the group based on a set of user-defined rules. If the rules are changed or the servers in the environment change, servers will be added to or removed from the group automatically. Rules apply only to the group being created or modified, not to any subgroups.

Once the rules have been created, SA will search for servers that match the criteria of that specific group, and add them to the group. When the rules are changed, SA will search again, and the resulting group members reflect the changed criteria. Consequently, as servers are added to or removed from management using SA, the members of the group will change automatically.

SA calculates server group membership each time any of the following actions occur:

  • After users add, delete, or change the rules for dynamic server groups.
  • When attributes of servers change such that dynamic group membership could change.

Additionally, SA automatically recalculates dynamic group membership every hour.

When a user schedules a job to run, dynamic group membership can be determined in either of the following ways:

  • Based on the servers in the dynamic group when the job was scheduled.
  • Based on the set of servers in the dynamic group when the job actually runs. The membership is recalculated at that time.

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