Device Groups Action Menu

The Device Groups page provides the complete list of top-level device groups, populated with a series of gear icons. Clicking each icon displays a shortcut Actions menu offering group editing features: for device groups, features include the following:

• Add: This option enables the creation of new device groups at the same level in the group hierarchy as the current group (Sibling Above and Sibling Below) and provides the Child Below option, which allows you to create a nested device group that is subordinate to the group you've currently selected.
• View Members: Lists the devices within the group, displaying the list in a separate window.
• Copy, Edit, and Delete: These perform their respective functions on the selected device group. The Edit feature provides all the standard device group editing capabilities, including changing blackout periods, data collection settings, membership criteria, and Rank settings.

NetMRI ships with pre-defined device group definitions. These groups are based on device types and assurance levels (the probability that from the same has correctly identified a given device) and are primarily used to see what has been discovered on the network. Default device groups can be used as-is, edited to suit your needs, or removed completely (provided you have admin rights to do so.

Use caution when deleting device groups. The Routing, Switching, NIOS, Optimizers, Security, and many other groups are groups built-in with NetMRI and should never be removed without first having developed new groups with the desired functionality to take their place.

Default device groups serve as good examples of how selection criteria and process settings can be defined to organize your network devices, but you should learn how to create your own device groups to gain all of the benefits of the device groups feature.