PRTG Manual: Device Group Editor
The Device Group Editor is used to specify the properties of a device group. This applies when you create a new device group, or modify the properties of an existing device group. A device group’s properties are divided into Group Settings and Map Settings. The Group Settings tab contains the basic properties that define the group’s name, type, and device membership. The Map Settings tab defines properties that control how (and if) the topology map for the group is drawn.
A device group must have a name. It can be anything you want, as long as it’s not empty.
A device group must have a type. There are two types to choose from, ‘Dynamic’ and ‘Static’.
For dynamic device groups, you provide an abstract description of the devices that are in the group, and UVexplorer will automatically match your abstract description against each device to determine which devices are in the group. For example, a group’s abstract description might be, “This group contains all SNMP-enabled devices in the 192.168.5.0/24 subnet”. Given that description, UVexplorer will automatically compute which devices in the currently-open discovery result are in the group.
For static device groups, you manually manage the device membership of the group. That is, you manually add and remove specific devices to/from the group, giving you complete control over which devices are in the group. In this case, UVexplorer will not try to automatically determine which devices are in the group. Instead, it will just use the devices you have manually put in the group.
For dynamic device groups, you provide an abstract description of what devices are in the group. This is done in two steps:
1.Specify the ‘Primary’ devices for the group. These are the main devices that should be included in the group.
2.Specify which devices that are connected to the primary devices that should be included in the group. These are called ‘Connected’ devices.
For example, suppose that you want to create a group containing all switches in your network, and all servers and printers connected to those switches. The group would be defined as follows:
Primary Devices = Switches
Connected Devices = Servers, Printers
Notice that this group would contain servers and printers that are connected to a switch, but not contain servers and printers that are not connected to a switch. If you wanted the device group to contain all servers and printers regardless of whether they are connected to a switch, the group would be defined as follows:
Primary Devices = Switches, Servers, Printers
Connected Devices = None
The ‘Primary Devices’ tab lets you specify the group’s primary devices, and the ‘Connected Devices’ tab lets you specify the group’s connected devices. For both the Primary and Connected devices, you must specify which devices should be included in the group. This is done in two steps:
1.Select a base set of devices to be included in the group. The choices are: All Devices, SNMP Devices Only, Network Devices Only, and No Devices. This selection defines which devices could potentially be included in the group (i.e., devices outside the base set will not be included in the group).
1.All Devices – All devices can be included in the group
1.SNMP Devices Only – Only SNMP devices can be included in the group
1.Network Devices Only – Only network devices can be included in the group (routers, switches, wireless access points, etc.)
1.No Devices – No devices can be included in the group
2.Starting with the base device set selected in step 1, you may optionally specify additional criteria to narrow down the base set even further. The following additional filtering criteria may also be specified:
2.Host/System/NetBIOS Name – You can specify one or more patterns to be matched against a device’s names. For example, the pattern fileserver will match any device that has a DNS host name, SNMP system name, or NetBIOS name with the value fileserver. You can also include wildcard characters in a name pattern. For example, the pattern *.acme.com will match any device with a name ending in .acme.com. In general, an asterisk * will match zero or more adjacent characters, and a question mark ? will match exactly one character. If any device name patterns are specified, a device’s names must match at least one of the name patterns in order to be included in the group.
2.IP Ranges – You can specify one or more IP addresses to be matched against a device’s IP addresses. You can specify individual IP addresses, such as 172.16.3.25; ranges of IP addresses, such as 192.168.3.1 – 192.168.3.127; or IP subnets, such as 10.5.0.0/16. If any IP address constraints are specified, a device must have at least one IP address that matches at least one of the constraints.
2.Categories – You can specify one or more device categories to be included in the group. A list of all possible device categories is presented for you to choose from. Simply check the device categories that should be included in the group. For example, if you select the ‘printer’ category, then printer devices will be included in the group. If any device categories are specified, a device must be in at least one of the selected categories in order to be included in the group.
2.VLANs - You can specify that devices in particular VLANs should be included in the group. This is done by listing one or more patterns to be matched against the names of a device’s VLANs. For example, the pattern Sales will match any device that is in the VLAN named Sales. You can also include wildcard characters in a VLAN name pattern. For example, the pattern Marketing* will match any device that participates in a VLAN whose name begins with Marketing. In general, an asterisk * will match zero or more adjacent characters, and a question mark ? will match exactly one character. If any VLAN patterns are specified, a device’s VLANs must match at least one of the patterns in order to be included in the group.
2.OIDS - You can specify that devices with an OID matching the provided OID pattern should be included in the group. An OID is an unique object identifier provided by the manufacturer of a device or asset. The first portion of an OID is specific for a vendor and often a model. Multiple OID patterns can be provided, separated by a space or comma. Wild card's of '*' and '?' can be used when specifiying a match pattern. In general, an asterisk * will match zero or more adjacent characters, and a question mark ? will match exactly one character. If any OID patterns are specified, a device’s OID must match at least one of the patterns in order to match the filter.
If you are familiar with device filters, you will notice that the ‘Primary Devices’ and ‘Connected Devices’ tabs contain the same settings as a device filter. Therefore, when specifying the Primary or Connected devices for a group, there is a ‘Copy Device Filter’ button that lets you copy the settings from an existing device filter. This can be helpful if there is an existing device filter that contains settings similar to the ones you want to enter for the Primary or Connected devices. See Device Filters for more information.
After modifying the Primary or Connected device settings, there are two things you can do to make sure you have done so correctly:
1.Review the Filter Summary at the bottom of the form. The Filter Summary field always displays a summary of the settings you have entered. This Filter Summary uses a SQL-like syntax to display all of the current settings in one place. It is updated any time the filter settings are modified.
2.Click the Preview button, which will display a list of devices in the currently-open discovery result that will be included in the group
