Groups

Groups are "container" nodes used to group other nodes in the monitor tree.

• Logical Business Units - A group can represent a logical business unit. Rename the group to reflect the name of the business unit. When you Edit any group, click the Advanced tab. You'll notice contact information can be entered for the business unit a group represents. If an asset requires on-site intervention, display the assets's closest parent in the monitor tree for the contact information you need.
• Specialized Service Requirements - Even if assets don't represent a distinct business unit, you might have to deliver specialized services to a set of assets within a single subnet. It easiest to distinguish these assets by grouping them together. In this case you might rename the group by the department name or by the set of services you are delivering.

Inheritance by Group

The power of groups goes far beyond organizing and labeling. When you edit a group you'll find it includes many properties, such as alert settings, authentication, access and map locations. This allows you to set properties for all the child assets of the group using inheritance. This can include nested groups, assets, and monitors.

If you take the time to organize the assets you manage by group and use the inheritance feature, it can greatly reduce the amount of time spent configuring assets individually.

The Root Node

The top-level node—called KNM by default—is really a "super" group node. Group properties set for the root note can be inherited by lower level nodes, just like any group you create. From the root node, settings can be potentially inherited by every other node in the monitor tree.