Groups are administrative structures that organize assets so that you can locate an asset quickly or perform operations on all assets of the same type. Groups can contain any number of assets, and assets can be members of more than one group. This chapter describes how to use groups to manage your assets.
Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center creates groups of major asset types automatically. Within these Smart Groups, a subgroup is created for each type of asset that Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center is managing. Use Smart Groups to locate and view assets of a specific type. You can also act on Smart Groups, such as changing monitoring thresholds and updating discovery credentials.
Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center creates these Smart Groups:
Operating Systems – Contains all operating systems with subgroups for each type of operating system such as Oracle Solaris OS, Oracle Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and SUSE Linux. The subgroups are further organized by version, such as Oracle Solaris 9 and Oracle Solaris 10 software.
Servers
Storage
Systems – Contains all hardware that can receive firmware updates and OS provisioning with subgroups for each type of hardware (such as SPARC and x86). The subgroups contain are further organized by subtypes such as x86 32-bit and x64.
Chassis – Contains all hardware that can receive firmware updates but not OS provisioning with subgroups for each type of hardware such as Sun Blade 6000 Series and Sun Blade 8000 Series.
Network Switches
Services – Contains all assets organized by the actions for which they can be targets. It contains subgroups for each of the major actions in the software: OS Update, Manage-Monitor, OS Provisioning, FW Provisioning, and Virtualization. Each of these subgroups contains the assets that can be targeted with that action, and includes related actions in the Actions pane. For example, the OS Update group contains all operating systems that can be updated, and includes New Update OS Job in its Actions pane.
User-defined groups can contain any type of asset and can be organized by any criteria. You can configure rules for user-defined groups that automatically add assets with specific characteristics to the group.
Smart groups are automatically generated groups that organize your assets by type.
Select the Assets in the Navigation pane.
Select a Smart Group from the dropdown list at the top of the pane.
(Optional) Select a subgroup in the Navigation pane. The smart group is displayed.
Each group can list all the assets in the group and can display data about their assets. Chassis and hardware groups display power usage information, and operating system groups display CPU, network, memory, and system load information.
Expand Assets in the Navigation pane.
Select All User-Defined Groups.
Select a group. The group dashboard is displayed. This includes:
A group summary that shows the group's name, description, tags, location, and number of members.
A membership graph showing the group's assets, any child groups, and any parent groups.
A status summary showing the problems of the assets within the group.
An asset summary showing basic data about the assets within the group.
You can perform operations on all the assets in a homogeneous group by choosing the group as the target for asset-specific actions. For example, you can provision an OS on many systems simultaneously.
The selected action is applied only to compatible assets. For example, if you select the Locator Light On action for a group of servers, the job targets only servers that have locator lights.
Select All User-Defined Groups from the Assets list in the Navigation Pane.
Select the group. Asset-specific actions are displayed in the Actions pane.
Click an action. The action is applied to all compatible assets within the group.
You can organize your assets into groups to aid in management and inventory.
Expand All Assets in the Assets section of the Navigation pane.
Click Create Group in the Actions pane. The Create New Group/Subgroup window is displayed.
Enter group information, then click Next. Group information includes the following:
Group Name - This name is displayed in the User-Defined Groups of the Navigation pane.
Description (optional) – This is a description of the group that is displayed in the group's dashboard.
Group Location – A group's position within the tree. You can create a group at the top level (root) or as a child of an existing group.
Configure Group Rules – Use this option to specify the membership rules. Any assets that match the rules are added to the group.
Configure Subgroups – Uset this option to specify any existing group as a child of this group.
Preview Group Before Creation – Select this option to see the assets and subgroups that will be added to the new group.
If you selected Configure Group Rules, the Configure Asset Type Rules step is displayed. Configure one or more rules, then click Next. Configuring a rule includes the following:
Matching Policy – A rule can contain one or more attributes. For each rule, specify whether an asset must match all of the rule's attributes or any of the rule's attributes.
Asset Type – Select the asset type that uses the rule.
Attribute – Select an attribute to be considered by the rule. For example, if you select Name, the rule compares the asset's name to a given value. You can add additional attributes to a rule using the Add Attribute icon.
Condition – Select a condition for the rule. For example, if you select Contains for the Name attribute, the rule includes assets if their name contains a given value.
Value – Enter a value to be used by the rule. For example, if you select Name as an Attribute, Contains as a condition, and Pod3 as a value, any asset of the specified type with Pod3 in its name is added to the group.
If you selected Configure Subgroups, the Configure Subgroups page is displayed. Drag one or more groups from the Available Groups list to the Selected Groups list, then click Next.
If you selected Preview Group Before Creation, the Preview Group page is displayed. Review the list of assets and subgroups that will be added to the new group, then click Next.
The summary page is displayed. Click Finish. A Create Group job is launched.
See the Enterprise Manager Ops Center Reference Guide for a list of the asset attributes that can be used in group rules.
You can change the attributes of an existing group, including its name, description, rules, subgroups, and parent group. If you change or remove the rules of an existing group, assets added by those rules are removed if they do not match the new rules. However, assets that were added manuall are not removed.
See the Enterprise Manager Ops Center Reference Guide for a list of the asset attributes that can be used in group rules
Expand All User-Defined Groups from the Assets drop-down list in the Navigation pane.
Select a group.
Click Edit Group in the Actions pane.
Edit the group information, then click Next. Group information includes the following:
Group Name
Description
Group Location
Configure Group Rules – Select this option to add or change the rules for a group. Group rules add any assets to the group that match the attributes and rules.
Configure Subgroups – Select this option to add or change child groups of this group.
Preview Group Before Creation – Select this option to view the assets and groups that will be in the group when you commit the changes. This option is available only if you change group rules or subgroups.
If you selected Configure Group Rules, the Configure Asset Type Rules step is displayed. Configure one or more rules, then click Next. Configuring a rule includes the following:
Matching Policy – A rule can contain one or more attributes. For each rule, specify whether an asset must match all of the rule's attributes or any of the rule's attributes.
Asset Type – Select the asset type that uses the rule.
Attribute – Select an attribute to be considered by the rule. For example, if you select Name, the rule compares the asset's name to a given value. You can add additional attributes to a rule using the Add Attribute icon.
Condition – Select a condition for the rule. For example, if you select Contains for the Name attribute, the rule includes assets if their name contains a given value.
Value – Enter a value to be used by the rule. For example, if you select Name as an Attribute, Contains as a condition, and Pod3 as a value, any asset of the specified type with Pod3 in its name is added to the group.
If you selected Configure Subgroups, the Configure Subgroups page is displayed. Drag one or more groups from the Available Groups list to the Selected Groups list to add them as subgroups, then click Next.
If you selected Preview Group Before Creation, the Preview Group page is displayed. Review the list of assets and subgroups that will be added to the new group, then click Next.
The summary page is displayed. Click Finish. An Update Asset Group job is launched.
You place assets into groups to aid in organizing your operations. When an asset is added to a group, it continues to be displayed in the All Assets section. Assets can be added to any number of groups.
Expand All Assets in the Assets section of the Navigation pane.
Select one or more assets in either of the following ways:
Select an asset from the Asset list, then click Add Asset to Group in the Actions pane.
Select one or more assets from the Managed Assets list in the center pane, then click the Add Asset to Group icon.
In the Add Assets to Group/Subgroup window, select the destination group, then click Add Assets to Group. An Add Resource to Group job is launched.
For the SPARC Enterprise M-Series servers, create a homogeneous group for each type of server and then use the group as a target for actions such as updating firmware on all the servers in the group or provisioning the OS on all the dynamic system domains. The homogenous groups must contain only servers of the same model.
To Add a SPARC Enterprise M-Series Server to a Group
Expand All Assets in the Navigation pane.
Select an M-Series server.
Click Add Asset to Group in the Actions pane.
In the Add Assets to Group/Subgroup window, select the destination group, then click Add Asset to Group. An Add Resource to Group job is launched.
After the asset is added to the group, assign the Admin role to the group for users that must manage the assets.
When you move assets to a new group, the assets are removed from the current group and added to the new group.
Note:
If the current group has rules that match the asset you want to move, the asset is re-added to the group after you move it. It might be possible to edit the group's rule to exclude the asset you have moved.Expand All User-Defined Groups from the Assets list in the Navigation pane.
Select the group.
Select one or more assets from the list in the center pane.
Click the Move Asset to Group icon. The Move Assets to Group/Subgroup window is displayed.
Select the destination group.
Click Move Assets to Group to start the job.
You can remove assets from any user-defined group. The assets remain in any other groups.
Note:
If an asset was added to a group by the group's rules and it is removed manually, the asset is not re-added.To Remove an Asset from a Group
Select All User-Defined Groups from the Assets list in the Navigation Pane.
Select the group.
Select the asset from the list in the center pane.
Click the Remove Asset from Group icon in the center pane.
Click OK to confirm you want to remove the asset. A job is launched to remove the asset from the group.
You can move a group within the hierarchy of groups, making it a child of a different group or placing it at the top level.
Select All User Defined Groups from the Assets drop-down list in the Navigation pane.
Select a group.
Click Move Group in the Actions pane. The Move Group window is displayed.
Select a destination for the group:
Top level
Another user-defined group
Click Move Group. A job is launched to move the group.
Deleting a group removes the group and all of its subgroups from the user-defined group hierarchy. It does not delete any of the assets.
Expand All User Defined Groups from the Assets drop-down list in the Navigation Pane.
Select a group.
Click Delete Group in the Actions pane.
Click OK to confirm you want to delete the group. A job is launched to delete the group.