About Host Sets

The provisioning system enables you to group hosts into logical groups called host sets. After hosts are grouped into host sets, you can perform operations on them in the same manner as a single host. Host sets enable you to perform operations on a large number of hosts simultaneously.

A host set can include any of the following objects.

• Hosts

• Host searches, which add all the hosts found by the host searches to the host set

• Host sets

When you define a host set to include a host search, the host search executes and the initial list of hosts is determined. Any time an operation is performed on the host set, the host search is performed again and an updated list of hosts is generated. For example, when the provisioning system uses the host set as a target for an installation or a comparison, the list of hosts that meet the host search criteria is regenerated.

Host sets based on host searches enable the provisioning system to group hosts based on their actual configurations at runtime. Host searches ensure that your host set contains all the hosts that match the search criteria, rather than requiring you to remember which hosts are configured a certain way.

Host sets enable you to perform operations on groups of hosts. A host can appear in a host set only once. If two host searches happened both to retrieve the same hosts, each of these hosts would appear in the host set just once. Duplicate entries are removed from the host set list.

Platform Host Sets

The provisioning system includes a hierarchy of nested host sets that are based on the OS platforms of hosts. The top host set is any, which includes hosts running any of the supported OS platforms.

Platform host sets are used to limit the hosts that a particular component or resource may be installed on. Platform host sets typically contain a host search that matches one or more platform-specific properties. The provisioning system includes several predefined platform host sets (and associated host searches).

Each platform host set that is included with the provisioning system will be prefixed with system# (for example system#Windows 2000 Server). The prefix indicates that they are defined by the system plug-in.

Managing Host Sets

Host sets enable you to perform operations on a large number of remote targets simultaneously.

How to Create Host Sets

This procedure describes how to create host sets by using the browser interface. You can also create host sets by using the following command.

• hdb.hs.add – Creates a host set.

For a detailed description of this command, see Chapter 7, hdb: CLI Commands for Managing Hosts, in N1 Grid Service Provisioning System 5.0 Command-Line Interface Reference Manual.

Before You Begin

To create a host set, you must belong to a user group that has Create, Edit, Delete permission on hosts.

Steps

1. Go to the Host Sets page.

   See How to View Host Sets.

2. In the top row of the Host Sets table, type a name and a brief description for the host set you plan to create and click Create.

   A Details page for the new host set is displayed. This page includes the list of current member hosts and controls to add or remove hosts from the host set.

3. Use the controls on this page to define the host set.

   Each time you add a host, host set, or host search to the host set, the Host Sets page updates the list of hosts in the host set.

4. Click Save.

How to View Host Sets

You can survey how hosts are currently grouped within the provisioning system.

This procedure describes how to view host sets by using the browser interface. You can also view host sets by using the following commands.

• hdb.hs.la – Displays all host sets.

• hdb.hs.lo – Displays detailed information about a particular host set.

For a detailed description of these commands, see Chapter 7, hdb: CLI Commands for Managing Hosts, in N1 Grid Service Provisioning System 5.0 Command-Line Interface Reference Manual.

Steps

1. From the navigation menu, choose Host Setup.

   The Host Setup page is displayed.

2. In the Host Setup page, click Host Sets.

   The Host Sets page is displayed. By default, this page lists all the unhidden host sets.

3. (Optional) To include hidden host sets, select Show Hidden Host Sets in the upper right corner of the page.

4. (Optional) To view the details of a specific host set, click Details in the row listing the host set that you want to view.

   The Details page for the host set lists the host set's member criteria along with the hosts that are included in the host set.

How to Edit or Hide Host Sets

This procedure describes how to edit host sets by using the browser interface. You can also edit host sets by using the following command.

• hdb.hs.mod – Edits a host set.

For a detailed description of this command, see Chapter 7, hdb: CLI Commands for Managing Hosts, in N1 Grid Service Provisioning System 5.0 Command-Line Interface Reference Manual.

Before You Begin

To edit a host set, you must belong to a user group that has Create, Edit, Delete permission on hosts.

Steps

1. Go to the Details page for the host set that you need to edit.

   See How to View Host Sets.

   The Details page for the host set is displayed. This page will list the host set's member criteria and the hosts that currently match this criteria and are included in the host set.

2. Use the controls on this page to define the host set.

   Each time you add a host, host set, or host search to the host set, the Details page updates the list of hosts in the host set.

3. (Optional) To hide the host set, select Hidden.

4. Click Save.

How to Delete Host Sets

Deleting a host set is permanent and cannot be undone. Deleting a host set might also be time consuming.

You can remove unused host sets from the provisioning system. If you want to keep the host set but not view it, see How to Edit or Hide Host Sets.

You can also delete host sets by using the following command.

• hdb.hs.del – Deletes a host set.

For a detailed description of this command, see Chapter 7, hdb: CLI Commands for Managing Hosts, in N1 Grid Service Provisioning System 5.0 Command-Line Interface Reference Manual.

Before You Begin

You cannot delete the host set if a user group has execute permission on the host set

You also cannot delete a host set that is referenced by one of the following objects.

• A comparison

• A notification rule

• A component

• A plug-in

  You can delete a host set that was created by a plug-in only by deleting the plug-in.

To delete a host set, you must belong to a user group that has Create, Edit, Delete permission on hosts.

Steps

1. Go to the Details page of the host set you plan to delete.

   See How to View Host Sets.

2. At the bottom of the Details page, click Delete.

   You are asked to verify that you want to delete the host search.

3. Confirm that you want to delete the host set by clicking Continue to Delete.

   After the host set is deleted, the Host Sets page is updated.