10 Managing Calendar Groups

This chapter describes the different tasks involved in managing groups and group members within a calendar server node network.

This chapter contains the following sections:

About Calendar Groups
Adding Calendar Groups
Modifying Calendar Groups
Deleting Calendar Groups

About Calendar Groups

Groups of users and resources can be created by an administrator to be used by everyone in the calendar network. Private groups can be created by any user for their personal usage. Calendar groups allow users to schedule meetings efficiently with other users and resources.

Groups can include members on any remote node. There are four types of groups:

Private groups

Private groups:

Can be created by all calendar users
Are available only to the user who created the group
Are created and modified by users in the Group Management dialog box of a calendar client

Members-only groups

Members-only groups:

Can be created by all calendar users
Are available only to members of the group
Are created and modified by users in the Group Management dialog box of a calendar client

Public groups

Public groups:

Only users who have the right to administer public groups can create groups, and modify and delete public groups that they own
Are available to all users
Any user can be granted the right to administer public groups
The ownership of a public group cannot be changed

NOTE:

Oracle does not recommend the use of public groups. Public groups are supported only for backwards compatibility with previous versions. Administrative groups offer all of the characteristics of public groups with the added advantage that ownership of the groups can be shared and transferred among users possessing the necessary administrative rights.

Administrative groups

Administrative groups:

Can be created and modified by any user who has been granted the rights to manage administrative groups
Are available to all users
Are owned by the SYSOP, not the users who create them

Private, public, and members-only groups are managed by the users who created them. Users can create or modify these groups using their Calendar client. Administrative groups can be managed by administrators using the group utility unigroup or the Calendar Administrator client. For more information about the unigroup utility, see "Calendar Server Utilities" in Chapter 6 of Oracle Calendar Reference Manual.

The Administrator of the Calendar server can also give special group administration rights to calendar users.

Note:

When a user who has created groups is deleted, all private, members-only and public groups owned by that user are deleted. As administrative groups are owned by the SYSOP, they will not be deleted.

Directory Server Groups and Distribution Lists

If any groups exist in the LDAP directory server, these groups will also be available for viewing (but not modification) in the Calendar client. The Oracle Internet Directory server also allows users to view Oracle Mail distribution lists (DL) as groups. This includes any DLs present in Oracle Internet Directory.

Depending on the Calendar client used, users will be able to view these DLs through the Global Address List. Moreover, users can expand the distribution list to view the users included in the DL.

Note:

When expanding distribution lists, only users who have been provisioned to Calendar will appear in the list of users.

For more information about directory groups and how to configure them, see "Using LDAP Groups and Distribution Lists",in Chapter 6, "Using Oracle Calendar with DirectoryServers".

Adding Calendar Groups

You can add calendar groups using the Oracle Calendar administrator web GUI, or by using a command line utility.

Oracle Calendar Administrator

Use the Calendar Administrator to easily create groups.

Click the Calendar Management tab.
Click on the Groups secondary tab.
To add a new group click Create Group on the far right.
Enter the desired new group name in the Group Name text box, then click Apply.

Note:

All Calendar groups created with Oracle Calendar administrator are of the Administrative Group type.

Command Line

Use unigroup with the -add option to create a new group. Use the -mod option to modify the group name or other attributes. Use the -attach option to add members to the group. Use the utility with the -ls and -members options to list public and administrative groups and their members. For more information about the use and syntax of unigroup, see "Calendar Server Utilities" in Chapter 6 of Oracle Calendar Reference Manual.

% unigroup -add "NAME=Marketing" -n 1Enter a password: unigroup: "NAME=Marketing/ID=4100/NODE-ID=1/TYPE=Admin" has been added

Modifying Calendar Groups

You can modify calendar groups using the Oracle Calendar administrator web GUI, or by using a command line utility.

Oracle Calendar Administrator

Click on the Calendar Management tab
Click on the Groups secondary tab
Search for the group that you wish to modify by selecting Group Name from the Search drop-down list. Then enter the group name in the for text box and press the Go button.
Select the Pencil to the right of the group that you wish to modify.
To modify the group name, select Group Definition on the left side of the screen. Modify the group name in the Group Name text box, and press the Apply button.
To add users to a group, select User Members on the left side of the screen. Select the Add Users button, then search for the user you wish to add using the Search functionality. Once you have found the user you wish to add, select the Add User icon to the right of the user.

To delete users from a group, select User Members on the left side of the screen. Search for the user you wish to delete using the Search functionality. Once you have found the user you wish to add, select the Remove User icon to the right of the user.
To add resources to a group, select Resource Members on the left side of the screen. Select the Add Resource button, then search for the resource you wish to add using the Search functionality. Once you have found the resource you wish to add, select the Add Resource icon to the right of the resource.

To delete resources from a group, select Resource Members on the left side of the screen. Search for the resource you wish to delete using the Search functionality. Once you have found the resource you wish to delete, select the Remove Resource icon to the right of the resource.

Command Line

Use the unigroup utility with the -mod option to modify attributes of the group. Use the utility with the -attach and -detach options to add and remove users and resources as group members.

To add a user to an existing group:

% unigroup -attach "NAME=Marketing" -u "UID=jsmith" -n 1Enter a password: unigroup: User "UID=jsmith" has been attached to the group

To remove a user from an existing group:

% unigroup -detach "NAME=Marketing" -u "UID=jsmith" -n 1Enter a password: unigroup: User "UID=jsmith" has been detached to the group

To modify the group name from "Marketing" to "Sales and Advertising":

% unigroup -mod "NAME=Marketing" -m "NAME=Sales and Advertising" -n 1Enter a password: unigroup: "NAME=Marketing/ID=4100/NODE-ID=1/TYPE=Admin" has been updated

Deleting Calendar Groups

You can delete calendar groups using the Oracle Calendar administrator web GUI, or by using a command line utility.

Oracle Calendar Administrator

Click on the Calendar Management tab
Click on the Groups secondary tab
Search for the group that you wish to delete by selecting Group Name from the Search drop-down list. Then enter the group name in the for text box and press the Go button.
Once you have found the group you wish to delete, click the Trash Can icon to the right of the group. If you wish to delete multiple groups, select the check boxes to the left of the groups, then press the Delete button.
You will then be asked to confirm the group deletion. Press the OK button.

Command Line

Use the unigroup utility with the -delete option to delete an existing group. For more information on the use and syntax of unigroup, see "Calendar Server Utilities" in Chapter 6 of Oracle Calendar Reference Manual.

To delete a group:

% ./unigroup -del "NAME=Sales and Advertising" -n 1Enter a password: Delete "NAME=Sales and Advertising/ID=4100/NODE-ID=1/TYPE=Admin" [y/n]: yunigroup: "NAME=Sales and Advertising/ID=4100/NODE-ID=28482/TYPE=Admin" has been deleted