Device filters and groups

Device filters and groups are fundamental for getting visibility and control of your devices, allowing you to apply jobs or monitors to a targeted subset of your estate.

Refer to Best practices for deciding between device filters or groups.

Device filters

Device filters are dynamic and work independently of sites. You can have a device filter that targets devices with specific criteria across all sites. As device attributes change, the filters will automatically be updated, and only the devices that match the current filter criteria will be displayed in the filter results. Refer to Device filters.

Groups

Similarly to device filters, groups work independently of sites. You can group devices from many sites together. However, unlike filters, groups are static. This means that adding or removing devices or sites to or from groups is a manual activity. Also, groups cannot be shared with other security levels within the account. Refer to Groups.

Device filters and groups can work together quite well, but it does require an understanding of the underlying logic.

To illustrate some of the situations that can arise when combining groups and filters, we're going to show the interaction between two groups and four filters that were made using those groups

In these examples, there are two device groups, called Group A and Group B.

Group A contains only one device: 

  • KBURNS-DSK10

Group B also contains only one device: 

  • JVOELGER-LAP15

Finally, there is a single device that is not a member of either group: 

  • Router

Click on an example below to see how different filter configurations interact with these devices and device groups.

In this example, the filter uses a single Device Group criteria , indicating that devices should only appear in this filter if they are not a member of Group A or Group B.

The results of the filter show all three of our example devices, as seen below: 

To understand this result, we need to understand that the filter logic is grabbing all devices that are not members of all groups defined in the Device Group criteria. This means that all devices that are not members of at least one of the defined groups will display in this filter.

In this example, a the filter uses two Device Group criteria, indicating that devices should only appear in this filter if they are not a member or Group A, or not a member of Group B.

The results of the filter show all three of our example devices, as seen below: 

To understand this result, we need to understand that the filter logic is grabbing all devices that are not members of all groups defined in all of the Device Group criteria. This means that all devices that are not members of at least one of the defined groups will display in this filter.

In this example, the filter uses a single Device Group criteria , indicating that devices should appear in this filter if they are not a member of Group A and Group B.

The results of the filter show only the one device not in either of those groups, as seen below: 

To understand this result, we need to understand that the filter logic is grabbing all devices that are not members of any groups defined in the Device Group criteria. This means that only devices that are not members of any of the defined groups will display in this filter.

In this example, a the filter uses two Device Group criteria, indicating that devices should only appear in this filter if they are not a member or Group A, and not a member of Group B.

The results of the filter show only the one device not in either of those groups, as seen below: 

To understand this result, we need to understand that the filter logic is grabbing all devices that are not members of any groups defined in all Device Group criteria. This means that only devices that are not members of any of the defined groups will display in this filter.