Creating and Managing Device Groups

Create new dynamic or static device groups, and edit or delete existing groups to organize your endpoints effectively.

Prerequisites

You must have the appropriate permissions to manage devices and device groups.
For dynamic groups, the device properties used for filtering must be reported by the BigFix agent.

Create a Device Group

From the BigFix UI side navigation, expand Explore and select Devices.
Navigate to the Device Groups page by clicking the Device groups icon in the top-right corner, or by clicking the View all link next to the Device groups (top 5 by member count) chart.
Click Create device group in the top-right corner.

The Create Device Group widget page opens.
In the Group name (required) field, enter a unique name for the device group.
In the Group type (required) section, select one of the following options:
- Dynamic: Enables filter conditions for automatic membership updates. Devices that match the defined filter conditions are automatically added to the group and updated dynamically over time.
- Static: Static device groups allow you to manually organize devices by explicitly adding or removing individual devices. Membership in a static group does not change automatically and remains exactly as defined by the user.
Perform the appropriate steps based on your selection:
- To configure a Dynamic group:
  1. From the Site (Required) drop-down, select the site that owns the device group.
    
    The list shows the sites that you have permission to write to, such as ActionSite or a custom site. The site determines where BigFix stores the group and who can use it. You cannot change the site after you create the group.
    
    Note:
    Site selection is available only for dynamic device groups.
  2. Under Filter the devices below, select the top-level filter condition: All conditions (Criteria: AND) to add only the devices that match every enabled section, or ANY to add the devices that match at least one enabled section.
  3. Turn on the toggle for each section that you want to use. The enabled sections are combined with the top-level condition that you selected.
    - Properties: Filters devices by reported device properties.
    - Device groups: Filters devices by their membership in existing device groups.
    - Relevance expression: Filters devices with a relevance expression that you write.
  4. In the Properties section, define Condition 1: select the Property, select the comparison Operator, and enter or select the matching Value.
  5. (Optional) Click Add Condition to add more conditions to the section.
  6. (Optional) Click Reset filters to clear all conditions and start over.
  7. For more information about building filter conditions, see Filter by query.
- To configure a Static group:
  1. Under Copy device list here (1 line per device), enter the target devices by name, ID, FQDN, and/or IP address. Enter each device on a separate line.
  2. Click Verify list to review the preview of the device list.
  Note:
  You can also add devices to a static group directly from the device table on the Device explorer - List view page. For more information, see Managing Static Group Membership.
Click Create device group.

Result The device group is created and appears in the data table. For dynamic groups, the table also shows the Site Name and Site Type of the site that owns the group.

Edit a Device Group

Modify the properties, filter conditions, or device list of an existing dynamic or static device group to update your targeted endpoints.

From the Device explorer - Device Groups page, click the name of the group you want to edit.
On the group details page, click the Manage group button in the top-right corner.
In the Manage device group side panel, update the Group name if necessary.

Note:
You cannot change the Site of an existing dynamic device group. To move a group to another site, delete it and create it again in the required site.
Update the group membership criteria based on the group type:
- If editing a Dynamic group:
  1. Under Filter the devices below, change the top-level filter condition between All conditions (Criteria: AND) and ANY.
  2. Turn the Properties, Device groups, and Relevance expression toggles on or off to change which sections apply to the group.
  3. Modify the individual conditions by updating the Property, Operator, and Value fields. Click Add Condition to add a condition. (Optional) Click Reset filters to clear the existing conditions and start over.
  4. Review the Preview of dynamically applicable targeted devices section to ensure the correct devices match your new conditions.
- If editing a Static group:
  1. Locate the Copy device list here (1 line per device) text box.
  2. Add or remove target devices in the text box. You can identify devices by their name, ID, FQDN, and/or IP address. Ensure each device is entered on a separate line.
  3. Click Verify list to validate the entered devices.
  4. Review the Preview of device list section to confirm the endpoints are correctly identified.
Click Update device group.
Result The device group's criteria and properties are updated immediately. For dynamic groups, the BigFix UI automatically recalculates the group's membership based on the new conditions. For static groups, membership is updated to reflect the explicitly defined device list.

Delete a Device Group

From the Device explorer - Device Groups page, locate the group(s) you want to remove in the data table.
Select the checkbox next to the group name(s).
Click the Delete groups button located above the data table.
In the confirmation dialog, review the warning message.
The dialog indicates that you will no longer be able to manage or remediate the entity, and all associated history will be deleted. This action cannot be undone.
Click Delete device group to confirm and proceed with the deletion.

Result The device group is permanently removed from the BigFix UI and will no longer appear in the Device Groups data table.