Device Groups

Device groups help you organize devices and target actions, policies, or maintenance settings. BigFix UI supports two types of device groups:

  • Dynamic device groups: Update memberships automatically as devices start or stop matching the defined conditions.
  • 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.
Note: Use dynamic groups when you want devices to automatically join or leave a group based on attributes like the operating system or agent type. Use static groups when you need absolute control over the group's membership, such as when selecting a specific set of pilot devices for a patch deployment.

Key Capabilities

  • Visual Insights: Use interactive donut and pie charts to view the ratio of static to dynamic groups and identify the largest groups by member count.

  • Automatic Updates: Dynamic groups update memberships automatically as devices start or stop matching defined filter conditions.

  • Centralized Management: View, edit, or delete existing groups directly from a single dashboard.

  • Targeted Actions: Organize devices to streamline the deployment of actions, policies, or maintenance windows.

Device Groups Page Interface

You can navigate to the Device Groups page using one of two methods:

  1. Click the Device groups icon located in the top-right corner of the Device explorer - Overview page.

  2. Click the View all link next to the Device groups (top 5 by member count) chart.

Once on the Device explorer - Device Groups page, you can interact with the following elements:

  • Overview Charts: Includes a "Device groups by type" donut chart and a "Device groups (top 5 by member count)s" pie chart to provide high-level distribution insights.

    • Device groups by type: A donut chart that displays the total count and distribution of static versus dynamic device groups in your environment.

    • Device groups (top 5 by member count): A pie chart that identifies the five largest device groups based on the number of member devices, allowing you to quickly spot your most populated groups.

  • Device Groups Table: Lists all available groups, displaying their Name, Type, and Member Count. Use the following controls to manage the table view and actions:

    • Sort: Click the up or down arrows next to any column header to sort the data in ascending or descending order.

    • Density: Click the Density icon to adjust the table row spacing. Choose from Compact, Standard, or Comfortable.

    • Delete groups: Select the checkbox next to one or more device groups, then click this button to permanently remove them.

    • Search: Enter text in the search bar to quickly filter and find specific device groups.

  • Device Group Details Page: Clicking a specific group name in the table redirects you to its details page, which contains:

    • Overview Tab: Displays core properties (Group name, Group type, Current members) and a table listing all current members of the group. You can click the Manage group button here to edit the group's conditions or name.

    • Relevant Fixlets Tab: Lists the Fixlets that apply to the devices in the group. You can select Fixlets and click Deploy directly from this tab.

    • Deployments Tab: Shows a history of deployments targeted at this group, allowing you to monitor status or use the Delete and Stop buttons for active or expired deployments.

  • View and Utility Bar: Located at the top right of the Device explorer - Device Groups page:

    • Export: Click the Export icon to download the device groups list in CSV or Excel format for offline analysis or record-keeping. For detailed steps, see Exporting Data and Exporting Charts.

    • Prescriptive Guidance: Click the Prescriptive Guidance icon to view actionable recommendations, highlight risks, and streamline remediation steps based on your environment's current state. For detailed steps, see Prescriptive Guidance.

    • Filter: Click the Filter icon to narrow down the device groups displayed in the table based on specific properties and conditions. For detailed steps, see Filtering Data.

    • Create device group: Click this button to open the configuration side panel and define a new dynamic or static device group. For detailed steps, see Creating and Managing Device Groups and Managing Static Group Membership.
    • Overview: Click the Overview icon (chart symbol) to switch back to the Device explorer - Overview page.
    • List: Click the List icon (table symbol) to switch back to the Device explorer - List view page.