Using groups

Groups are lists of users, groups, and servers that have common traits. They are useful for mailing lists and access control lists. Using groups can simplify administration tasks.

For example, if you create a group called Terminations that lists all former employees, you can enter the Terminations group name in the Not access server field in the Server Access section of the Security tab on each Server document. When an employee leaves the company, you add the employee's name to the Terminations group and then force replication of the Domino® Directory to prevent the employee from having access to all servers in the domain. Using a Terminations group saves you the time and effort of manually adding individual employee names to each Server document when employees leave the company.

To create a group, you create a Group document in the Domino® Directory. You can add registered users to the group as you create the Group document and you can add new users to a group as you register them. There is no limit to the number of names that you can add to a group. However, the total number of characters used for names in the group cannot exceed 32KB. To keep groups manageable, split a large list of users into two or more groups.

By default, the Domino® Directory contains two groups: LocalDomainServers and OtherDomainServers. LocalDomainServers includes all servers in the current domain. Domino® automatically adds servers that you register in the current domain to the LocalDomainServers group. OtherDomainServers includes all servers that are not in the current domain. For example, OtherDomainServers might include the names of servers in other companies with which your company communicates. If you set up a connection to a server in another company or domain, add the server name to the OtherDomainServers group.

A third group, LocalDomainAdmins, might reside in the Domino® Directory if the Add LocalDomainAdmins group to all databases and templates check box was selected during first server setup for a domain. The LocalDomainAdmins group contains names of the domain administrators.

Each group must have an owner -- usually an administrator or database manager.

Using subgroups

You can create and use subgroups. A subgroup is a group that is added as a member of another group. You create subgroups just as you would create a group, and then you add that group name as a member of another group.

Using multiple group names

When you create a group in Domino® Administrator, you can specify multiple group names for one group. You need to be aware of the following information when using multiple group names:

• If you enter multiple group names into this field and separate those names with commas (,) or semi-colons (;), they resolve to multiple names separated by semi-colons.
• Any of the group names may be used to address the group. Names other than the first name in the Group Name field resolve to the first name, and mail is delivered to members of the group.
• When searching the Domino® Directory for any of the group names other than the first name entered in the field, the name will not be found, and the first name in the field will not be offered as a match.