Group devices

Before you start

• This is an IT task. It assumes you look after your company’s computers and know which machines belong together. If that is not you, do this together with the person who does.
• At least one platform is set up with an enrolled device. Until then “Groups” is locked in the sidebar. See Enroll a device.
• You can manage devices in Zonitix. In the built-in set, administrators have that permission, and so do members of the “IT” group. With view-only rights you can see groups but not create or change them.
• Decide which kind you need. A static group contains exactly the machines you pick. A smart group contains whichever machines match a rule, worked out again from each machine’s last report whenever the group is used.

Create a group

1. 1

   Step 1: Open Groups

   Go to DevicesGroups and click “New group”. The “New device group” dialog opens.

2. 2

   Step 2: Name it and choose the platform

   Fill in “Name”, and “Description (optional)” if it helps. Under “Platform”, choose macOS, Linux or Windows. A group holds machines of one platform only, and the platform cannot be changed after the group is created.

3. 3

   Step 3: Choose how machines get in

   Under “Membership”, choose “Static — pick machines” or “Smart — by criteria”. This cannot be changed later either.

   For a static group, pick the machines in the list that appears. You can add more afterwards. For a smart group, click “Add rule” and build each rule from a field, a comparison and a value, for example the department, the operating system version, whether an update is pending, or an installed application. The dialog shows how many machines match as you go, as “Matches 12 devices”.

4. 4

   Step 4: Create it

   Click “Create”. The group appears in the list, marked “Smart” or “Static” with its platform.

Use and maintain the group

1. 5

   Step 5: Aim a profile at it

   Select the group and click “Scope a profile to this group”. That takes you to Profiles to create a profile that applies to these machines only. See Push a compliance profile.

2. 6

   Step 6: Change who is in it

   For a static group, select it and click “Add devices”, or tick members and remove them. You can also tick machines in DevicesInventory and click “Add to group…”.

   For a smart group, click “Edit” and change the rules. You cannot add or remove single machines from a smart group; a machine joins or leaves when it starts or stops matching.

What you should see

If something goes wrong

A machine you expect is missing from a smart group

Open the device in Inventory and check the value the rule looks at. A rule on an installed application only matches machines that have reported their software, and a group only ever contains machines of its own platform.

You cannot add a machine to a group

The machine is on a different platform from the group, or the group is a smart one. Create a group for that platform, or change the smart group’s rules.

Deleting a group says "This group is still in use"

A profile or an agent rollout is aimed at the group, and the dialog lists them. Point those at another group first. If you click "Remove from those scopes and delete", the group is taken out of those profiles and rollouts first, and one that was aimed only at this group then applies to no machines. It never falls back to every device.

Groups is greyed out in the sidebar

No platform has finished setup yet. Go to Devices → Settings, adopt the agent for a platform and enroll a device.

Still stuck? See When something goes wrong, or Contact Zonitix support.

Where next

• Push a compliance profile
• Manage a device day to day
• Enroll a device