Groups

Groups Window

The Groups window shows groups, which can be used to restrict license usage. Groups which have been created manually by an administrator will be listed here. Also, if the KeyServer is set to use certain authentication methods (such as unix), groups which are defined externally by the authentication method will appear in the window as well. However, some authentication methods (such as LDAP) do not allow known groups to be listed, so some groups may not appear in this window, even though they can be used for license restrictions (see License Details Window for more about using groups for license restrictions).

Note that unlike many objects in the KeyConfigure interface, groups cannot be renamed once they are created. This is because of complications with externally defined groups, and the effect the name change would have on licenses that use the group for restrictions.

You must double-click a group, opening the Group details window, to see any of the options which define a group.

Group Details Window

The Group Details Window shows the name of the group, and has four panes - Notes, Locations, Nodes, and Divisions.

Group membership is determined by an OR of various conditions. When a license is launched which has a group restriction, each condition for the group is checked, and if any of them are met, group membership is satisfied, and the license can be granted. Group membership can be given either because the computer is in a Location which is associated with the group, or the computer is on the Node list for the group, or the authentication module recognizes the computer or user as a member of the group. Currently, it is important to note that the Group Details Window does not show any indication of whether this group is a valid group according to the authentication module. It does, however, list Locations and Computers which are associated with the group.

The Notes pane contains a single item, which is a free-form text field. You can use it for any information you want. It can only be seen here in the KeyConfigure interface.

The Locations pane lists each Location which is associated with the Group, as well as the type of the Location. Any computers in these locations on the network can be member of the Group. Location objects can be dragged from the Locations Window into this list.

The Nodes pane contains a list of computers associated with the Group, along with the last user and time at which this group allowed someone on the computer to use a license. Any computer on this list is a member of the Group. Computers can be dragged from the Computers Window into this list.

The Divisions pane lets you include all the nodes of an entire Division just by referencing the Division name (as defined in the Computers window).

Then any changes to a computer's Division affiliation, configure by dragging items in the Computers window, will be automatically reflected in any Group definition that depend on it.

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