Syntax of hierarchical group datafiles

The syntax for group datafiles provide a means for specifying groups, children (subgroups), and members. The following example illustrates the syntax of a hierarchical group datafile:

HierarchicalGroup NewYork children NY-Routers "NY Customers"
HierarchicalGroup NewYork children Queens Nassau HierarchicalGroup NewYork children Bronx 
HierarchicalGroup NewYork members Router::nyc1
HierarchicalGroup NY-Routers members Router::nyc1
HierarchicalGroup "NY Customers" members file:/opt/dev/incharge-sa/smarts/local/conf/ics/ny-customers.members

This example illustrates the following syntactic rules of hierarchical group datafiles:

• Each line that specifies a hierarchical group must start with the keyword HierarchicalGroup.

• Elements of a hierarchical group must be separated by one or more spaces.

• The name of the group follows the keyword HierarchicalGroup. The name of the group must be unique for all existing groups. If the same group name is used in multiple lines, each line is referring to the same instance. In the example above, all four lines starting with “HierarchicalGroup NewYork” are defining either children or members of the NewYork group.

• If the name of a group contains a space, it must be enclosed in double quotes.

• The keyword children indicates that this line specifies subgroups of the named group. For example, NY-Routers and “NY Customers” are child groups, or subgroups, of the group named NewYork.

• The keyword members indicates that this line specifies members of the named group. For example, the router nyc1 is a member of the group named NY-Routers. You must specify the class name and the instance name of the topology element, separating them with a double colon (::).

• You cannot specify child groups and members in the same line. You can, however, use multiple lines to specify members or children for the same group.

• You can specify a list of members in a member file. For example, the file ny-customers.members lists members of the “NY Customers” group. However, you must specify the full path to the file, by using the correct syntax for the host operating system.

  The following example shows the syntax of a file that lists the members of a group. Because the hierarchical group datafile specifies the name of the group, you only need to specify the <class>::<instance> pairs, one per line, for each member, for example:

  Router::nycbrd1
  Router::nycbrd3
  Switch::nycs2