Topology grouping is a visual tool that does not affect Global Manager performance. Groups help organize topology elements. The groups can represent resources, geographical areas, business areas, or entities of other organizations.
Think about groups in terms of the business needs: Is your topology divided by region? Does the topology correspond to business units? Is the topology allocated by customer or function?
Groups are organized into parent and child groups. A group can contain both members and child groups. When planning group organization, you should try to restrict each group to hold only members or only child groups. The Map Console will not show the members of a group if the group also contains child groups.
There are two ways to create groups. The first method uses matching patterns entered through a Global Console. This method creates selective groups. The second method relies on a file to determine group hierarchy and membership. This method creates hierarchical groups.
For selective groups, you must define three properties to organize your groups: matching criteria, priority, and target classes. You define hierarchical groups and their members by using files. One file contains groups and child groups, which can also include members or links to files that contain members.
The Service Assurance Manager Configuration Guide provides additional information about topology groupings.
