View and manage asset groups

The View and manage asset groups page shows the asset groups defined in the Axeda® Platform that you have privileges to view, edit, or delete. The asset groups shown here include:

o Asset groups created manually

o Asset groups created dynamically by the execution of a dynamic group definition

o Asset groups created automatically when a new model is created in the Platform

o Root Asset Group (the top-level asset group, which has no parent and cannot be deleted)

o Default Model Group (an immediate child of Root Asset Group, parent to all asset groups created automatically for new models; this asset group cannot be deleted)

You can sort the asset groups shown in the table by clicking the column headings.

The table shows the following information and actions for asset groups listed here:

o Name - The name of the asset group is a link to the View or edit properties for this asset group page, where you can edit the name and description for the selected asset group. The Root Asset Group appears in this list, in alphabetical order. Note that asset group names are case insensitive, so the Platform considers the asset group name "AG1" the same as "ag1". When viewing asset groups in a Platform with Delegated Administration enabled, the names of asset groups may have prefixes; for details, refer to Names of Objects in DA Units. If the name of an asset group contained a forward slash when it was created dynamically or automatically upon registration of a new asset, the Platform replaces the forward slash with a vertical bar ( | ) or "pipe".

o Parent Asset Group -- This column shows the fully qualified path name of the parent asset group for each asset group in the table, no matter how the asset group was created. This field is empty for the Root Asset Group. You cannot change the Parent Asset Group for an asset group, except by deleting the group and recreating it. "Fully qualified path name" means that you can see the complete path in the hierarchy of asset groups. At the top is the Root Asset Group. The format of the name uses forward slashes ( / ) to separate the names of the asset groups in the hierarchy:

/Root Asset Group/<Grandparent_Asset_Group_name>/<Parent_Asset_Group_name>

The immediate parent of the asset group is the last entry in this path. For example, in the fully qualified name, /Root Asset Group/Laptops/Windows, the immediate Parent Asset Group for the listed asset group is Windows. To distinguish the delimiters for the path from the actual names of the asset groups, the Platform replaces any forward slash (/) in the name of an asset group with a vertical bar ( | ) or "pipe".

o Actions -- Click a link in this column to perform an action. Note that the Root Asset Group, the Default Model Group, and the (child) default model asset groups (created automatically when a new model is created in the Platform) do NOT have associated actions. Asset groups that are created automatically upon asset registration or by execution of dynamic group definitions do have the associated actions. However, the availability of the actions depends on your privileges. The complete set of actions follows:

§ Manage Assets - Shows the Manage assets for <asset group name> page, where you can assign assets to, and remove assets from, the selected asset group. Users who are members of the user group(s) associated with the selected asset group can access these assets and any assets in any child asset group of this asset group.

§ Manage User Groups - Shows the Manage user groups for <asset group name> page, where you can assign user groups to, and remove user groups from, the selected asset group. Users who are members of the user groups that you assign to this asset group will have privileges to all assets in this asset group and to assets in any child asset group of this asset group.

Note: The user groups created automatically by the Platform for Delegated Admin Units are NOT visible in the Manage user groups page. Therefore, you cannot remove the association between this DA user group and the asset group selected as its "root" asset group using this link. To change the "root" asset group for a Delegated Admin Unit, you must go to the Overview page for the DA Unit.

Be careful that you do not assign an asset group that is the "root" asset group of a DA Unit to a user group in the Primary directory service, unless you want users in the Primary directory server to have access to the DA Unit's assets that are assigned to that asset group.

§ Delete - Allows you to delete an asset group from the Platform. Note that this action is not always available. For example, the Root Asset Group cannot be deleted; the Default Model Group and the automatically created model asset groups also cannot be deleted. You must have the proper privileges to remove an asset group.

If an asset group was created by the execution of a dynamic group definition, then you can delete the asset group from this page. However, unless you change the dynamic group definition and/or the property values, the asset group will be recreated the next time that the dynamic group definition is executed.

When you delete an asset group, any asset groups that are associated with it are also deleted. The assets associated with that asset group (and any child asset groups) are NOT deleted.

Note: The information in this page is refreshed by default once per minute. If you make changes to property values, you need to allow time for the assets to contact the Platform again, and for the Platform to re-evaluate the property values and re-run the dynamic group definition. The refresh rate for application page is configured by your Platform administrator.

Procedures from this page

You can click the name of any asset group shown in the table to view or edit the name and description of the selected asset group. If the Manage Assets and Manage User Groups actions are available, you can click the link to add or remove assets or user groups for the related asset group. If the action is available for an asset group, you can also delete that asset group from the Platform.

To view and edit information for an asset group

1. Click the name of an asset group to display the View or edit properties for <asset_group_name> page. In this page, you can change the name of the selected asset group (including the Root Asset Group) as well as the description of the asset group. This page shows the fully qualified name of the Parent Asset Group; you cannot change the parent group.

2. Use the Manage Assets and Manage User Groups links in the Actions column to view and edit the assets and user groups assigned to an asset group.

To delete an asset group

1. In the Actions column for an asset group, click Delete.

A warning message appears, prompting you to confirm this deletion. The following asset groups cannot be deleted: Root Asset Group, Default Model Group, and all the default model asset groups.

2. In the warning message dialog box, click OK to confirm the deletion or Cancel to keep the asset group.

Note: If another user has deleted the group at about the same time, an error message appears, saying that the Platform was unable to delete the group. Refresh the page or leave it and come back to see the change.

Tips

o The maximum number of rows supported for returning Platform search results for this type of table is defined in your user preferences, Items Per Page setting (Long table or Short table).

o Use the table navigation tools to view different pages and information in the table.

o Use $image\icon_refresh.gif$ (Refresh link) beside the table navigation tools to refresh the page with the latest Platform results. (Browser Refresh tools do not update the table.)