Create Host groups

Create new Host groups to organize the hosts in the instance logically. Typically, hosts can be grouped by the Line of Business (LoB), geography, business unit/department, expected threat levels, or internal security policies and regulations. The preferred rationale to create Host groups may differ by your Policy control requirements and/or the structure of your business/organization.

For example, create a Host group 'High-value servers' to group all the mission critical server hosts, and later, push a customized Xprotect policy. Typically, you must plan to create Host groups, soon after you have installed Xprotect agents on a considerable number of hosts that have specific Xprotect policy requirements.

Host Groups page

Go to the Hosts > Host Groups page to see the existing Host groups (including the Default Host group) in the instance. 

• Click a Host group to view its details in the fly panel.
  

Create Host groups

When creating a new Host group, the Three Default Xprotect policies (Default-Linux-Policy, Default-Mac-Policy, and Default-Windows-Policy) are assigned to the Host group. You can assign custom Xprotect policies before you save the Host group.

Edit Host groups

Edit a Host group when you want to push a different policy or move the hosts to another Host group. Both these cases involve policy updates on the hosts. After you edit and save the group, the new policies are pushed to the hosts automatically.

Editing Host groups is an excellent way to test multiple applicable policies (one-at-a-time) on a common set of hosts.

Delete Host groups

You must empty a Host group before you delete it. So, deleting a Host group requires moving all the hosts to other Host groups (custom or default). Also, after you delete a Host group from the instance, you cannot restore the group. 

Next steps

• Add the hosts in the instance to the relevant Host groups.