Grouping assets

Lansweeper allows you to group various assets, making it quick and easy to look at specific network segments. You can group based on IP range (IP location group), other criteria like asset name or model (dynamic group) or manually (static group). To view the members of any group (that's not empty), hover over the Assets link at the top of the web console and click the group name. This article explains how to configure each of the 3 types of available groups: IP address range locations, static asset groups and dynamic asset groups.

asset group overviews

An asset can belong to an unlimited number of asset groups. Asset groups are configured in the following section of the web console: Configuration\Asset Groups

Asset Groups menu

IP address range locations

IP range locations allow you to assign a name to an IP range. Any asset that belongs to the specified range will be placed in the corresponding IP location you've created. Hit the Add IP range location button under IP Address Range locations, enter a start IP, end IP and IP location name into the popup window and hit the Ok button. The share, username and password fields are only relevant for software deployment.

creating IP address range locations
IP range locations are only meant for grouping assets. They do not affect which IP ranges are scanned. To scan an IP range, submit it under the Scanning\Scanning Targets menu of the web console.
  • If an asset doesn't belong to any IP location you've created, it is automatically added to the built-in Undefined group. This group cannot be renamed or deleted.
  • From Lansweeper 6.0 onward, it is possible to import IP locations from Active Directory, with the Import From AD button.
  • From Lansweeper 6.0 onward, it is possible to import IP locations from a .csv file as well. Download one of the available templates, add IP locations to it, save as .csv and upload the file with the Import button.

Static asset groups

Static asset groups allow you to select any number of random assets and add them to a group. Hit the Add Static Group button under Static Asset Groups, enter a group name into the popup window and hit Ok. You can then add assets to the group by hitting the Add Assets button, ticking the checkboxes in front of the assets and hitting Ok.

creating static asset groups
Keep in mind that, in most places where you can click on a static group in the web console, the resulting list only displays group members whose state is set to "active". Assets that are set to "stock" are not listed for instance. To list assets of any state, you can build a custom report in the Reports menu or look at the group members under Configuration\Asset Groups. More info on what states are can be found in this knowledge base article.
  • You can change the name of a group you've created by placing your cursor in the Group Name column, making the desired change and hitting Enter while your cursor is still present in the line.
  • To remove assets from a group, select the group, tick the checkboxes in front of the assets and hit Remove Selected Assets. You can also delete a group entirely by hitting the red button next to the group name. All assets will be removed from the group and the group name will be deleted, but the assets themselves will remain in your database.
  • The Default Group is a built-in group that contains all assets whose state is set to "active". This group cannot be renamed or deleted.
  • You can also group assets by clicking the Assets link at the top of the web console, ticking the checkboxes in front of the assets and hitting the Add To Group button on the left. You can perform a search on one or more columns to easily find specific assets.

Dynamic asset groups

Dynamic asset groups allow you to group assets based on criteria. Hit the Add Dynamic Group button under Dynamic Asset Groups, enter a group name into the popup window and hit Ok. You can then specify criteria the assets in the group have to meet by hitting the Add Filter button. The first dropdown in the resulting popup lets you select a database field, the second an operator (to look for exact or partial matches) and the third a value.

creating dynamic asset groups
  • Use the Like/Not Like operators to look for partial matches.
  • If you add filters for multiple (different) fields, only assets that meet all of the specified criteria will be added to the group.
  • If you add multiple filters for the same field, assets that meet either criterion will be listed.
  • In the example above, the dynamic group will contain active Windows 7 computers in any domain that contains the word "LAN" and active Windows 8 computers in any domain that contains the word "LAN".
  • The dynamic group builder is in essence a simplified version of the report builder found in the Reports tab of the web console and only supports a limited number of database fields. To group assets based on fields not found in the dynamic group builder, create a report in the Reports tab instead.

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