In the host group file, specify the destination name, destination type, and supervising host group for each destination. This file is a text file. In this file, a line whose first column is a single quotation mark (') or a pound sign (#) is treated as a comment line.

A simple method for creating a host group file is to export the system configuration information to a text file, and then edit it; for an example, see 8.2.6 Example of creating host group information.

Format

destination-name HID=host-ID,TYPE=destination-type,MAC=MAC-address,ROOT=path-to-supervising-host-group,DATE=creation-date-and-time

Description

You can specify the operands after TYPE=destination-type in any order.

destination-name (required)

Specify the name of a host group or host.

When the destination is a host group, specify destinationname in the following format: * hostgroupname. Delimit the asterisk (*) and hostgroupname with a space. Specify a unique host group name. For details about assigning host group names, see 8.2.2 How to assign group names.

When the destination is a host, the specification format depends on the node identification key.

If you are using host names as the node identification key, specify destinationname in the following format: * host-name. The delimiter between the asterisk (*) and hostname must be a space. You can specify a different character (other than a space) or a character string (other than spaces) for the asterisk. For example, you could specify the IP address in the * portion.

If you are using IP addresses as the node identification key, specify destinationname in the following format: IP-address *. The delimiter between the beginning IP-address and the asterisk (*) must be a space. You can specify a different character or a character string for the asterisk. For example, you could specify the host name in the * portion. You can also omit the asterisk.

If you create a host group file by using the manager, you can specify only the hosts that are registered in the system configuration for the destination.

HID=host-ID

Specify a host ID that uniquely identifies the host. If you chose File and then Save to File in the Destination window to save the host group information to a file and a host ID was set, be sure to specify that host ID. If a host ID was not set in the host group file that you produced with Save to File, or if you are adding a new host, do not specify this operand.

TYPE=destination-type

Specify one of the following host types as the type of destination (if you omit this operand, the system sets CLIENT as the default):

• GROUP (host group)
• MANAGER (relay manager)
• MASTER (relay system)
• CLIENT (client)

MAC=MAC-address

Specify the MAC address of the host. Basically, do not change this operand because MAC addresses are related to facilities such as Wake on LAN. If you change the operand, the related facilities may not function.

ROOT=path-of-supervising-host-group

Specify the full path of the supervising host group to which the host belongs.

If you do not set ROOT, the system sets the previous host group as the supervising host group and creates a destination of the type you specified in the TYPE operand.

DATE=creation-date-and-time

Specify the date and time when you register (or registered) the host with the central manager or relay manager for the first time. Specify the date and time in MM/DD/YYYY/hh/mm/ss format. In YYYY, you can specify 1971 to 2037. In hh, you can specify 0 to 23.

If you omit this operand, the date and time when Create from File was executed is set.

When you create a host group from a host group file, the system replaces the contents of the Destination window with the information you set in the host group file. To save the host groups displayed in the existing Destination window, assign a file name and save the host group information to the file.

If the contents of the existing Destination window include a host ID, you must set the same host ID.

To create a host group from a file:

1. In the Destination window, choose File, and then Create from File.
2. Select the created host group file, and click the OK button.

You can save the configuration of host groups displayed in the Destination window to a file. This feature is helpful when you need to change host groups, because you simply save the current host group configuration to a file and edit that file.

To save the host group configuration to a file:

1. In the Destination window, choose File, and then Save to File.
   The Save Destination dialog box appears. Note that before you perform this operation, choose Refresh to update the system configuration information. If you do not manually update the system configuration information, the displayed information may differ from the latest internal data.
   
2. Specify a file name, and click the OK button.
   The system saves the host group configuration to the file.
   

The following shows an example of the file output of the host group configuration:

Figure 8-5 Example of the file output of the host group configuration