Host group \ template confusion

[kdgt]

Hi

A created a new host group and assigned it a template, which contains items. I then added a host to the host group. When I view the host, none of the items from the template appear.

I assumed that assigned a template to a host group would assign the template to the host. Is this not correct? If so, what is the purpose of host groups?

Thanks

[aib]

To have in one place some hosts with the same functionality (all printers / all Virtual machines / etc)

[tchjts1]

If so, what is the purpose of host groups?

Thanks

I have never tried to assign a template to a host group, but possibly it would work if you assigned the template after the hosts are in the group?

Anyway, the importance of host groups should not be underestimated and with some careful planning, it can make for a smooth running system.

One of the important factors for host groups can be when putting them into maintenance to suppress alerts. It is much easier to put 1 group into maintenance than it is 250 out of 1500 separate hosts.

Another aspect is administrative functions such as having different templates for Prod hosts vs Dev hosts. In my case, I often want different triggers at the template level for Dev as opposed to Prod.

With that said, some of the routine groups I always create are:
Windows Prod, Windows Dev, Windows Test
Linux Prod, Linux Dev, Linux Test
Solaris Prod, Solaris Dev, Solaris Test

Something else I do is create groups based on Zabbix Proxies:
Proxy East, Proxy West, Proxy South

I also do by Geographical location of our DC's regardless of OS, Prod or Dev:
LOC San Francisco, LOC Los Angeles, LOC Austin, LOC New York

Lastly, I do by application:
APP PeopleSoft, App MSSQL, APP Exchange, etc.

Doing all the above makes for a bit lengthy dashboard, but this type of granularity makes administrative functions more simple.

An example:
If you are dealing with thousands of servers and your MSSQL DBA wants you to make a change to an item or a trigger for all of the MSSQL servers in Prod only, are you going to know what these servers are without having them grouped that way? These scenarios can go on and on.