Creating and Managing Port Groups

From Network Director, you can group ports and then name that port group. The ports can be located on any of your switches and can include ports from different devices and from different series. Creating Port groups enables simultaneous multiple port configuration. For example, when a Port profile (see Creating and Managing Port Profiles) is assigned to the members of a Port group (see Assigning and Unassigning Port Profiles from Interfaces), all ports in the group are configured with the Port profile.

Note:

Configuration applied to members of a port group has precedence over any individual port configuration.

This topic describes:

Managing Port Groups

Use the Manage Port Groups page to manage existing Port groups and to create new ones. Port groups enable simultaneous multiple port configuration.

From the Manage Port Groups page, you can:

Create a new Port Group by clicking Add. For directions, see Creating Port Groups.
Modify an existing Port Group by selecting it and clicking Edit.
View information about a Port Group by selecting the group and clicking Details or by clicking the group name.
Delete a Port Group by selecting a group and then clicking Delete.

Tip:
To see the current assignments for a group, click the group name.

Table 1 describes the information provided about Port Groups on the Manage Port Groups page. This page lists all Port Groups defined for your network, regardless of your current selected scope in the network view.

Table 1: Manage Port Groups Information
Field	Description
Name	Name given to the group when the group was created. Click the group name to view group details.
Last Updated	Date the port group was last altered.
User	User name of the person who last altered the Port Group.

Creating Port Groups

Tip:

The required configurations for a Port Group are a Port Group name and the configuration of at least one device port.

To create a Port group for switches:

Select one of the following device views in the Network Director banner:
- Logical View—Displays devices in hierarchal groupings based on logical relationships.
- Location View—Displays devices in hierarchal groupings based on physical locations.
- Device View—Displays devices in hierarchal groupings based on device type.
- Custom Group View—Displays devices in hierarchal groupings based on custom group.
Click in the Network Director banner.
Under Select View, select either Logical View, Location View, Device View or Custom Group View.
Tip:
Do not select Topology View.
Click Manage Port Groups under Device Management in the Tasks pane.
The Manage Port Groups page appears.
Click Add.
The Create Port Group page appears.
Enter settings for the Port Group as described in Specifying Settings for a Port Group.
Click Done.
The message Port group successfully created is displayed.
Click OK.
The new port group appears on the list of managed port groups.

Specifying Settings for a Port Group

Use the Create Port Group page to define the members of a Port Group.

Table 2 describes the settings available in the Port Group.

Table 2: Port Group Settings
Field	Action
Port Group Name	Type the name of the Port Group, using up to 64 alphanumeric characters and no special characters other than the underscore. The name must be unique among Port groups.
Port Group Description	Type a description of the Port Group, which will appear on Manage Port Groups page. You can type up to 256 characters.
Select Devices and Ports
Add Ports to the Port Group (task)	To add ports to this Port Group: Select a device with ports from the tree displayed in the column labelled Select Device and Ports. For the current selection (highlighted device), click either All Ports or Selected Ports. If you click All Ports, the ports or port range is immediately listed under Selected Ports and Port Ranges. If you click Selected Ports, you must then select individual ports from the Port Selector list, and click Done. Click Done. An information window displays the message Port group created successfully. Click OK to close the information window. The new Port Group is now listed under Manage Port Groups. Tip: To edit a port group, select it from the Manage Port Groups list and then click Edit. To remove a port group, select it and then click Delete.

What to Do Next

After you create a Port Group, you can treat it like an individual port—see Assigning and Unassigning Port Profiles from Interfaces.