Organize endpoints with sites, device groups, and tags

Sites, device groups, and tags are three ways to sort your endpoints, so a profile, a filter, a report, or a bulk action can aim at a set of endpoints instead of a list of names. This page shows how to create each one and put endpoints in it.

Use	When you are sorting by	Example
A site	Where the computer is	Head office, Warehouse
A device group	What the computer is for, chosen by you	Nurse stations, Build servers
A tag	What runs on the computer, detected by Outpost	Dentrix server

Profiles can be assigned to a site or a device group. See Profiles.

Before you begin

• Creating and changing sites and device groups needs identity:manage. Reading them needs identity:read.
• Changing an endpoint’s site needs endpoint:write.
• Creating and changing tags needs tag:manage. Anyone with endpoint:read can see them.

Create a site

1. Go to Endpoints > Sites, and select New site.
2. In Name, enter the site’s name.
3. Optional: in Code, enter a short label for reports, such as HQ.
4. Optional: in Parent site, choose the site this one sits under. A site cannot sit under itself or under one of its own sites.
5. Optional: in Time zone, choose the site’s time zone. Maintenance windows for the site are read in this time zone. A site with no time zone chosen uses UTC.
6. Select Create site.

A site can also hold a postal address and a phone number, under Address and phone in New site, or later with Edit in the site’s row. All of them are optional. The site’s Overview tab shows them under Details.

The sites list shows an Endpoints count for each site. Each site has a detail page with Overview and Documentation tabs. Select a site’s name to open it.

Read a site’s overview

The site’s Overview tab opens with At this site, a dashboard for the site, followed by the site’s Details. The figures cover this site only, not the sites under it.

Block	What it shows
Tiles	endpoints online, open alerts, patch compliant endpoints, and, on plans with the service desk, open tickets. Selecting endpoints online opens the site’s endpoints.
Fleet status	A chart of the site’s endpoints by online, offline, and stale. Shown when the site has endpoints.
Open alerts by severity	A chart of open alerts by critical, warning, and info. Shown when the site has open alerts.
Least healthy endpoints	The 5 endpoints at the site with the lowest health score. Select one to open it.

View this site’s endpoints opens Endpoints > All endpoints filtered to the site. The filter applies to that visit only and does not replace the filters the list remembers for you.

Each block needs the permission to read what it counts. A block your role cannot read shows Not shown. and the reason, such as Your role does not include alert access., never a zero.

Assign an endpoint to a site

New endpoints join the site chosen when their installer was downloaded. To change an endpoint’s site:

1. Open the endpoint.
2. On the Overview tab, in the Site row, choose a site, or No site.

The change saves when you choose. To move an endpoint to a site in another client, see Transfer an endpoint. To see every endpoint at a site, select View this site’s endpoints on the site’s Overview tab.

Move several endpoints to a site

1. In Endpoints > All endpoints, select the endpoints to move.
2. Select Move to site.
3. Choose a Site, or No site to clear the assignment.
4. Select Apply and check the result for any endpoints that could not be moved.

This changes the site within the same client. To move several endpoints to another client, see Transfer several endpoints at once.

Delete a site

Select Delete in the site’s row, then Yes, delete it. Outpost refuses while child sites or endpoints still belong to the site, and names them. Move them elsewhere first.

Create a device group

1. Go to Endpoints > Device groups, and select New group.
2. In Name, enter the group’s name. Optional: add a Description.
3. Select Create group.

Add endpoints to a device group

1. Open the group, and in Members, select Add a member.
2. In Find an endpoint, enter a hostname, serial number, model, or user, and press Enter.
3. Select Add beside each endpoint you want.

Select Remove in a member’s row to take it out of the group.

For several endpoints, select their rows in Endpoints > All endpoints, then select Add to group or Remove from group. Choose a Static group, select Apply, and check the result for any endpoints that could not be updated.

For one endpoint, open its Overview tab. In Groups, choose a group and select Add, or select Remove beside a membership. These actions need identity:manage and apply only to static groups. Groups marked Dynamic get their membership from rules.

Deleting a group stops every profile assigned to it from applying.

Define a tag

A tag is a label Outpost applies automatically to every endpoint that matches its rules. It shows beside the detected server roles in the Roles & tags column, and you can filter the endpoint list by it.

1. Go to Endpoints > Tags, and select New tag.

2. In Key, enter the identifier filters and device groups use. It is lowercase letters, numbers, hyphens, and underscores, up to 40 characters, and it cannot be changed later.

3. In Label, enter what the chip on the endpoint reads, such as Dentrix server.

4. Optional: add a Description.

5. Under Rules, choose what each rule looks at and enter a pattern:

   Rule	Matches
   Service name	An installed service that is not disabled
   Installed software	An installed application
   Running process	A process running at the last inventory

   A pattern is a wildcard match that ignores case, such as Dentrix*. An endpoint gets the tag when any rule matches. Select Add rule for more, up to 20 rules of up to 200 characters each.

6. Select Preview matches to see how many endpoints match.

7. Select Create tag.

Prefer a service or software rule when one exists. A process rule matches only what was running at the last inventory, so an application that runs some of the time can gain and lose the tag.

When you create or change a tag, Outpost checks every endpoint against the tag again. A tag with a process rule also asks each endpoint for a fresh inventory. After that, tags are rechecked at each inventory.

On the MSP plan, a tag created from the MSP console applies to Every client. A tag created inside a client applies to This client only.

Deleting a tag removes it from every endpoint it is on.

Verify

On Endpoints > All endpoints, select Filters, add Roles & tags is your new tag, and apply. The list shows the endpoints the tag matched, and the Roles & tags column shows the tag’s label on each.

If something goes wrong

Symptom	Cause	Fix
A site cannot be deleted	Child sites or endpoints still belong to it.	Move them, then delete the site.
A tag matches no endpoints	The pattern does not match the exact name the endpoint reports.	Check the name on the endpoint’s Software tab, and use * for the parts that vary.
An endpoint drops a process tag	The process was not running at the last inventory.	Use a service or software rule instead.

Next steps

• Profiles
• Server roles
• Wake-on-LAN, to wake every offline endpoint in a site or a group