Troubleshooting guide

CHAPTER

1-1

Cisco Wide Area Application Services Configuration Guide

OL-26579-01

Using Device Groups and Device Locations

This chapter describes the types of device groups supported by the WAAS software and how to create

groups that make it easier to manage and configure multiple devices at the same time. This chapter also

discusses how to use device locations.

Note Throughout this chapter, the term WAAS device is used to refer collectively to the WAAS Central

Managers and WAEs in your network. The term WAE refers to WAE and WAVE appliances, WAE

Network Modules (the NME-WAE family of devices), and SM-SRE modules running WAAS.

This chapter contains the following sections:

• About Device Groups, page 1-1

• Working with Device Groups, page 1-2

• Working with Device Locations, page 1-9

About Device Groups

When you create a device group, you need to identify the unique characteristics that distinguish that

group of devices from others in your network. For example, in larger WAAS deployments, one set of

devices may need to be configured with authentication settings that are different from another set of

devices in your WAAS network. In this situation, you would create two device groups that each contain

different authentication settings, and then assign your devices to the most appropriate group.

If you have devices that reside in different time zones, you can also create device groups based on

geographic regions so that the devices in one group can have a different time zone setting from the

devices in another group.

In smaller WAAS deployments where all devices can be configured with the same settings, you may only

need to create one general device group. This setup allows you to configure settings for the group, and

then apply those settings consistently across all your WAAS devices.

Groups not only save you time when configuring multiple devices, but they also ensure that

configuration settings are applied consistently across your WAAS network.

There are two types of device groups: WAAS Device Groups and WAAS Express Device Groups. These

groups are explained in more detail in the “Creating a New Device Group” section on page 1-3.

When you register a WAAS device with the WAAS Central Manager, that device automatically joins the

AllWAASGroup, which is the default device group on the system for WAAS devices. If you create

additional device groups, you need to decide if you want your devices to belong to more than one group