Configuration Object Groups - D-Link DFL-260E User Manual

3.6.6. Configuration Object Groups

3.6.6. Configuration Object Groups
The concept of folders can be used to organise groups of NetDefendOS objects into related
collections. These work much like the folders concept found in a computer's file system. Folders are
described in relation to the address book in Section 3.1.6, "Address Book Folders" and can also be
used when organizing IP rules.
A compliment and alternative to folders for organizing objects is using configuration object groups.
Object groups allows the administrator to gather together and color code configuration objects under
a specified title text so their relationships are more easily understood when they are diaplayed in a
NetDefendOS graphical user interface. Unlike folders, they do not require each folder to be opened
for individual objects to become visible. Instead, all objects in all groupings are visible at once.
Object groups can be used not only for address book objects but in most cases where NetDefendOS
objects are displayed as tables and each line represents an object instance. The most common usage
of this feature is likely to be for either the NetDefendOS Address Book to arrange IP addresses or
for organizing rules in IP rule sets.
Object Groups and the CLI
The display function of object groups means they do not have relevance to the command line
interface (CLI). It is not possible to define or otherwise modify object groups with the CLI and they
will not be displayed in CLI output. Any group editing must be done through the Web Interface and
this is described next.
A Simple Example
As an example, consider the IP rule set main which contains just two rules to allow web surfing
from an internal network and a third Drop-all rule to catch any other traffic so that it can be logged:
If it is desirable to create an object group for the two IP rules for web surfing, this is done with the
following steps:
• Select the first object to be in the new group by right clicking it.
• Select the New Group option from the context menu.
Tip: Object groups help to document configurations
Object groups are a recommended way to document the contents of NetDefendOS
configurations.
This can be very useful for someone seeing a configuration for the first time. In an IP
rule set that contains hundreds of rules, object groups provide a means to quickly
identify those rules associated with a specific aspect of NetDefendOS operation.
Note
The screen images used in this example show just the first few columns of the object
properties.
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Chapter 3. Fundamentals