<% title_actions link_to("New hostgroup", new_hostgroup_path) %>

<% title "Hostgroup configuration" %>

<div id="welcome">

<p>

A Host group is in some ways similar to an inherited node declaration, in that it is a high level grouping

of classes that can be named and treated as a unit. This is then treated as a template and is selectable during the creation of

a new host and ensures that the host is configured in one of your pre-defined states.

In addition to defining which puppet classes get included when building this host type you

are also able to assign variables and provisioning information to a hostgroup to further refine the behaviour of the puppet runtime.

The hostgroup's classes and the hostgroup's variables are included in the external node information

when the puppetmaster compiles the host's configuration.

</p>

<p>

There are two strategies when using hostgroups. You may create puppet classes that represent high-level host configurations,

for example, a <b>host-type-ldap-server</b> class, which includes all the required functionality from other modules

or you may decide to create a hostgroup called <b>host-type-ldap-server</b> and add the required classes into

the hostgroup configuration. These two options are personal decisions and are up to you (where the main difference would be the parameter/variables settings).

</p>

</div>