Registration Keys vs. Registration Rules

You can manually add devices to folders and groups, but this can be a burdensome task if you have a large number of devices or are consistently registering new devices. The best way to manage a large number of devices is to have them automatically added to the correct folders and groups when they register. To accomplish this, you can use registration keys, registration rules, or both.

Both registration keys and registration rules let you add a device to a folder and assign group memberships. However, there are differences between keys and rules that you should be aware of before choosing whether you want to use one or both methods for registration.

Registration Keys: A registration key is an alphanumeric string that you manually define or randomly generate. The key can be applied during installation of the ZENworks Agent on a device, either as an option to the Deployment package during the manual installation or specified through a deployment task. The key can also be specified after the installation in the Status property page of the ZENworks icon (). When the device connects to a ZENworks Server for the first time, the device is given a name according to the defined naming template and then added to the folder and groups defined within the key.

You can create one or more registration keys to ensure that servers and workstations are placed in the desired folders and groups. For example, you might want to ensure that all of the Sales department's devices are added to the /Workstations/Sales folder but are divided into three different groups (SalesTeam1, SalesTeam2, SalesTeam3) depending on their team assignments. You could create three different registration keys and configure each one to add the Sales workstations to the /Workstations/Sales folder and the appropriate team group. As long as each device uses the correct registration key, it is added to the appropriate folder and group.

Registration Rules: If you don’t want to enter a registration key during installation, or if you want devices to be automatically added to different folders and groups based on predefined criteria (for example, operating system type, CPU, or IP address), you can use registration rules.

ZENworks includes a default registration rule for servers and another one for workstations. If a device registers without a key, the default registration rules are applied to determine the folder and group assignments. The two default rules cause all servers to be added to the /Servers folder and all workstations to the /Workstations folder.

The two default rules are designed to ensure that no server or workstation registration fails. You can define additional rules that enable you to filter devices as they register and add them to different folders and groups.