Views:

The Directory Management screen allows you to customize the Product Directory structure to suit your administrative needs. To access the Directory Management screen, click the Directory Management button on the Product Directories screen (Directories > Products).

Group managed products according to geographical, administrative, or product-specific purposes. In combination with different access rights used to access managed products or folders in the directory, the following table presents the recommended grouping types as well as their advantages and disadvantages.

Table 1. Product Grouping Comparison

Grouping Type

Advantages

Disadvantages

Geographical or Administrative

Clear structure

No group configuration for identical products

Product type

Group configuration and status is available

Access rights may not match

Combination of both

Group configuration and access right management

Complex structure, may not be easy to manage

Plan this structure carefully, because the structure also affects the following:

Table 2. Considerations for the Structure

Consideration

Effect

User access

When creating user accounts, Apex Central prompts for the segment of the Product Directory that the user can access. For example, granting access to the root segment grants access to the entire directory. Granting access to a specific managed product only grants access to that specific product.

Deployment planning

Apex Central deploys update components (for example, virus pattern files, scan engines, anti-spam rules, program updates) to products based on Deployment Plans. These plans deploy to Product Directory folders, rather than individual products. A well-structured directory therefore simplifies the designation of recipients.

For more information, see Managing the Product Directory.

Important:

User accounts have specific access permissions assigned based on Product Directory folders.

  • Changing the Product Directory structure may affect how Apex Central users can access the managed products.

  • You can select the Keep the current user access permissions when moving managed products/folders check box to prevent changing the user access scope when changing the Product Directory structure.

For more information, see User Accounts.