Group (computing)

In computing, the term group generally refers to a grouping of <a href="/facts/User_(computing)/zQRzG0KG">users</a>. In principle, users may belong to none, one, or many groups (although in practice some systems place limits on this). The primary purpose of user groups is to simplify <a href="/facts/Access_control/08zE5Pz8">access control</a> to <a href="/facts/Computer/SQe1aK05">computer</a> systems.
For instance, a computer science department has a <a href="/facts/Computer_network/3w5RM99p">network</a> which is shared by <a href="/facts/Student/rEltb5wk">students</a> and <a href="/facts/Academic_staff/PbvduYTQ">academics</a>. The department has made a list of <a href="/facts/Directory_(file_systems)/VLtLcEXY">directories</a> which the students are permitted to access and another list of <a href="/facts/Directory_(computing)/VLtLcEXY">directories</a> which the staff are permitted to access. Without groups, <a href="/facts/System_administrator/zNhThrh9">administrators</a> would give each student permission to every student directory, and each staff member permission to every staff directory. In practice, that would be very impractical – every time a student or staff member arrived, administrators would have to allocate permissions on every directory.
With groups, the task is much simpler: create a student group and a staff group, placing each user in the proper group. The entire group can be granted access to the appropriate <a href="/facts/Directory_(computing)/VLtLcEXY">directory</a>. To add or remove an <a href="/facts/User_(computing)/zQRzG0KG">account</a>, one must only need to do it in one place (in the definition of the group), rather than on every <a href="/facts/Directory_(computing)/VLtLcEXY">directory</a>. This workflow provides clear separation of concerns: to change access policies, alter the directory permissions; to change the individuals which fall under the policy, alter the group definitions.

Group (computing) open-in-new

Group (computing)