Overview
A Group of groups is a special Authorization Group whose membership is derived from one or more child groups. Instead of managing individual users, you link other groups as children — their members are automatically inherited by the parent group during the nightly synchronization.
When to use a Group of groups
This population type is ideal for federated or hierarchical access structures. For example: a top-level All IT Staff group that automatically includes members from IT Infrastructure, IT Support, and IT Development child groups — without any manual duplication of membership records.
Adding a child group
In the group detail view, open the Child groups tab and click Add children group. Search for and select the group to link. The system validates the relationship before saving:
- A group cannot be added as a child of itself.
- If adding the child group would create a circular reference (for example, Group A → Group B → Group A), the operation is blocked and an error banner explains the conflict.
Removing a child group
Click the remove icon next to a child group row. The removal takes effect on the next nightly synchronization — existing inherited memberships are not immediately revoked but will be removed during the following cron run.
Inherited membership badge
Members who are in the parent group solely because of child-group inheritance display an Inherited badge in the membership list. These rows have no manual remove button — the tooltip explains that inherited memberships are managed by the synchronization process and cannot be removed manually.
Child group history
The Child groups history tab records all add and remove events with timestamps and the operator who made each change.
Nesting depth and performance
Deep nesting — many levels of child groups referencing other child groups — can increase the time required for the nightly synchronization. As a best practice, avoid more than two or three levels of nesting. Flat structures with direct child links are preferred for both performance and clarity.
