How you organize the systems for management depends on the borders that exist in your network. These borders influence the organization of the System Tree differently than the organization of your network topology.
We recommend evaluating these borders in your network and organization, and whether they must be considered when defining the organization of your System Tree.
Geographic borders
Managing security is a constant balance between protection and performance. Organize your System Tree to make the best use of limited network bandwidth. Consider how the server connects to all parts of your network, especially remote locations that use slower WAN or VPN connections, instead of faster LAN connections. You might want to configure updating and agent-server communication policies differently for remote sites to minimize network traffic over slower connections.
Political borders
Many large networks are divided by individuals or groups responsible for managing different parts of the network. Sometimes these borders do not coincide with topological or geographic borders. Who accesses and manages the segments of the System Tree affects how you structure it.
Functional borders
Some networks are divided by the roles of those using the network; for example, Sales and Engineering. Even if the network is not divided by functional borders, you might need to organize segments of the System Tree by functionality if different groups require different policies.
A business group might run specific software that requires special security policies. For example, arranging your email Exchange Servers into a group and setting specific exclusions for on-access scanning.