Within a group, satellites run the same end-user application, have a common interest in the same data, have similar database definitions, and perhaps the same execution environment. Typically, within a group, the satellites are used by people with the same occupation, such as selling life insurance.
The group can contain satellites that run a different version of the end-user application. Because the database definition and data that support each version of the application are set up and maintained by the batches of a specific application version, you can deploy different versions of the end-user application. This enables you to stage the deployment of a new version of the end-user application within the group.
Because satellites are organized by group, you administer at the group level, and not at the individual satellite level. This greatly simplifies administration. Instead of having to manage hundreds, if not thousands, of satellites separately, you manage the group to which they belong. The group batches that maintain the database definition and data for a particular version of an end-user application are associated with the application version. These group batches are organized into application versions for each version of the end-user application running on the satellites of the group.
When you create new satellites for the satellite environment, you add them to the group that is already running the end-user application that the new satellites will run. When these satellites synchronize for the first time, they will download and execute the group batches that apply to the version of the end-user application that they are running. You do not have to perform any special tasks to integrate these satellites into the environment. This means that the administration model that you use to set up and maintain the satellite environment is fully scalable. The groups that you set up can contain as many satellites as your business requires.
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