# Automation Tree Rules

This section will describe **Tree Rules** in Cacti.

Tree rules allow Automation to bunch up devices based on matches
on rules we come up with you can say bunch all Cisco devices on to a Cisco tree.
Or if you have a site where all of the hostnames start with siteb you can
have a site b tree etc see below for some examples.

To get started you will need to create a Tree rule on the top right click the +
to start a new rule you are also able to duplicate rules to make it easier as well.

![Tree Rules](images/automation-tree-rules.png)

![Tree Rules Edit](images/automation-tree-rules-edit1.png)

![Tree Rules Item Edit](images/automation-tree-rules-edit2.png)

We need a way to tell automation what device we are looking for
in the example above we are looking for a device with the hostname Linux
this is done via a REGEX any perl based REGEX can be used.

To test this REGEX on existing devices you can click the show eligible Objects
this will check the Devices currently in cacti for a match.

![Tree Rules Preview](images/automation-tree-rules-edit4.png)

Once a device is a match it will be placed on the default tree.
To change which tree the device will be placed on simply select the tree name
from the dropdown list.

![Tree Rules Item Edit](images/automation-tree-rules-edit3.png)

We also have the option to auto create a tree based on our rule in this case
a new tree Named Linux will be created if it does not already exist.

## Video Walkthrough

[![Video Tutorial](http://img.youtube.com/vi/yxO-CgaeFNc/0.jpg)](https://youtu.be/yxO-CgaeFNc "Video Tutorial")

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