About Azure Sphere device groups

A device group is a named collection of devices of the same product type. Device groups provide a way to scale application deployment to many devices. Each device belongs to exactly one device group, and each device group belongs to exactly one product. When you create a product, default device groups are created within the product to assist with basic functionality, such as testing and production deployment. Even though the names of the default groups are the same in each product, the device groups are unique. The default device groups are:

• Development: The Development group is intended for use by developers who sideload applications as part of the development process. By default, devices in this group receive only system software updates; application updates are disabled.
• Field Test: The Field Test group is intended for use by developers who are testing devices in a lab or field trial. By default, devices in this group receive the Retail OS feed and all application updates.
• Production: The Production group is intended for production devices of a particular product. By default, devices in this group receive the Retail OS feed and all application updates.
• Field Test OS Evaluation: The Field Test OS Evaluation group is intended for use by developers who are verifying the compatibility of new versions of the Azure Sphere OS with applications on test devices in a lab or field trial. By default, devices in this group receive the Retail Evaluation OS feed and all application updates.
• Production OS Evaluation: The Production OS Evaluation group is intended for use in verifying the compatibility of new versions of the Azure Sphere OS with production applications. By default, devices in this group receive the Retail Evaluation OS feed and all application updates.

You may choose to create additional device groups to organize your products. For example, Contoso might use the Development group for the devices in its engineering lab and the Field Test group for the devices that its deployment team uses in the corporate operations center. Instead of placing all production devices in the Production group, however, Contoso might create groups for devices in various geographic regions, so that it can easily deploy localized versions of its applications.

To deploy applications to Azure Sphere devices, assign them to device groups. Each device within a device group will automatically receive the applications that are assigned to its group; any other applications will be deleted.