---
title: Using static groups
description: A static group contains an explicit membership list where each member is represented as a distinguished name (DN)-valued attribute.
component: pingdirectory
version: 11.0
page_id: pingdirectory:pingdirectory_server_administration_guide:pd_ds_use_static_groups
canonical_url: https://docs.pingidentity.com/pingdirectory/11.0/pingdirectory_server_administration_guide/pd_ds_use_static_groups.html
revdate: September 13, 2023
---

# Using static groups

A static group contains an explicit membership list where each member is represented as a distinguished name (DN)-valued attribute.

There are three types of static groups supported for use in the PingDirectory server: groupOfNames, groupOfUniqueNames, and groupOfEntries. A description for each follows:

* groupOfNames

  A static group that is defined with the `groupOfNames` structural object class and uses the `member` attribute to hold the DNs of its members.

RFC 4519 requires that the `member` attribute is in an entry. The PingDirectory server has relaxed this restriction by making the `member` attribute optional so that the last member in the group can be removed. The following entry depicts a group defined with the `groupOfNames` object class.

```
dn: cn=Test Group,ou=Groups,dc=example,dc=com
objectClass: top
objectClass: groupOfNames
cn: Test Group
member: uid=user.1,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
member: uid=user.2,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
member: uid=user.3,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
```

* groupOfUniqueNames

  A static group that is defined with the `groupOfUniqueNames` structural object class and uses the `uniquemember` attribute to hold the DNs of its members

RFC 4519 requires that the `uniquemember` attribute is in an entry. The PingDirectory server has relaxed this restriction by making the `uniquemember` attribute optional so that the last member in the group can be removed. The following entry depicts a group defined with the `groupOfUniqueNames` object class.

```
dn: cn=Test Group,ou=Groups,dc=example,dc=com
objectClass: top
objectClass: groupOfUniqueNames
cn: Test Group
uniquemember: uid=user.1,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
uniquemember: uid=user.2,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
uniquemember: uid=user.3,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
```

* groupOfEntries

  A static group that is defined with the `groupOfEntries` object class and uses the `member` attribute to hold the DNs of its members

This group specifies that the `member` attribute is optional to ensure that the last member can be removed from the group. Although the draft proposal (draft-findlay-ldap-groupofentries-00.txt) has expired, the PingDirectory server supports this implementation. The following entry depicts a group defined with the `groupOfEntries` object class.

```
dn: cn=Test Group,ou=Groups,dc=example,dc=com
objectClass: top
objectClass: groupOfEntries
cn: Test Group
member: uid=user.1,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
member: uid=user.2,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
member: uid=user.3,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
```