# Configure a System Group

An Answer Server system group is a set of answer systems that you want to retrieve answers from by sending a single system name to the `Ask` action.

You can use system groups to make it easier to send `Ask` actions to multiple systems that you generally use together. For example, you might create a group based on language or system type.

In particular, system groups might be useful if you have a custom user interface to ask questions and your systems might change regularly. In this case, you can use a static set of groups and change the Answer Server configuration to update the systems, rather than changing the user interface.

To configure system groups

1. Open your configuration file in a text editor.

2. Create an `[AnswerSystemGroups]` configuration section.

3. In the `[AnswerSystemGroups]`, add a parameter `0`, and set it to the name of a configuration section that you want to use to define the first group. For the next group, add a parameter `1`, and so on. For example:

       [AnswerSystemGroups]
       0=AllEnglish
       1=AllFrench
       2=AllFactBank

4. For each group that you configure in `[AnswerSystemGroups]`, create a new configuration section with the same name (for example `[AllEnglish]`, `[AllFrench]`, and `[AllFactBank]`.

5. In the group configuration section, add a parameter `0`, and set it to the name of the first system to include in this group. The system name must match the name of the configuration section where you have configured the system. Add a parameter `1` for the second system, and so on. For example:

       [AllEnglish]
       0=FactBankEnglish
       1=AnswerBankEnglish
       2=PassageExtractorEnglish

   In this example, the `AllEnglish` system refers to three other systems, `FactBankEnglish`, `AnswerBankEnglish`, and `PassageExtractorEnglish`.

   NOTE: When you send an `Ask` action to the system group, Answer Server attempts to retrieve answers from the systems in the order that you configure them in the system group. See Ask Questions to a System Group.

6. Repeat step 5 for any other system groups that you want to configure.

7. Save and close the configuration file.

The following example configures three system groups:

    [AnswerSystemGroups]
    0=AllEnglish
    1=AllFrench
    2=AllFactBank

    [AllEnglish]
    0=FactBankEnglish
    1=AnswerBankEnglish
    2=PassageExtractorEnglish

    [AllFrench]
    0=FactBankFrench
    1=AnswerBankFrench
    2=PassageExtractorFrench

    [AllFactBank]
    0=FactBankEnglish
    1=FactBankFrench
    2=FactBankGerman

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