diff -r 9528693cc885 nuxeo-platform-usermanager-api/src/main/java/org/nuxeo/ecm/platform/usermanager/UserManagerDescriptor.java
--- a/nuxeo-platform-usermanager-api/src/main/java/org/nuxeo/ecm/platform/usermanager/UserManagerDescriptor.java	Tue Mar 08 17:02:21 2011 +0100
+++ b/nuxeo-platform-usermanager-api/src/main/java/org/nuxeo/ecm/platform/usermanager/UserManagerDescriptor.java	Wed Mar 16 20:31:25 2011 +0100
@@ -118,6 +118,44 @@
     public void setUserSearchFields(String[] fields) {
         setSubstringMatchUserSearchFields(fields);
     }
+    
+    public boolean groupSearchFieldsPresent = false;
+
+    @XNode("groups/searchFields")
+    public void setGroupSearchFieldsPresent(@SuppressWarnings("unused")
+    String text) {
+        groupSearchFieldsPresent = true;
+    }
+
+    @XNode("groups/searchFields@append")
+    public boolean groupSearchFieldsAppend;
+
+    public Map<String, MatchType> groupSearchFields = new LinkedHashMap<String, MatchType>();
+
+    @XNodeList(value = "groups/searchFields/exactMatchSearchField", componentType = String.class, type = String[].class)
+    public void setExactMatchGroupSearchFields(String[] fields) {
+        for (String field : fields) {
+            groupSearchFields.put(field, MatchType.EXACT);
+        }
+    }
+
+    @XNodeList(value = "groups/searchFields/substringMatchSearchField",
+            componentType = String.class, type = String[].class)
+    public void setSubstringMatchGroupSearchFields(String[] fields) {
+        for (String field : fields) {
+            groupSearchFields.put(field, MatchType.SUBSTRING);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @deprecated use setSubstringMatchGroupSearchFields instead
+     */
+    @Deprecated
+    @XNodeList(value = "groups/searchFields/searchField",
+            componentType = String.class, type = String[].class)
+    public void setGroupSearchFields(String[] fields) {
+        setSubstringMatchGroupSearchFields(fields);
+    }
 
     public Pattern userPasswordPattern;
 
diff -r 9528693cc885 nuxeo-platform-usermanager-core/src/main/java/org/nuxeo/ecm/platform/usermanager/FakeUserManagerImpl.java
--- a/nuxeo-platform-usermanager-core/src/main/java/org/nuxeo/ecm/platform/usermanager/FakeUserManagerImpl.java	Tue Mar 08 17:02:21 2011 +0100
+++ b/nuxeo-platform-usermanager-core/src/main/java/org/nuxeo/ecm/platform/usermanager/FakeUserManagerImpl.java	Wed Mar 16 20:31:25 2011 +0100
@@ -66,6 +66,8 @@
     String userEmailField;
 
     Map<String, MatchType> userSearchFields;
+    
+    Map<String, MatchType> groupSearchFields;
 
     Pattern userPasswordPattern;
 
@@ -151,6 +153,21 @@
     public Set<String> getUserSearchFields() {
         return userSearchFields.keySet();
     }
+    
+    public void setGroupSearchFields(Set<String> groupSearchFields) {
+        this.groupSearchFields = new LinkedHashMap<String, MatchType>();
+        for (String searchField : groupSearchFields) {
+            this.groupSearchFields.put(searchField, MatchType.SUBSTRING);
+        }
+    }
+
+    public void setGroupSearchFields(Map<String, MatchType> groupSearchFields) {
+        this.groupSearchFields = groupSearchFields;
+    }
+
+    public Set<String> getGroupSearchFields() {
+        return groupSearchFields.keySet();
+    }
 
     public void setGroupDirectoryName(String groupDirectoryName) {
         this.groupDirectoryName = groupDirectoryName;
@@ -288,6 +305,7 @@
         setUserDirectoryName(descriptor.userDirectoryName);
         setUserEmailField(descriptor.userEmailField);
         setUserSearchFields(descriptor.userSearchFields);
+        setGroupSearchFields(descriptor.groupSearchFields);
         setUserPasswordPattern(descriptor.userPasswordPattern);
         setGroupDirectoryName(descriptor.groupDirectoryName);
         setGroupMembersField(descriptor.groupMembersField);
diff -r 9528693cc885 nuxeo-platform-usermanager-core/src/main/java/org/nuxeo/ecm/platform/usermanager/UserManagerImpl.java
--- a/nuxeo-platform-usermanager-core/src/main/java/org/nuxeo/ecm/platform/usermanager/UserManagerImpl.java	Tue Mar 08 17:02:21 2011 +0100
+++ b/nuxeo-platform-usermanager-core/src/main/java/org/nuxeo/ecm/platform/usermanager/UserManagerImpl.java	Wed Mar 16 20:31:25 2011 +0100
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@
 import org.nuxeo.ecm.directory.DirectoryException;
 import org.nuxeo.ecm.directory.Session;
 import org.nuxeo.ecm.directory.api.DirectoryService;
+import org.nuxeo.ecm.platform.usermanager.UserManager.MatchType;
 import org.nuxeo.ecm.platform.usermanager.exceptions.GroupAlreadyExistsException;
 import org.nuxeo.ecm.platform.usermanager.exceptions.UserAlreadyExistsException;
 import org.nuxeo.runtime.api.Framework;
@@ -113,6 +114,8 @@
     protected String userEmailField;
 
     protected Map<String, MatchType> userSearchFields;
+    
+    protected Map<String, MatchType> groupSearchFields;
 
     protected String groupDirectoryName;
 
@@ -182,6 +185,7 @@
         groupListingMode = descriptor.groupListingMode;
         userEmailField = descriptor.userEmailField;
         userSearchFields = descriptor.userSearchFields;
+        groupSearchFields = descriptor.groupSearchFields;
         userPasswordPattern = descriptor.userPasswordPattern;
         groupMembersField = descriptor.groupMembersField;
         groupSubGroupsField = descriptor.groupSubGroupsField;
@@ -231,6 +235,10 @@
     public Set<String> getUserSearchFields() {
         return Collections.unmodifiableSet(userSearchFields.keySet());
     }
+    
+    public Set<String> getGroupSearchFields() {
+        return Collections.unmodifiableSet(groupSearchFields.keySet());
+    }
 
     protected void setGroupDirectoryName(String groupDirectoryName) {
         this.groupDirectoryName = groupDirectoryName;
@@ -708,6 +716,7 @@
     }
 
     public List<NuxeoGroup> searchGroups(String pattern) throws ClientException {
+    	/*
         Session groupDir = null;
         try {
             groupDir = dirService.open(groupDirectoryName);
@@ -730,6 +739,39 @@
                 groupDir.close();
             }
         }
+        */
+        
+        DocumentModelList entries = new DocumentModelListImpl();
+        if (pattern == null || pattern.length() == 0) {
+            entries = searchGroups(
+                    Collections.<String, Serializable> emptyMap(), null);
+        } else {
+            Map<String, DocumentModel> uniqueEntries = new HashMap<String, DocumentModel>();
+
+            for (Entry<String, MatchType> fieldEntry : groupSearchFields.entrySet()) {
+                Map<String, Serializable> filter = new HashMap<String, Serializable>();
+                filter.put(fieldEntry.getKey(), pattern);
+                DocumentModelList fetchedEntries;
+                if (fieldEntry.getValue() == MatchType.SUBSTRING) {
+                    fetchedEntries = searchUsers(filter, filter.keySet(), null);
+                } else {
+                    fetchedEntries = searchGroups(filter, null);
+                }
+                for (DocumentModel entry : fetchedEntries) {
+                    uniqueEntries.put(entry.getId(), entry);
+                }
+            }
+            log.debug(String.format("found %d unique entries",
+                    uniqueEntries.size()));
+            entries.addAll(uniqueEntries.values());
+        }
+        
+        List<NuxeoGroup> groups = new ArrayList<NuxeoGroup>(
+        		entries.size());
+        for (DocumentModel groupEntry : entries) {
+            groups.add(makeGroup(groupEntry));
+        }
+        return groups;
     }
 
     public String getUserSortField() {
diff -r 9528693cc885 nuxeo-platform-usermanager-core/src/test/resources/test-userservice-config.xml
--- a/nuxeo-platform-usermanager-core/src/test/resources/test-userservice-config.xml	Tue Mar 08 17:02:21 2011 +0100
+++ b/nuxeo-platform-usermanager-core/src/test/resources/test-userservice-config.xml	Wed Mar 16 20:31:25 2011 +0100
@@ -38,6 +38,12 @@
         <membersField>members</membersField>
         <subGroupsField>subg</subGroupsField>
         <parentGroupsField>parentg</parentGroupsField>
+        <searchFields append="false">
+          <!-- SDN: use substringMatchSearchField explicitely instead -->
+          <searchField>groupname</searchField>
+          <exactMatchSearchField>groupname</exactMatchSearchField>
+          <substringMatchSearchField>groupname</substringMatchSearchField>
+        </searchFields>
         <listingMode>search_oh_yeah</listingMode>
       </groups>
       <defaultAdministratorId>tehroot</defaultAdministratorId>