Just to clarify, you are trying to move your clients into different groups on the same SEPM, is that correct?
If so, swapping the sylink file will not cause the client to changes groups, even if you are not using AD sync (the hardware ID of the client is already linked to the group within the SEP DB). Within the Sylink, only the Preferred group is defined, which is only used if no record for the client already exists in the SEPM. If a client is already talking to the SEPM, then it ignores the preferred group field in favour of its actual group in the SEPM structure.
The only way to move clients around when they are already talking to the SEPM are:
- Manually via the console
- Using AD Sync
- Using the moveclient.vbs script
More on the moveclient utitlity below:
http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH98302