Maintaining Concordance Andy Kass

Transcription

1 Concordance Tip Sheet May 2010 Maintaining Concordance Andy Kass In this forum we normally discuss the nitty gritty of document review in Concordance, detailing searching, tags, tallying, production, and all that other good stuff. But at the end of the day literally someone must take care of the databases, and that is the topic of this month s Concordance Tip. I have discussed various backup methods in a prior posting (see so I am going to focus on actual database preservation, and the automation of various processes using CPLs and Windows command files. Of Reindexing, Indexing and Packing The main tools for maintaining Concordance databases are Reindex, Index and Pack. To review, the difference between Reindex and Index is that Reindex refreshes the dictionary and index with new and modified text, while Index dumps and rebuilds the dictionary and index from scratch. Thus, Reindex may be done with users in the database (though this can be locked out), but Index can never run if there are users in the database. Pack defragments the database and prunes all deleted records and dictionary references; this also requires exclusive access by the administrator. Each of these processes may be automated, with the caveat that Index and Pack will fail if anyone left their computer logged in to a Concordance database, or shut a computer without closing Concordance first. Flogging has been found to be helpful here. (Kidding.) Looking in my toolkit, I have some things from Concordance (back to Dataflight days), and some things Iʹve cooked up myself. Youʹll find the Scheduled Tasks manager

2 Concordance Tip Sheet May on your admin station or server very useful in calling these batch/command files, which in turn open Concordance to run the CPLs those omnipresent Concordance scripts. Some basic Concordance maintenance CPLs are: INDXPACK.CPL: Indexes and Packs a selected database (unless someone failed to exit properly). Since this is a pretty simple CPL, let s take a look at two examples of it, one pretty much as written (with a database name plugged in), and the other with the syntax for passing an administrator login and password (in clear text, unfortunately): <PLAIN VERSION> main() { int db; } db = opendb( "O:\CASES\Mets_v_Yanks\SubwaySeries" ); index( db ); pack( db ); exit(0); <PASSWORD VERSION> {/* this is comment text */} /* these first two lines are optional definitions */ /*text szuserid = ʺADMINISTRATORʺ;*/ /*text szpassword = ʺpasscode!ʺ;*/ main() { /* char szuserid, SZPassword; */ int db; /* Reindex the database first line shows syntax, second is explicit */ /* db = opendb("c:\cases\mets_v_yanks\subwayseries_g3", szuserid, szpassword) */ db = opendb("c:\cases\mets_v_yanks\subwayseries_g3", "administrator", "passcode!"); index( db ); pack( db ); exit(0); }

3 Concordance Tip Sheet May Reindexing_Daemon.CPL: Reindexes a database automatically, even if it was left open. The code is a bit more involved than that above. Asks user for a place to put the LOG file, if not already entered in CPL text. Reindexing_Daemon (Recursive).CPL: Reindexes databases all the way through a folder branch. If you don t plug in a starting folder, you will be prompted to supply one. Don t forget the last \ at the end of the path! My Additions: RDX(DB).CPL is an example of a quick and dirty variation on Reindexing_Daemon. main() { int db; } db = opendb( "C:\program files\dataflight\concordance\tutorial\andy" ); reindex( db ); closedb( db ); exit(0); DCB_Indexpack.CMD shows how to call a CPL in a batch or command file. "R:\CONCORDANCE\CONCORDANCE.EXE" "R:\Concordance\CPL\DCBname_IndexPack.CPL" And Backup, Too TestBackBatch3.CMD Since Concordance is a database, and databases compress well, you can save backup space by using PKzip or WinRAR for backup. Note the WinRAR syntax here, and watch the line 3 wrap! L: cd "\CLIENTFOLDER\MATTERFOLDER" "C:\Program Files\WinRAR\RAR" a -agyyyymmdd - ilog"c:\clients\clientfolder\logs\backlog.txt" RESULT: Items in Backup.LST in Line2 folder written to RAR in the indicated folder; no log written (because all processes completed OK).

4 Concordance Tip Sheet May DCB_RDX_BACKUP.CMD A more involved process to reindex and copy a list of databases (again, watch for line wraps). :: Go to case and copy to backup location. L: CD "\CASES\MatterName" copy MatterName*.* "\\FS1\Concordance backup\ " /v /y net use X: "\\FS1\Concordance backup" :: Go to Backup location and create Backup list file for WinRAR, then archive by today's date and log errors X: CD " " dir *.* /s /b /a-d > backup.lst "C:\Program Files\WinRAR\RAR" a -y -agyyyymmdd -ilog"\logs\backlog.txt" "\\FS1\Concordance backup\ "L:\CONCORDANCE\CONCORDANCE.EXE" "L:\Concordance\CPL\RDX(DB).CPL" :EXIT EXIT NOTE: All of these are noted AS IS no promises and no indemnifications express or implied. As always, I strongly suggest that you tinker on the COWCOs of the world before you try it out on real production data. Scheduling Tasks Now that you have your scripts and batch files, you ll need a way to set them to run when you are (one hopes) not around. Find a time after normal working hours and before the backup kicks off, or in the alternative, after the backup finishes. Then set it in Windows homely but effective Scheduled Tasks utility. You can find Scheduled Tasks under the START Menu (Accessories System Tools Scheduled Tasks), or listed under Control Panel. Either way, you get a Windows Explorerlike screen with an Add Scheduled Task item that kicks off a wizard. First, select from a list of all available applications the one that you want to use to kick off the process:

5 Concordance Tip Sheet May If you want to kick off a CMD (Command) or BAT (Batch) file a list of commands for Windows to process use the BROWSE button to find it. Let s say we want to use the previously discussed CMD file DCB_RDX_BACKUP. Select it and click NEXT. The next screen lets you specify how often you want to run this task: And next the question is when to kick off the process; remember what I said above about workdays and backup windows: You ll also need a valid login to run the process:

6 Concordance Tip Sheet May When finished, you have the option to click a checkbox to open Advanced Properties (otherwise available from the Scheduled Task s Properties). The Task sheet summarizes the Run line, Start in path, who to Run as (and change password), with checkboxes to Run only if logged on (unchecked by default) and Enabled (checked by default).

7 Concordance Tip Sheet May The Schedule tab summarizes your settings, but allows you to fine tune and even set multiple schedules (see figure above). Under Advanced, you can set End Date and Repeat Task values. The Settings tab allows you to further tune the task to address adverse conditions; you may want to change the default for Stop the task if it runs for to something less than 72 hours (3 days): And lastly, there is a Security tab to keep this item safe from unapproved users. It seems like a lot of cobbling, but these tools provide a lot of flexibility for preserving a simple flat file database. The better you get to know them, and the more they are used, the cleaner and safer your data will be. And that makes everybody happy. The views expressed in this Concordance Tip Sheet are solely the views of the author, and do not necessarily represent the opinion of U.S. Legal Support, Inc Andrew Kass

8 Concordance Tip Sheet May NEWS UPDATES: The next New York Metro Area Concordance Users Group meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 2 nd, 12:00 noon to 1:30pm, at LexisNexis, 125 Park Avenue, 24 th Floor. There will be Web and dial up access, but there will only be pizza if at least 20 people sign up to attend in person. Adam Yarnell will discuss the future of Concordance Classic, your correspondent will outline Concordance 10 upgrade best practices, and there will be tips and tricks galore. RSVP to Margaret Hall (mhall@arraytech.com, or x200) by May 24 th. Go for the gusto, and come on down! A display bug has turned up in Concordance Image v5: the Directory tab under Imagebase Management will do a Replace or a manual edit, but not show the changes in its listing. Changes will appear when Imagebase Management and the Directory tab are re opened. It s on the punch list. We ll be watching for a point release at the end of May; I hope to have it in time to discuss at the User Group meeting. Visit the Concordance Tip Archives (all the way back to October 2005!) at Andy Kass akass@uslegalsupport.com x202 ARRAY TECHNOLOGY GROUP, A U.S. Legal Support, Inc. Company PROVIDING EXPERT SOLUTIONS FROM DISCOVERY TO VERDICT e-discovery Document Collection & Review Litigation Management Litigation Software Training Meet & Confer Advice Court Reporting Services Record Retrieval At Trial Electronic Evidence Presentation Trial Consulting Demonstrative Graphics Courtroom & War Room Equipment Worldox Document Management Deposition & Case Management Services The Dine Group Contract Staffing Best wishes from all of us at Array Technology Group. Copyright 2010 Array Technology Group, A U.S. Legal Support, Inc. Company, 134 W 25th St, New York NY (800) All rights reserved. To update your address or unsubscribe from Array's mailings, please reply to this with CANCEL in the subject line.