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What's New?
Several of our clients have started to use DIG in a new and creative way. System administrators are finding DIG very useful for searching through log files to find discrete bits of information like IP addresses,
date/time stamps, web URLs, etc. When DIG indexes delimited text documents (tab, comma, etc.), it treats each new line as if it were a separate file. This allows DIG to index a 100MB log file from a firewall, database,
web server, etc, and return only the “row(s)” that contain the user’s search criteria. This functionality can make DIG an integral part of system administration enabling administrators to search a virtually unlimited variety and size of logs from many disparate applications.
One of our clients uses this technique to search an 8GB delimited text backup of their database(s). It enables them to search for “archived” data that has been purged from their production systems.
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Here are a few tips and tricks to help you use DIG quickly and more efficiently.
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Fuzzy Search
Fuzzy searching lets you search for a value regardless of the exact spelling. For example, using fuzzy search on "Vetter" can return values of "Vetter," Vettor," "Vettur" or even Veltor, depending on the level of accuracy set. To apply a fuzzy search to a string, click the Fuzzy Searching button and use the slider to indicate the level of accuracy. The further you set the slider to the right, the less exact the values must be in order to match.
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Stemming Search
Stemming searches for grammatical variations on a value. For example, using stemming on "terrorist" returns "terror," "terrorism" and "terrorize" in addition to "terrorist." To apply stemming to a search, click the Stemming button and use the slider to indicate the level of stemming. The further you set the slider to the right, the more variations will be returned.
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Phonic Search
Phonic searching lets you search on values based on sound rather than spelling. For example, a search of "Smith" can return "Smith," "Smythe" and "Smithey." To apply phonic searching, click the Phonic button and use the slider to indicate the level of accuracy. The further you set the slider to the right, the wider the range of values returned.
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You probably know that DIG delivers Scalable Information Awareness by providing a fast and easy to use search and retrieval engine for databases, Internet information, text documents and e-mails. In addition to providing powerful search and retrieval capabilities, DIG also provides a "data walk" capability.
The data walk feature can be used on any of the "indexed" database elements (those that are defined within DIG as Search Objects). The capability provides users with the ability to find information about people, places and things that are not obvious when examining only a limited set or discrete piece of information.
For example, suppose a user performs a query on an individual's name, and receives at least one result for that name. Along with the name, the result also shows an SSN, a driver's license number and an address. If these data elements are defined as Search Objects, the user can individually walk these items. The SSN and driver's license number can be walked to determine if they are unique to the individual originally queried. The address can be walked to find other persons, events, telephone numbers, etc., that are associated to the address.
The following example shows how DIG can perform data walks on data fields returned from a search.
The image below shows a portion of the results of a search on last names that contain the characters "mc."
In the list of results, we right-clicked on the '4805 Kingswood Drive' address and chose the Object Walk command (as shown below).
DIG found two records with the same address indicating that Stephen and Michael McMorrow both use the same address as their home address (as shown below).
To find out more about DIG, visit the Visual Analytics DIG pages or send an e-mail request to sales@visualanalytics.com.
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