Create fact tables to debug analytics update errors

Background

The analytics system produces a number of temporary files during an analytics build. Sometimes a report build will fail reporting errors in these files. This article shows the steps required to preserve the files for use in debugging.

How to preserve the .fact files

  1. edit the collection.cfg for the affected collection and add:

    java_options=-DDONT_DELETE_FACT_TABLES_ON_EXIT=1
  2. Run an update of the analytics (note: a full update with analytics.reports.disable_incremental_reporting=true is probably a good idea).

  3. Examine the .facts files that are written to $SEARCH_HOME/admin/reports/COLLECTION_NAME/

  4. Remove the java_options once you’ve finished debugging.