Hints

Hints track manual changes - deletes, moves and renames - on a data Collection.

The Hint mechanism has been completely redesigned from version 3.1 to version 4+ and no longer uses individual files. Instead a single datastore keeps Hints and the status of all back-ups involved in processing Hints.

When opening a Publisher in Navigator select "Workstation" for a computer that does not contain a collection. Use "Collection" when running on a data collection. Hints are not tracked for actions on a Workstation.

When using a single computer a basic local Hint Tracker works well. However when using multiple Navigators or back-ups a Hint Server is required. A Hint Server is an ELS listener running on a system accessible to all Navigators and Publishers.

The Hint Server is the remote variant of the internal Hint Tracker and is run as a separate stand-alone process. There can be only one.

Enabling Hints

1. Create a Publisher and one or more Subscriber libraries
2. Create a Hint Tracker/Server library
   1. The datastore keeps Hints and status of each back-up
   2. Uses the first Bibliography library
   3. And the first Source for that library
3. Create Hint Keys with the keys for Publishers and Subscriber
   1. Controls which systems are involved in processing Hints
   2. Do not include the Hint Tracker/Server library key
   3. Do not include Workstations
4. For a Hint Server create Authentication Keys
   1. Controls which systems may have access
   2. Used by Subscribers and a Hint Server
   3. Include every library key that will access Subscribers and Hint Server
   4. Do not include the Hint Tracker/Server library key

The -h and -H options use the same JSON file to specify the location of the Hint datastore.

Examples

These are a few examples. There are several variations depending on the overall configuration and number of Navigators, Publishers and Subscribers.

[cfg] is the ELS configuration directory, default [user home]/.els/

Local back-up using Hint Tracker on a single computer

ELS-Navigator -C [cfg] -c debug -d debug --hints "libraries/Hint Server.json" -k "system/hint.keys" -p "libraries/Publisher.json" -s "libraries/Subscriber.json" -T -m output/mismatches.txt -W output/whatsnew.txt -F output/backup.log

Hint Server (listener)

ELS-Navigator -C [cfg] -c debug -d debug --hint-server "libraries/Hint Server.json" -k "system/hint.keys" -A "system/authentication.keys" -F output/hint-server.log

Subscriber (listener)

ELS-Navigator -C [cfg] -c debug -d debug --remote S -p "libraries/Publisher.json" -S "libraries/Subscriber.json" -k "system/hint.keys" -A "system/authentication.keys" -T -F output/subscriber.log

Publisher (client)

ELS-Navigator -C [cfg] -c debug -d debug -J --hint-server "libraries/Hint Server.json" -k "system/hint.keys" --remote P -p "libraries/Publisher.json" -s "libraries/Subscriber.json" -T -m output/mismatches.txt -W output/whatsnew.txt -F output/backup.log

Navigator (client)

ELS-Navigator -C [cfg] -c debug -d debug --navigator -J --hint-server "libraries/Hint Server.json" -k "system/hint.keys" --remote P -P "libraries/Publisher.json" -s "libraries/Subscriber.json" -F output/navigator.log

Notes

• A Hint Tracker/Server file is the same format as publisher and subscriber JSON files. The communications parameters are the same as described in Communications.

• Things like terminal_allowed and ignore_patterns are ignored.

  • A terminal to the Hint Server is never allowed.

• The datastore location is taken from the first Source of the first library in the Bibliography. Only the first Source is used.

• When all systems involved in processing Hints have executed a Hint it is automatically removed from the Hint datastore.