Topics | How To | Troubleshoot | Related Topics
This topic provides an overview of the Data Discovery and Search feature to inform end-users and compliance officers about the types of searches that can be conducted and the available search tools. Detailed information is also provided on search criteria, wildcards and use cases for users to gain a better understanding of the search capabilities offered by this feature.
Certain configuration tasks must be performed prior to searching online and protected/archived data. For more information see Configuration - Content indexing and Search.
The Data Discovery and Search capabilities allow end-users and compliance officers to search for data across computers and supported applications to find the information they need to perform their job functions. End-User Searches and Compliance Searches are briefly described below.
End-users typically need to find information about something that they are working on, such as a project or task, which often requires significant time to locate the data. The average user may not know which computers or storage devices in the organization contain the data that they are trying to locate, and they may not know which applications created the data to be searched (for example: e-mail messages/items/attachments, text files, rich text files, Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PDFs, etc.). The End-User Search capability provides a solution to this business need by giving users the proper tools to quickly and easily search for their data regardless of computer or application.
The main concept behind End-User Searches is the ability for users to search all data objects that were created by them, or that is accessible to them. End-User Searches can be conducted from the web-based Search Console or from the integrated Search Console available in Outlook Add-In for Microsoft Exchange Server, by entering the appropriate Search Criteria. (Outlook Add-In is not supported by Domino Mailbox Archiver)
For step-by-step instructions, see Search for Data Using the Search Console and Search for Data Using the CommCell Console.
Compliance officers are often tasked with locating data in order to comply with the legal discovery process or business regulations. Civil litigation requires that data relevant to the case be provided for legal discovery. This can be a very time-consuming task for compliance officers, since the data they need to provide to the courts or attorneys may be spread across many different computers and storage devices throughout the organization, and comprise different data types. The Compliance Search capability allows compliance officers full access to all computers and supported applications for searching, regardless of ownership/access attributes for the piece of data.
Regulatory compliance is another mission-critical business need that is addressed by the Compliance Search capability. In certain geographic regions, publicly traded corporations must comply with business regulations such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, as well as other sector-based regulations governing Financial Services, Healthcare, and Pharmaceutical industries. The Compliance Search capability is designed to address this business need as well by giving compliance officers the tools to search across computers, storage devices and applications to quickly and easily locate the information needed to satisfy regulatory compliance requirements.
Compliance Searches can be conducted from the web-based Search Console, the Search dialog in the CommCell Console, or the integrated Search Console available in Outlook Add-In for Microsoft Exchange Server, by entering the appropriate Search Criteria.
For step-by-step instructions, see Search for Data Using the Search Console and Search for Data Using the CommCell Console.
Capability | End-User Search | Compliance Search |
Access of data objects |
|
|
Advanced Options (CommCell Console) | Not Applicable | The following search criteria are available
in the CommCell Console for Compliance Searches by users with Compliance
License:
|
Advanced Options (Search Console) |
|
|
Retrieve from Search Console | End-users have the facility to retrieve the discovered items from the search result page as well as from the review set page. | Compliance users need to move the discovered items to a review set in order to retrieve them. |
Legal Hold | Not Applicable | Compliance users can search data and preserve a subset of the data in a Legal Hold for long-term retention for legal purposes. |
Tagging | Not Applicable | Compliance users can create and assign tags to selected search items and later perform a search based on the assigned tags. |
ERM Connectors | Not Applicable | Compliance users can search for data and submit selected documents to an ERM server in a record management site. |
There are different types of interfaces available for performing end-user searches and compliance searches, including the web-based Search Console and the Search dialog in the CommCell Console. Although slightly different in appearance, they both offer the same powerful and unique capability to locate data across computers and supported applications. The Outlook-Add In can also be used as a search tool, and offers integrated Search Console capabilities as discussed below.
The
web-based Search Console is a search interface client that works in conjunction
with a Web Search Server which allows searches to be performed remotely
through a web browser. The Search Console is a convenient way to perform
offline and online searches without needing access to a CommCell. A depiction
of the Search Console is provided on the right and description of various
portions of the interface are given below:
For step-by-step instructions, see Search for Data Using Search Console. |
The
CommCell Console offers a Search dialog similar to the Search Console, which
allows CommCell users a convenient and familiar venue from which to search
for protected/archived data. A depiction of the Search dialog is provided
on the right and description of various portions of the interface are given
below:
For step-by-step instructions on searching data using CommCell Console, see Search for Data Using CommCell Console. To perform a job-based search from the CommCell Console, see Perform Job-Based Search Using CommCell Console. |
The Outlook-Add In provides the following search capabilities:
For an overview of this component, see DataArchiver Outlook Add-In. For more information on using the integrated Search Console, see Accessing and Using the Search Console from Outlook Add-In.
Capability | Search Console | CommCell Console | Outlook Add-In |
Searchable Index Types | Online and Offline Content Indexes | Online and Offline Content Indexes | Offline Content Indexes |
Security Requirements | See Search Console | See CommCell Console | See Outlook Add-In |
Search and Restore |
|
|
|
Job Monitoring | Restore job progress can be viewed by clicking the Job Status button | Restore job progress can be viewed from the Job Controller | None |
Scheduling Support | None |
|
None |
Legal Hold |
|
|
|
Tagging | Compliance users can create new tags, search data based on tags associated with the search items, and also assign new tags to the search result items interactively. |
|
Compliance users can create new tags, search data based on tags associated with the search items, and also assign new tags to the search result items interactively. |
ERM Connectors |
|
|
|
Delegated Search |
|
Not applicable |
|
Miscellaneous | The following unique capabilities are supported:
|
The following unique capabilities are supported:
|
The following unique capabilities are supported:
|
This section provides information on the available search criteria that can be used to further refine your search operation. Note that not all fields may be available depending on the type of search you are performing, your access rights and/or other configuration specifics particular to your environment.
The following options and option groups are available from the Advanced Search window of the web-based Search Console:
Search - Use the search text box to enter the text string or wildcard pattern that you wish to search for.
Set Default - Select this button to save the search criteria selections and set it as the default.
Clear - Select this button to clear any search criteria specifications on text boxes. When using this option, note that search criteria selections on drop-down boxes and radio-buttons will not be reset.
Close - Select this button to close the Advanced Search window.
This option group specifies search criteria for e-mail data types.
Although the Search in mail criteria can all be used during the same search operation, keep in mind that if your search criteria is too restrictive then the search may not return any results. NOTES
|
FilesThis option group specifies search criteria for file or document data types.
Although the Search in Files criteria can all be used during the same search operation, keep in mind that if your search criteria is too restrictive then the search may not return any results. |
DiscoveryThis option group allows to you select additional compliance search criteria for Files and E-mails.
|
JobThis option group allows you to perform a compliance search by Job ID associated with Content Indexing jobs and/or Backup Jobs and search for files that failed to Content Index. Backup or Content Indexing Job IDs - Use this space to enter one or more backup or content indexing Job IDs. If more than one Job ID is entered, use the semi-colon ';' to separate the additional entries. While searching for file server/desktop items using Job ID, the search will display results based on the following conditions:
Search objects failed to index Select this option to perform a compliance search for data that failed to be content indexed.
For an online content indexing operation, you can view the list of successful/failed items from the CommCell Console and items that failed to content index from the Search Console based on the following conditions:
Note that you can only view the items that failed to content index from the Search Console. For related information on viewing content indexing results, see View Content Indexing Results. |
DelegatesThis option group allows end-users to search for Exchange emails on delegated mailboxes.
|
AdvancedThis option group allows you to search all versions or latest version of the data, and to limit the search to the specified client(s).
|
TagThis option group allows you to perform a compliance search based on the tags associated with the search items.
For related information, see Tagging. |
The following option groups for Files, E-mails, and Advanced Options are available from the left pane of the Search dialog in the CommCell Console:
FilesThe following search criteria are applicable for file or document data types:
Although the Files search criteria can all be used during the same search operation, keep in mind that if your search criteria is too restrictive then the search may not return any results. |
The following search criteria are applicable for e-mail data types:
Although the E-mails search criteria can all be used during the same search operation, keep in mind that if your search criteria is too restrictive then the search may not return any results. NOTES
|
Advanced OptionsThe following search criteria are generally applicable for all data types (except where indicated), and are located in the left pane of the Search dialog in the CommCell Console:
|
When you upgrade the CommServe to the current version, it is recommended that you upgrade all the clients and content index the data using the current version and then perform the search operation on the content indexed data. If for some reason you do not wish to upgrade your clients or re-content index the data, you can continue to Search the data that was already content indexed. See Upgrade Considerations for more information.
Note that, you can perform only a compliance search on SharePoint data that was content indexed using a previous version.
You can view the list of file server/desktop items that were successfully content indexed or failed to content index based on the following conditions:
For step-by-step instructions to view successfully content indexed items, see View the Items that Were Successfully Content Indexed. For step-by-step instructions to view the list of items failed to content index, see View the Items that Were Not Indexed During Content Indexing.
The following table lists the wildcards and operators that can be used along with the search options:
Wildcards and Operators | Description | Usage |
* | Denotes any number or text. | A* - This will search for any text starting with A. |
? | Denotes a single number or character. | A?B - Search for text starting with A, ending with B and containing any character in between. For example, AB, ACB, A2B. |
"" | Denotes a specific range of characters. | "Hello" - Search for the text containing "Hello". |
AND | Denotes the condition to include both the search terms. | A AND B - Search for data containing both A and B. This is also accomplished by just typing A B. |
OR | Denotes the condition to include either of the search terms. | A OR B - Search for data containing either A or B. |
() | Used along with a combination of AND and OR. | (A OR B) AND (C OR D) -
Search for data that contains either (A,C) or (A,D) or (B,C) or (B,D).
(A B) OR C - Search for data containing A and B or C. |
; | Used as a separator. | A;B - Search for both A
and B. This is generally used when multiple terms need to be searched. A OR B;C - Search for A and C or B and C. A OR B;C D - Search for A, C, and D or B,C, and D. |
The limitations on wildcard usage are as follows:
If you would like to search for text strings that contain the literal character for asterisk ( * ) or question mark ( ? ), then you will need to put each of these special characters in double-quotes, as in "*" and "?". For example, if you are searching for a question that someone asked, such as 'Where is my data?' then you would need to enter the search string as: Where is my data"?" |
The following section describes the various actions that can be performed from the search console.
You can perform the following actions on the saved queries in the My Queries page of the search console:
Remove | This action allows you to remove the selected saved query from the My Queries page. |
To execute a saved query, click the query name.
You can perform the following actions on the search items in the search result page of the search console:
Select Page | This option allows you to select all the search items in the current page in the review set. | ||
Select All | This option allows you to select all the search items in the review set. | ||
Sort By | This option allows you to sort the list of search items based on the
following:
You can also sort the list of search items alphabetically using the and buttons.
|
||
Save Query | This action allows you to save the query for the search items in the My Queries page. On selecting this option, you will be prompted to enter the query name and description. | ||
Search within results | This action allows to perform a search within the listed search result items. | ||
Add Selected Items to... | You can use this option to move the selected search result items to an already existing review set or to a new review set. On selecting New Review Set..., you will be prompted to provide a name for the new review set. | ||
Hide Details | This option allows you to hide the file details, such as file path, size, client name, and modified time. | ||
...... | This option displays an additional line of content for the specific search result item. | ||
Hide | This option will hide the additional line of content for the specific search result item. | ||
View | This option allows you to view the specific search result item that was already restored to the job results directory in the web server from a review set earlier. | ||
Preview | This options allows you to preview the specific search result item on the same window prior to restoring to the web search server. | ||
View in new window | This options allows you to view the specific search result item on a new window prior to restoring to the web search server. | ||
Retrieve | This action restores the selected search item to the job results
directory in the web server and makes the search item viewable. It will
also add the restored search item to the MyResults review set. You can also restore the selected search item using the Retrieve button in review set page. When using the Retrieve option from the search result page, note the following:
|
You can further filter the search results based on the Size in KB(hits), Modified/Received time, File Type, Tags, and Keywords listed in the Refine Search option in the left pane.
You can perform the following actions on the download items in the Downloads page of the search console:
Refresh | This action allows you to refresh the Downloads page. |
Delete All | This action deletes all the downloads listed in the Downloads page. To delete an individual download, click the icon for the specific download. |
To open or save a download, click the download name or the icon.
You can perform the following actions on the search items in the review set page of the search console:
Select Page | This option allows you to select all the search items in the current page in the review set. |
Select All | This option allows you to select all the search items in the review set. |
Sort By | This option allows you to sort the list of search items based on the
following:
You can also sort the list of search items alphabetically using the and buttons. |
Remove Items | This action allows you to remove the selected search item from the review set. |
Delete review set | This action allows you to delete the complete review set. |
List media | This action displays the media on which the search item was located. From the list of media displayed, you can also pin a specific media for an extended retention time using Pin Media option. To remove the pin on the media, select Unpin Media. |
View Jobs | This action displays the backup job details for the selected search
item. From the list of jobs displayed, you can pin specific jobs for an extended retention time using the Pin Job option. To remove the pin on the job, select Unpin Job. |
Retrieve | This action restores the selected search item to the job results directory
in the web server and makes the search item viewable. The status of the
restore operation can be identified from the following icons displayed near
the selected search item: - Restore operation is complete and the search item is viewable. - Restore operation is in progress. - Restore operation failed. For end users, you can also restore the selected search item using the Retrieve button in the search result page. Note that, a search item restored by a specific user is viewable to all the other users. |
Save Review Set Summary | This action allows you to save the review set summary a to any specified location. By default, the review set summary is saved as an XML file. |
Export Emails to PST | This action allows you to restore the selected search item to a PST file. |
Export to CAB | This action allows you to restore the selected search item to a ZIP file. |
Legal Hold | This action allows you to move the selected search items to a new or an existing Legal Hold. For more information, see Legal Hold. |
Manage Tag(s) | This action displays the Manage Tag(s) window, which allows you to:
For more information, see Tagging. |
Submit to ERM | This action displays the Submit to ERM window, which allows you to
For more information, see Enterprise Records Management (ERM). |
Submit Action | This option applies the action selected from from the Actions... drop-down box. |
...... | This option displays an additional line of content for the specific search item. |
Hide | This option will hide the additional line of content for the specific search item. |
Comments: [Add] | This option allows you to add a new comment for the specific search item in the review set. |
Comments: [Review] | This option allows you to edit the comment for the specific search item in the review set. |
Filter | This option displays the Filter Review Set Items By: window,
which allows you to filter the search items within a review set based on
the following:
|
Clear Filter | This option removes all the filter selections in the Filter Review Set Items By: window and lists all the search items in the review set. |
Hide Filter | This option will hide the Filter Review Set Items By: window. |
Preview | This options allows you to preview the specific search result item on the same window prior to restoring to the web search server. |
View in new window | This options allows you to view the specific search result item on a new window prior to restoring to the web search server. |
|
You can perform the following actions on the legally held items in the Legal Hold page of the search console:
Details | This option displays the Legal Hold related details, such as Description, Accessible Groups, Retention Policy, Default Retention, Extended Retention, Size, etc. |
Hide Details | This option hides the Legal Hold details. |
Sort By | This option allows you to sort the list of legally held items based
on the following:
You can also sort the list of items alphabetically using the and buttons. |
Edit Legal Hold | This action allows you to modify the description and extended retention time for the specific Legal Hold. For step-by-step instructions, see Modify a Legal hold. |
Retrieve Legal Hold | This action allows you to retrieve all the items in the Legal hold to a new review set. On selecting this option, you will be prompted to enter the review set name. For step-by-step instructions, see Retrieve Legal Hold Data from Search Console. |
Delete Legal Hold | This action allows you to delete a Legal Hold. For step-by-step instructions,
see Delete a Legal Hold.
Warning: When you delete a Legal Hold, all the data associated with the Legal Hold will become non-retrievable. |
Export to XML | This action exports the Legal Hold information to an XML document. |
View Failed Contents | This action displays the list of items that failed to be legally held. |
Move Failed Contents | This action allows you to move the failed items in a legal hold to a new review set. On selecting this option, you will be prompted to enter the review set name. Once the failed items are moved to a review set, they can be re-submitted once again to a Legal Hold. For step by-step instructions, see Re-submit Failed Contents to a Legal Hold. |
View Contents | This action allows you to view the list of legally held items in a Legal Hold. This action is available from the failed contents page of the Legal Hold. |
Consider the following prior to performing Data Discovery and Search operations:
The following example scenarios illustrate how End-User Search and Compliance Search capabilities can be used by companies and their employees to meet their mission-critical objectives.
The decision was made to retain all backup tapes from the past year, when the bribe allegedly occurred, by taking these tapes out of the normal rotation cycle which would otherwise cause them to be overwritten. The storage policies which maintain the relevant media were re-configured for infinite retention, so that the tapes would be preserved for the court.
Next, the legal department appointed a compliance officer to search through e-mails from the past year to locate the particular e-mail where the kickback was requested. Also, all files that were owned or accessible by the employee accused of taking the bribe needed to be discovered and provided to the courts for their review. Of particular interest were any spreadsheets listing amounts paid to the subsidiary OffShore Lending Corporation. To prepare for the search, the recovery administrator ran an offline content indexing operation on all the backup tapes from the past year to generate the necessary content indexes so that the data could be searched. An online content indexing operation of the employee's desktop workstation was also performed so that any data not yet backed up could be searched as well.
Once the online and offline content indexes were generated and made available for searching, the compliance officer conducted the following searches to produce the documentation requested by the court.
Thanks to the Compliance Search feature, the SubPrime Corporation averted a legal disaster by quickly providing evidence to the court that vindicated their case. The search results indicated that an e-mail had been sent from the OffShore subsidiary to an employee in SubPrime requesting a kickback, but that it was never acted upon as validated through the financial data in the spreadsheets. As a result, SubPrime and Joe Employee were acquitted of any wrongdoing and the company's reputation was saved.
The table below discusses few sample use case scenarios for search and provides a comparison of how these search operations are performed in the Search Console and in the CommCell console. Note that, you can access the Search Options dialog box in the CommCell Console from any level (i.e. CommServe, Client, iDataAgent, etc,.)
Use Case | Search Console | CommCell Console |
Find all emails received by user1 in the past x days. | Enable the Search in Emails section
in the Advanced Search page, and use the following options:
|
|
Find all emails received by user1 between x and y days. | Enable the Search in Emails section
in the Advanced Search page, and use the following options:
|
|
Find all emails received by user1 before y days. | Enable the Search in Emails section
in the Advanced Search page, and use the following options:
|
|
Find all emails received by user1 in the past x days containing a specific word |
|
|
Find all documents belonging to User1 | Go to the More options for Files/Emails
section in the Advanced Search page, and use the following options:
|
|
Find all communications between user1 and user2 in the past x days. | Enable the Search in Emails section
in the Advanced Search page, and use the following options:
|
|
Find all communications between user1 and user2 before y days. | Enable the Search in Emails section
in the Advanced Search page, and use the following options:
|
|
Find all communications between user1 and user2 between x and y days days. | Enable the Search in Emails section
in the Advanced Search page, and use the following options:
|
|
Find all emails received from user1 in the past x days. | Enable the Search in Emails section
in the Advanced Search page, and use the following options:
|
|
Find all emails received from user1 between x and y days. | Enable the Search in Emails section
in the Advanced Search page, and use the following options:
|
|
Find all emails received from user1 before y days. | Enable the Search in Emails section
in the Advanced Search page, and use the following options:
|
|
Find all emails received between user1@outsidedomain.com and user2@insidedomain.com | Enable the Search in Emails section
in the Advanced Search page, and use the following options:
You can further filter the search based on the Date. |
You can further filter the search based on the Received Time. |
Find all communications between outsidedomain.com and insidedomain.com. | Enable the Search in Emails section
in the Advanced Search page, and use the following options:
You can further filter the search based on the Date. |
You can further filter the search based on the Received Time. |
Find all communications from user1 to user2. | Enable the Search in Emails section
in the Advanced Search page, and use the following options:
You can further filter the search based on the Date. |
You can further filter the search based on the Received Time. |
Find all communications sent to a distribution list. | Enable the Search in Emails section
in the Advanced Search page, and use the following options:
You can further filter the search based on the Date. |
You can further filter the search based on the Received Time. |