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AComprehensiveSolutiontoLarge-ScaleDataManagementOverviewInresponsetothechallengesengineersandscientistsfacewhenmanaginglargeamountsoftestandsimulationdata,NationalInstrumentshasbuiltathree-piecesolutionfortestdatamanagement.Akeycomponentofthissolution,NIDataFindertechnology,helpsyouindextestfilesforsimpleretrievalandmining.ThispaperdiscussesexpandingthistechnologyforlargegroupsanddepartmentswithNIDataFinderServerEdition.ThePainPointsofDataManagementTestengineerstodayfaceincreasinglychallengingtimeandbudgetaryconstraintswhendesigningdataacquisitionsystems.Consumerdemandforhigher-qualityproductsatlowerpricescontinuestoforcestrictersystemdesignrequirements.Tooffsetdecreasingmargins,dataacquisitionsystemsmustbedesigned(orevolve)tobesolutions–thatistosay,youmustbeabletousethemnotonlyfortheinitialdataacquisitionbutalsothedatamanagementonceyouhavecollectedthedata.Withouttheimplementationofaneffectivedatamanagementsolution,youmaywindupwastingvaluabletime(andthereforemoney)attemptingtoextractinformationfromyouracquireddatasoyoucanmakeeducatedengineeringdecisions.Youmayresorttomanuallysearchingthroughfilesthatarelikelystoredindifferentformatsandinvaryinglocationsondisk–andpotentiallyondifferentmachines–tofindandanalyzeyourdatasets.Evenjustafewhoursperweekwastedduetoaninefficientdatamanagementsolutioncancausebudgetaryincreasesanddelaysthatcanpropagatethroughtheentireproductdesigncycle,drasticallyincreasingtimetomarket.Traditionaldatamanagementapproachessuchasmanualfile-andfolder-namingconventionsorstandarddatabaseimplementationsofferuniquebenefitsbutfailtoprovideanall-encompassingdatamanagementsolutionontheirown.Whilemanuallyorganizingandnamingyourfilesandfoldersinamannerthatfitstheapplicationathandhastheimmediateadvantageofbeingfreeandeasilycustomizable,theorganizationcanbecomecumbersomeastestschangeandgrow,causingthemostheadacheswhensearchingfordatasetsandquicklybucklingunderwhenafileisinadvertentlyrenamedormoved.StandarddatabasessuchasAccessorOracleareeasilyqueriedandprovideswiftretrievalofdatabutareextremelycostlytodesignandimplementandrequiresignificantmaintenanceandresourcesifyouneedcontinuedcustomizationandexpandability.Companiesspendconsiderabletimeandmoneydesigningandimplementingtheirdataacquisitionsystemsbutoftenfailtothoroughlyplanfordatamanagement.Ifyouinvestheavilyinacquiringyourdata,besuretoinvesttheneededtimeandmoneyinmanagingthisdataaswell.NITechnicalDataManagementSolutionNationalInstrumentshasidentifiedthreekeypiecestothedatamanagementpuzzle:flexibleandorganizedfilestorage,acomprehensivedataindexforadvancedsearchcapabilities,andaninteractivedataretrievalandpost-processingenvironment.Asaresult,theNItechnicaldatamanagement(TDM)solutionconsistsofthreecomponents:theTDMdatamodelforstoringdescriptiveinformationwithyourtestfiles,NIDataFinderforindexingtestdataforsearchregardlessoffileformat,andNIDIAdemsoftwareforsearching,mining,analysis,andreporting.TheTDMdatamodelforfilestoragelogicallyarrangesdatainahierarchicalfashionandstoresmetainformationcontainingbothnativeandcustompropertiesforthedataset,channelgroup,andchannellevel.TheTDMfileformatiscompletelyexpandableandcustomizable,allowingfordetailedandwell-documentedtestdata.LabVIEW™,NationalInstruments™,andni.com™aretrademarksofNationalInstrumentsCorporation.Productandcompanynamesmentionedhereinaretrademarksortradenamesoftheirrespectivecompanies.ForpatentscoveringNationalInstrumentsproducts,refertotheappropriatelocation:Help»patentsinyoursoftware,thepatents.txtfileonyourCD,orni.com/patents.©Copyright2006NationalInstrumentsCorporation.Allrightsreserved.DocumentVersion22Figure1.TheTDMDataModelforSavingWell-DocumentedTestDataOnceyouhavedocumentedyourtestdatawithproperties,NIDataFinder–themostoverlookedcomponentindatamanagementsolutions–providesanout-of-the-boxutilityforminingtestdata.NIDataFinderautomaticallysearchesspecifiedareasofyourharddiskandcreatesanindexcontainingthevaluableinformationwithinthemetadataofyourdatafiles.Onceindexed,testdataisfullysearchableusingeasy,Internet-likesearchingaswellasadvancedqueriesusingDIAdem.Younolongerhavetomanuallyhuntforthedatasetsyoudesire;NIDataFinderkeepstrackofthepertinentinformationontestdatafiles,nomatterhowtheyarearrangedondisk.AfterNIDataFinderlocatestheappropriatedatasets,youcanuseDIAdemtoextracttheinformationyouneedfromyourtestdataandtakeadvantageofDIAdemutilitiestointeractwith,analyze,andcreateprofessionalreportsfromthatdata.Thefasteryoucaneffectivelyanalyzeandreporttestdata,thefasteryourteamcanmakeeducatedengineeringdecisions.DIAdemDataFinderandNIDataFinderServerEditionAlocalNIDataFinderindex,theDIAdemDataFinderinstallsautomaticallywithDIAdem.Onceinstalled,DIAdemDataFinderneedstoknowwheretofindyourtestdataondisk.YoucanconfigureDIAdemDataFindertoindexyourentireharddisk,butyoualsocanidentify(orexclude)specificlocationsondiskwhereyouexpecttestdatatobelocated.Thispreventsthesystemresourceoverheadthatresultsfromunnecessarilyindexingfilesorfolderswhileallowingforeasyscalabilityshouldyouneedtospecifynewsearchareasinthe