A .profile file created for new data domains

Starting with Endeca Server version 7.6.1.13, for each new data domain that you create, Endeca Server automatically creates an internal .profile file that is stored as part of the data domain's index. The .profile file stores the data domain profile information for each newly created data domain. This simplifies the maintenance of data domains during their backup and restoration (exporting and importing), because you no longer need to keep track of a custom data domain profile so that you can use it when importing a previously exported data domain.

This means that when you back up and restore data domains, you only need to keep track of data domain's index files stored in an offline directory. You no longer are required to retain custom data domain's profiles. If you prefer to have a custom data domain profile file, you can still use it, but its creation and maintenance are now optional.

Here is the description of this change:

Each newly created data domain has a .profile file. If you update the data domain, its .profile is updated. If you export and import this data domain, the .profile file is used as the data domain's profile. If you delete the data domain, its .profile file is deleted.

The automatic creation of .profile file for each newly created data domain was added in Endeca Server version 7.6.1.13 (as part of the hotfix release for 7.6.1.13).

In Endeca Server releases before version 7.6.1.13, before you created a data domain, you needed to create and save a custom data domain profile. (Alternatively, the Endeca Server also included the default data domain profile which you could use, by specifying it, when creating a new data domain.) Next, if you exported this data domain's index with the purpose of restoring the data domain later (such as after an upgrade), you also had to keep track of the custom data domain profile file used to create this data domain. When importing a previously exported data domain, you had to specify the data domain's profile. If you didn't specify it, or didn't have this file in your system, the new data domain with the imported index would be created based on the default data domain profile (and not the custom profile that you might have had).

If you exported a data domain and its index file does not include .profile, then you still need to specify the custom data domain profile for it, when importing it. (This only affects data domains exported from Endeca Server before version 7.6.1.13). If you don't specify the custom data domain profile (or no longer have it stored on your system), the new data domain is created based on the default data domain profile.

Starting with the Endeca Server version 7.6.1.13, each data domain is created with the internal .profile file, as part of its index. The system relies on this file and automatically uses it when you export the data domain, and also when you later import it. If the data domain has the .profile file (you can check this in the index directory), then when you export it, this file is also exported and stored in the offline directory as part of the index. When you later import this data domain, you no longer need to specify a custom data domain profile; the system automatically relies on the .profile file to create a new data domain with the imported index, based on the data domain's profile stored in .profile file (from the exported data domain).