Best way to check Lucene index for query function

Question

I've got a QA and live environment in 8.1 Update 2 using Lucene; both are running standalone. The same content is essentially on both, migrated via serialization from another instance. I'm using a custom index definition for the site's general search function.

On the QA box, I get back results as I'd expect for certain terms, but on the live box, I don't get those results. I've run an index rebuild several times for this index, but I'm not getting the content I'd expect.

I'm trying to figure out a good way to diagnose this on my development machine. Since the Lucene index is a file system set, could I copy the index folder from my live environment, put it back on my development machine, and query against it so I can run debugging/breakpoint? Failing that, what would be a good way to simulate a query against the index? I've found Luke and can hook up to the index, but it's a little unwieldy for finding content in there.

Answer 1

A more direct answer to your question is usually and typically Yes - you can copy Lucene Indexes down to your local dev machine to then run tests against it.

In fact, in dire times, such as when additional/extra publishing targets have not been configured correctly, etc. etc., I have seen some customers that have had to manually copy the indexes to these servers as well.

So again, yes, you can usually copy the indexes locally and then run queries against it, using any of several methods, many of which are listed on this question: How can I find all usages of template in insert options?

Answer 2

You have a few options. Here are 2 of them:

1- use luke to read the index. You could check the index directly on the one you are facing problems but I personally prefer option #2.

2- Use Sitecore powershell extensions module to read your index. You can install the authorable report and you get the Index Viewer just like discussed on this topic. It works really well.