link analysis and update segments

[AJ Chen]

In a whole-web or vertical crawling setting, is it right that link 
analysis and update segment from DB should be performed in right order 
before indexing the segments?

There's not much talk about update segment from DB. I think it should be 
an important step. Could someone point out when it should be  run and 
what the benefits are?

I remember it was mentioned sometime ago that the link analysis tool 
does not work yet and the number of in-links should be used instead. Any 
update? If it's still not working, how to set it to use link numbers?

Thanks,
AJ