Using Microsoft Search Server 2010
Hardware and Software Requirements for Search Server
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Best Practices
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Use the following guidelines to determine which version of Microsoft Search Server is best for you. For a more detailed comparison, see http://zoom.it/So9H#full.
| Search Server version | Reasons for using | Requirements |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Search Server Express |
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http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb905370.aspx |
| Microsoft Search Server 2010 | You are Setting Up a Load Balanced Search |
Installing Microsoft Search Server 2010 to Work with Ektron
Prerequisites:
- Hardware and Software Requirements for Search Server
- An understanding of Microsoft Search Server 2010
- Both servers can browse to each other across the network
- On your Ektron server
- Open ports 6080 and 6081 (used by the CMS File Helper Service to communicate Ektron services and copy files between the Web and Search servers)
- Set SQL Security to SQL Server and Windows Authentication mode
- Create a SQL user login with the sysadmin role. Microsoft Search Server 2010 uses that login to access the Ektron database.
Best Practice
You should update your Ektron site's
web.configfile's<connectionstrings>tag with the username and password of that SQL user. SetIntegrated SecuritytoFalse.
Then, log into Ektron to verify that the connection string is valid. See Also: Managing the web.config File
- On your Microsoft Search Server 2010 server
- Obtain the username and password of a user with Windows administrator privileges
- Verify that the server meets the Setting up to Work with
- Open port 6080 (used by the Protocol Handler Service)
- On your database server
- Open Port 1433
Installation configurations
Installation Configurations
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Best Practice In general, do not install Microsoft Search Server 2010 on a server that also hosts Ektron. Only install both programs on the same server in a development environment. |
The various ways that you can install Microsoft Search Server 2010 to work with Ektron are described in the following table.
After you finish installing Ektron and Microsoft Search Server 2010, a full crawl of Ektron is launched. To learn about this process, see Managing Your Search Server. You can also check the status of the search crawl in the Ektron Workarea—see Understanding the Search Crawl.
When the crawl is complete, you can begin using Ektron.
| Image | Configuration | For more information, see |
|---|---|---|
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Installing Ektron and Microsoft Search Server 2010 on different servers | Configuring Ektron to Work with Microsoft Search Server 2010 Remotely |
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Installing Ektron and Microsoft Search Server 2010 on the same server at the same time | Installing Microsoft Search Server 2010 during the Installation or Upgrade of Ektron |
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Installing Ektron to a server on which Microsoft Search Server 2010 is already installed | Installing Ektron to a Server that hosts Microsoft Search Server 2010 |
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Installing additional Ektron sites to a server that hosts one site and Microsoft Search Server 2010 | Adding a Site to a Server that Hosts Microsoft Search Server 2010 and Ektron |
Configuring Ektron to Work with Microsoft Search Server 2010 RemotelyConfiguring Ektron to Work with Microsoft Search Server 2010 Remotely
Remote server does not have Microsoft Search Server 2010Remote Server Does not Have Microsoft Search Server 2010
Follow this procedure the first time you set up Ektron to work with a remote server that does not have Microsoft Search Server 2010.
- Both servers can browse to each other across the network
- On your Ektron server
- Set SQL Security to SQL Server and Windows Authentication mode
- Create a SQL user login with the sysadmin role. Microsoft Search Server 2010 uses that login to access the Ektron database.
Best Practice
You should update your Ektron site's
web.configfile's<connectionstrings>tag with the username and password of that SQL user. SetIntegrated SecuritytoFalse.
Then, log into Ektron to verify that the connection string is valid.See Also: Managing the web.config File
- On your Microsoft Search Server 2010 server
- Obtain the username and password of a user with Windows administrator privileges
- Verify that the server meets the Hardware and Software Requirements for Search Server
- Install or upgrade Ektron on its server, using the normal procedure. See Installing Ektron, Upgrading to Version 8.5. If you already installed Ektron, skip to Step 5.
NOTE: If your Ektron server does not meet Microsoft Search Server 2010's requirements, you are not prompted to install it during installation.
If your server meets Microsoft Search Server 2010's requirements, click No when prompted to install it. - After the Ektron database setup, the following dialog appears. Click No.
- The Ektron installation completes.
- On the Ektron server, copy
C:\Program Files\Ektron\CMS400versionnumber\Utilities\SearchServer\EktronSearchConfiguration.exe. - On the server you will use for Microsoft Search Server 2010, paste EktronSearchConfiguration.exe and run it.
- The following screen appears.
- Select the folder to which you want to install the Search Server files. You should use the default folder. Click Next.
- The following screen appears. Enter the username and password of a user with Windows Administrator privileges on the server you will use for Microsoft Search Server 2010.
- You are prompted for information needed to set up SQL databases for Microsoft Search Server 2010. If you are using a trusted connection, leave the fields blank. In this case, the username and password you entered on the previous screen are used. For a SQL Connection, enter the database username and password.
IMPORTANT: The user you enter on this screen must have system administrator privileges for SQL on the Microsoft Search Server 2010 server.
- Select a folder that Microsoft Search Server 2010 will use to store index files.
The following dialog box appears.
- If you previously downloaded the Microsoft Search Server installation file, select Point to a local Microsoft Search Server executable and click Next. On the next screen, you select the file. Otherwise, choose Download Microsoft Search Server. In that case, Microsoft Search Server 2010 is downloaded. During this process, you must restart the server.
- Install Microsoft Search Server 2010. The following message appears, instructing you what to do next.
- Open the Search Configuration screen, available from
C:\Program Files (x86)\Ektron\CMS400v8.5
\SearchServer\Ektron.Cms.Search.Config.UI.exe - From the CMS Databases drop-down, choose the database you installed.
- In the Search Server Credentials area, Password field, enter the password you use to log into Microsoft Search Server 2010.
- Click Register Site.
Remote server has Microsoft Search Server 2010Remote Server has Microsoft Search Server 2010
Use this procedure to install Ektron and connect it to a remote server that hosts Microsoft Search Server 2010. The main difference between this procedure and Remote Server Does not Have Microsoft Search Server 2010 is that Microsoft Search Server 2010 is already installed on the remote server.
See Prerequisites:
- Install or upgrade Ektron on its server, using the normal procedure. See Installing Ektron, Upgrading to Version 8.5
NOTE: If your Ektron server does not meet Microsoft Search Server 2010's requirements, you are not prompted to install it during installation.
If your Ektron server meets Microsoft Search Server 2010's requirements, click No when prompted to install it. - After the Ektron database setup, the following dialog appears. Click Yes.
- Copy
C:\Program Files\Ektron\CMS400vversion\Utilities\and paste it on the server that hosts Microsoft Search Server 2010.
SearchServer\EktronSearchConfiguration.exe - Click EktronSearchConfiguration.exe. The following screen appears.
- Select the folder to which you want to install the Search Server files. You should use the default folder. Click Next. The following screen appears.
- Enter the username and password of a user with Windows Administrator privileges on the server you will use for Microsoft Search Server 2010.
- The Ektron search files are services are installed to your Microsoft Search Server 2010 server. The following message appears.
- Click OK.
- Return to your Ektron server. The following screen appears and lets you determine the types of content you want Microsoft Search Server 2010 to crawl. Only crawled content is found by the search. See Also: Managing Your Search Server
- The following screen appears. Use it to configure Ektron with the Microsoft Search Server 2010 server.
- In the Search Server Credentials area, enter the username and password of a user with Windows Administrator privileges on the server you will use for Microsoft Search Server 2010
- In the CMS Database Connection String field, enter a connection string that includes the username and password of a user with Windows administrator privileges. You created this user when completing the Prerequisites:.
Microsoft Search Server 2010 uses this string to connect to your Ektron site's database. If the database is on the same domain as your search server, then you can set Integrated Security to true. Otherwise, set Integrated Security to false and enter a sql username and password.
- In the Search Server Administration URL field, enter the URL to your search server. To learn about the port number, see Managing Your Search Server
- In the Data Directory field, enter the directory on your Search Server to which your Ektron assets will be copied for indexing. See Also: Copy the Assets folder.. If you are unsure, accept the default.
- Click Next.
- When the installation completes, Microsoft Search Server 2010 begins to crawl the Ektron database.
Installing Microsoft Search Server 2010 during the Installation or Upgrade of EktronInstalling Microsoft Search Server 2010 during the Installation or Upgrade of Ektron
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Best Practice In general, do not install Microsoft Search Server 2010 on a server that also hosts Ektron. Only install both programs on the same server in a development environment. |
Ektron's installation/upgrade checks to see if Microsoft Search Server 2010 is installed on the server. If it is not, the installation/upgrade checks your server against the Search Server requirements. If your server meets the requirements, the installation (with your approval) downloads and installs the Express version of Microsoft Search Server 2010. This procedure is described in Installing Ektron.
NOTE: If you want to install the full version of Microsoft Search Server 2010, do not install EktronSearchConfiguration.exe (the Express version) when prompted to do so. When the Ektron installation is complete, install the full version. See Also: Which Search Server product is right for you?
Installing Ektron to a Server that hosts Microsoft Search Server 2010Installing Ektron to a Server that hosts Microsoft Search Server 2010
Follow these steps to install Ektron on a server that already has Microsoft Search Server 2010. The installation configures Microsoft Search Server 2010 to work with Ektron.
- Run the base installation file. See Installing Ektron.
- When the base installation completes and before Site Setup begins, the following dialog appears. Click Yes.
- You are prompted for the user you use to access Microsoft Search Server 2010. Enter the username and password of a user with Windows Administrator privileges on the server you will use for Microsoft Search Server 2010.
The Microsoft Search Server 2010 installation finishes, then site setup finishes. See Also: Setting up a Site
A full crawl of the new Ektron site is begun.
Although it is not necessary, you may update the Search Server Configuration screen. See Also: Managing Your Search Server
Adding a Site to a Server that Hosts Microsoft Search Server 2010 and EktronAdding a Site to a Server that Hosts Microsoft Search Server 2010 and Ektron
Follow these steps to install a new Ektron site on a server that already hosts an Ektron site and Microsoft Search Server 2010.
- Run the Site Setup utility. To do this, go to Start > Programs > Ektron >version> Utilities > CMS400 Site Setup. See Also: Setting up a Site
- After the database is set up, you are prompted to choose file types to crawl. See Also: Managing Your Search Server
You do not need to do anything else -- the search is configured automatically, based on the previously-installed site.
Optimizing Ektron's Use of Search Server
After installing Microsoft Search Server 2010, you can do several things to optimize Ektron's use of that technology and ensure you are doing everything possible to make appropriate Ektron content accessible to site visitors via search.
- You want Ektron to search text within a Visio file. See Installing the Visio IFilter
- You want Ektron to search aliased pages, and their extension is not one of Search Server's standard file types. See Defining Unusual File Extensions Used in Aliasing
- The crawl is taking a long time and your Web site has over 1 gigabyte of assets, and over 100 PDFs.
Install Foxit PDF Filter from http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/ifilter/installation.
After installing, update the registry:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office Server\14.0 \Search\Setup\Filters\.pdf]
"Extension"=".pdf"
"FileTypeBucket"=dword:00000001 "MimeTypes"="application/pdf"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office Server\14.0\ Search\Setup\ContentIndexCommon\Filters\Extension\.pdf]
@="{987f8d1a-26e6-4554-b007-6b20e2680632}" - Either the crawl or the response time for search queries is too slow. See Setting Up a Load Balanced Search .
Defining unusual file extensions used in Aliasing
Defining Unusual File Extensions Used in Aliasing
Ektron's Aliasing feature lets you create human-readable URLs, such as www.ektron.com/support. The URL Aliasing Configuration screen lets you define file types that may be applied to aliased pages. See Also: Creating User-Friendly URLs with Aliasing
If you define an aliasing file type that is not on Search Server's file type list, you must add the missing type to Search Server. Follow these steps to accomplish that.
- Go to Windows Start button > All Programs > Microsoft Search Server > Search Administration.
- Click File Types (as illustrated in the following figure).
- Review the Search Server's file type list.
- If you do not see all extensions defined on the URL Aliasing Configuration screen, click New File Type (illustrated in the above figure), then add the missing file types.
Windows Services Used by Search
Ektron's search feature uses several Windows services to monitor database updates, determine if a new crawl needs to be launched, and perform the database crawl. This section explains the operation of these services.
- Runs on search server and Ektron site server.
- Responsible for communication between servers. It triggers search tasks such as crawling, synonym sets, and so on.
- Whenever content is added, updated or deleted, this service changes the Search Status screen's Incremental Crawl Request Pending flag to Yes. As a result, the next time the crawl interval is reached, this service launches the Ektron CMS File Helper Service. See Also: Events that Start an Incremental Crawl
Ektron ProtocolHandler File Helper Service
- Uses
protocolhandler.dllfile - Runs on Ektron server during a crawl
- Gets content updates from database server and feeds them to Search Server
- Runs on Ektron site server
- Indexes assets and sends them to Ektron ProtocolHandler File Helper Service
- Passes search term from Ektron server to Microsoft Search Server 2010 and returns results
How services process content updates
How Services Process Content Updates
- As Ektron content is added, changed or deleted, the Ektron database is updated.
NOTE: To learn about which events trigger a crawl, see Full vs. Incremental Crawls .
- If the change warrants a full crawl, it is launched immediately.
- If the change warrants an incremental crawl, the Ektron Search Server Service updates the flag that determines if a crawl needs to be started to Yes. You can view this flag on the Search Status screen's Incremental Crawl Request Pending field. When the crawl interval expires, the Ektron CMS File Helper Service sends content updates to the Ektron Protocol Handler Service.
- The Ektron Protocol Handler Service feeds the content updates to Search Server.
Monitoring Search from the Workarea
Use the Search Status screen to monitor information about search crawls. You can also launch an incremental or full crawl from the screen. See Also: Understanding the Search Crawl
Prerequisite: You are a member of the Administrators group or assigned to the Search-Admin role
- Go to the Workarea > Settings >Configuration > Search > Status. The Search Status screen appears.
- Search server—The Search Server instance that hosts your search index.
- Content source name—The Search Server content source that identifies your Web site.
- Query credentials—The Windows user authorized to communicate with the query service.
- Incremental Crawl Request Pending—Yes appears if there is a pending request to begin an incremental crawl. See Also: Events that Start an Incremental Crawl. Otherwise, No.
- Current and Next scheduled search action—at any time, there may be an action that will start when the current one completes. There is never more than one.
- Idle—Search Server is taking no action.
- None—(appears for Next Action only) Nothing is scheduled to occur when the current action completes.
- Incremental Crawl—Search Server is performing a crawl of content that changed since the last crawl.See Also: Full vs. Incremental Crawls
- Full Crawl (Property Discovery)—Search Server is performing a crawl of Ektron content, looking for new searchable properties.
- Full Crawl—Search Server is performing a crawl of all content.
- Property Mapping—Search Server is mapping searchable properties that were found.
- Most recent start and end times—When the most recent crawl began and ended.
- Duration (last if no crawl currently running; current if crawl currently running)—If last, the length of time (in seconds) required to complete the most recent crawl. If current, the length of time (in seconds) since the current crawl began. Click the Refresh button (
) to get the latest information. - Incremental Crawl Interval—The length of time (in seconds) between the completion of a crawl and when Ektron is checked to see if a new crawl should be launched. See Also: Setting the Incremental Crawl Interval
- Crawl filters—See Managing Your Search Server.
- If you want to launch a crawl from the toolbar:
- click (
) to launch an incremental crawl (note black color) - click (
) to launch a full crawl (note blue color)
- click (
Setting Up a Load Balanced Search
You can use load balancing to distribute your search's workload across multiple servers. Load balancing improves search's performance by significantly decreasing the time to complete search crawls and process search queries (especially when the site is under a heavy load).
This section describes 2 scenarios for setting up Load Balanced search.
- You have not yet installed Microsoft Search Server 2010—see Installing Ektron to a Server that hosts Microsoft Search Server 2010
- You already installed Microsoft Search Server 2010 on one server, and now want to bring additional servers into the cluster—see Adding a Site to a Server that Hosts Microsoft Search Server 2010 and Ektron
Installing Microsoft Search Server 2010 to a primary server in a Load Balance clusterInstalling Microsoft Search Server 2010 to a Primary Server in a Load Balance Cluster
Use this procedure if you have not installed Microsoft Search Server 2010 on the primary server in a Load Balance cluster.
Prerequisite: Hardware and software requirements (Search Server 2010) (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb905370.aspx)
- Obtain, download, and begin to install Microsoft Search Server 2010.
NOTE: You may be informed that you need to run the Products Preparation Tool before beginning the installation.
- When you are prompted for an installation type, choose Server Farm.
- On the Server Type tab, select Complete then click Install Now.
Search server is installed.
- You are prompted to run the Configuration Wizard, which lets you set up Microsoft Search Server 2010. Accept that choice. The SharePoint Configuration Wizard is launched.
- On the Connect to a server farm screen, choose Create a new server farm.
- You are prompted to specify a database server, name, and user name and password for access to the account. For Database name, accept the default of SharePoint_Config. Enter a Username and Password of a SQL user with the sysadmin role. Microsoft Search Server 2010 uses them to access your Ektron database. Click Next.
- You are prompted to enter a password for access to the server farm.
- You are prompted to enter a port number and Security settings. You may enter any open http port. For Security Settings, choose NTLM.
- Click OK when the confirmation screen displays the information you entered.
- Click Finish to launch the SharePoint Central Administration site to allow for additional configuration and provisioning. Noted that the first installation in a farm does not create a Web application or provision a site. See Also: SharePoint 2010 Central Administration. The following screen appears within SharePoint.
- Click Start the Wizard and complete the wizard.
Adding servers to a Load Balance cluster
Adding Servers to a Load Balance Cluster
Prerequisite: Two servers running Microsoft Search Server 2010; the servers cannot use Search Server Express
When setting up search load balancing, you need to decide which server is the primary one, and which is/are the secondary one(s). This procedure describes how to set up a single secondary server in a load balanced cluster. To set up additional secondary servers, follow these instructions for each secondary server. See Also: Installing Ektron to a Server that hosts Microsoft Search Server 2010
Prerequisite: Hardware and software requirements (Search Server 2010) (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb905370.aspx)
Part 1: Install Microsoft Search Server 2010Part 1: Install Microsoft Search Server 2010
- Obtain, download, and begin to install Microsoft Search Server 2010.
NOTE: You may be informed that you need to run the Products Preparation Tool before beginning the installation.
- When you are prompted for an installation type, choose Server Farm.
- On the Server Type tab, select Complete then click Install Now.
Search server is installed.
- You are prompted to run the Configuration Wizard, which lets you set up Microsoft Search Server 2010. Accept that choice. The SharePoint Configuration Wizard is launched.
- On the Connect to a server farm screen, choose Connect to an existing server farm.
- On the Specify Configuration Database Settings screen, in the Database server field, enter the primary server in the load balance cluster.
- Click Retrieve Database Names. The primary server's database appears in the Database name field.
- You are prompted to enter a passphrase. Enter the same passphrase that you entered when setting up the primary server. See Also: Installing Ektron to a Server that hosts Microsoft Search Server 2010
- Complete the remaining prompts. The wizard uses all information to configure Microsoft Search Server 2010.
Part 2: Set up query components
Part 2: Set up Query Components
In this procedure, you create 2 query components. One defines this secondary server as a failover server, which takes over processing if the primary server goes offline. The second query component distributes the processing of search queries among search servers.
- Open Microsoft Search Server 2010's Central Administration screen.
- Click Manage service applications (highlighted above). The Service Applications screen appears.
- Click Search Service Application 1.
- The Search Service Application 1: Search Administration screen appears. Scroll down to Search Application Topology and click Modify (highlighted below).
- To begin setting up the failover server, under Index partition 0, click Query Component, then Add Mirror.
Complete the Add mirror query component screen.
- Server—Enter the server to which you are currently signed on.
- Associated Property database—Select the primary server and the database you specified in Step 4.
- Location of Index—Accept the default.
- Failover-only Query Component—You should check this box. If you do, when the primary search server goes offline, the secondary server processes all search queries until the primary server returns.
- The Search Service Application 1: Search Administration screen reappears. Click Apply Topology Changes. The secondary server now appears under Index Partition (highlighted below).
- Set up a query component to distribute the workload of handling search queries. To do that, from the Search Application Topology area, click New > Index Partition and Query Component. The Add Query Component Screen appears.
- Complete Using Microsoft Search Server 2010 as you did above, but this time do not check the Failover-only Query Component box.
The Search Service Application 1: Search Administration screen reappears.
- Click Apply Topology Changes.
- Choose New > Crawl Component from the Search Application Topology area. The Crawl Component screen appears.
- Server—Enter the server to which you are currently signed on.
- Associated Crawl database—Select the primary server and the database you specified in Step 4.
- Temporary Location of Index—Accept the default.
- The secondary server appears under Crawl (highlighted below).
- Close Search Server Administration.
NOTE: You only need to follow the next 2 steps once. So, if you are setting up multiple secondary servers, you can skip these 2 steps after setting up the first one.
- On the Ektron server, copy
C:\Program Files\Ektron\CMS400versionnumber\Utilities\SearchServer\EktronSearchConfiguration.exe. - On both search servers, paste
EktronSearchConfiguration.exeand run it. - On your Ektron Web server, open the Search Configuration screen, available from
C:\Program Files (x86)\Ektron\CMS400v8.5
\SearchServer\Ektron.Cms.Search.Config.UI.exe - Click Advanced Options.
- In the Secondary Search Servers section, click Add (
) then insert the name of the secondary server(s).
- Click Register Site.
