Prerequisites

• You have purchased and deployed Microsoft Search Server 2010. See also: Product Licensing Search.
• An understanding of Microsoft Search Server 2010, Best practices for Search Server 2010

  Before beginning the installation, review these Microsoft documents.

  • Hardware and software requirements: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb905370(v=office.14).aspx#BKMK_hw_reqs
  • User requirements: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff717834(v=office.14).aspx
  • Installation of Microsoft Search Server 2010: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee808898(v=office.14).aspx
• Both servers can browse to each other across the network.
• The search, SQL, and CMS servers must be on the same domain.
• On your Microsoft Search Server 2010 server
  • Create a Windows user for search purposes. The user should be
    • a domain user
    • assigned the "log-on as a service" role
    • a member of the administrators group. That user must be logged in when Microsoft Search Server 2010 is being installed.
  • Verify that the server meets the Optimizing Microsoft Search Server 2010 with Ektron
  • Open port 6080 (used by the Protocol Handler Service)
• 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
  • Through SQL Management Studio, add the Windows login that you created on your Microsoft Search Server 2010 server. Assign to that user
    • db_creator role
    • securityadmin SQL role

    Microsoft Search Server 2010 uses that login to access the Ektron database.

     

    You should update your Ektron site's web.config file's <connectionstrings> tag with the username and password of that SQL user. Set Integrated Security to False. Then, log into Ektron to verify that the connection string is valid. See also: Managing the web.config File.

• On your database server
  • Open Port 1433

Microsoft Search Server 2010 Features

• A configuration screen for connecting Ektron server with the server hosting Microsoft Search Server 2010. That screen also monitors the status of search crawls.
  

  

• You can also manage search via SharePoint 2010's Central Administration console.
  

  

• Workarea screens that let you
  • view the status of search crawls
  • begin new ones if needed
  

  

• Create and maintain synonym sets
  

  

• Create and maintain suggested results
  

  

• Manage the Integrated Search
  

  

• Templated controls let developers deploy search functionality to the website
  

  

• Workarea search, which lets Ektron administrators and editors find content within the Workarea
  

  

Installing Microsoft Search Server 2010

1. Log into the search server as the user created for search purposes. As explained in Prerequisites, the user must be
   • a domain user
   • assigned the "log-on as a service" role
   • a member of the administrators group. That user must be logged in when Microsoft Search Server 2010 is being installed.
2. Install Microsoft Search Server 2010.

   NOTE: If your server has Windows 7, you must use Microsoft Search Server Express 2010. See Setting Up Microsoft Search Server 2010 Express.

3. Install or upgrade Ektron on its server, using the normal procedure. See Installing Ektron, Upgrading to Version 8.6.1. If you already installed Ektron, skip to Step 6.
4. During the Ektron installation, choose Microsoft Search Server 2010 (Full).
   

   

5. After the Ektron database setup, the following dialog appears. Click No.
   

   

   The Ektron installation completes.

6. On the Ektron server, copy C:\Program Files\Ektron\CMS400versionnumber\Utilities\SearchServer\EktronSearchConfiguration.exe.

7. Log onto the Microsoft Search Server 2010 server as the same user who ran the Search Server 2010 Install.

8. On the Microsoft Search Server 2010 server, paste and run EktronSearchConfiguration.exe. The Search Administrator Credentials screen appears.
9. Enter the domain, username, and password of a user with Windows Administrator privileges on the server you will use for Microsoft Search Server 2010.
   

   

10. Determine the location of the folder that maintains the Ektron query service files.
    

    

11. Select the port number to use with the Ektron query service website.
    

    

12. The following screen appears. Click Yes if you are using Microsoft Search Server 2010. Click No if you are using Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010
    

    

13. The Ektron files are installed and configured. A message instructs you to run the Search Configuration utility on the Ektron server. For documentation of that process, see Managing a Microsoft Search Server.

During installation, Ektron creates a new website in IIS to host the search services.

Optimizing Microsoft Search Server 2010 with Ektron

After installing Microsoft Search Server 2010, you can do several things to optimize Ektron's use of that technology. These actions ensure you are doing everything possible to help site visitors find Ektron content.

• You want Ektron to search text within Visio files. 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 website has over 1 gigabyte of assets, and over 100 PDFs. Install Foxit PDF Filter from Foxit® PDF IFilter - Server.

  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}" 

  See Also: Index and Search PDF Files in SharePoint Server 2010

• Either the crawl or the response time for search queries is too slow. See Setting Up Microsoft Search Server 2010.

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.

1. Go to Windows Start button > All Programs > Microsoft Search Server > Search Administration.
2. Click File Types (as illustrated in the following figure).
   

   

3. Review the Search Server's file type list.
4. If you do not see all extensions defined on the URL Aliasing Configuration screen, click New File Type (shown in the previous image), then add the missing file types.

Windows Services Used by Microsoft Search Server 2010

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.

• Ektron Search Server Service
  • Runs on search server and Ektron site server.
  • Responsible for communicating 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: Managing a Microsoft Search Server
• Ektron ProtocolHandler File Helper Service
  • Uses protocolhandler.dll file
  • Runs on Ektron server during a crawl
  • Gets content updates from database server and feeds them to Search Server
• Ektron CMSFileHelper Service
  • Runs on Ektron site server
  • Indexes assets and sends them to Ektron ProtocolHandler File Helper Service
• Ektron Query 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

1. 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.

2. If the change warrants a full crawl, it is launched immediately.
3. 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.
4. The Ektron Protocol Handler Service feeds the content updates to Search Server.
   

   

How queries are processed

How Queries are Processed

Querying is the process by which Ektron retrieves content from the search index.

The Ektron site uses Ektron's Query Service to connect to Microsoft Search Server 2010.

Default settings for managed properties created by Ektron

Default Settings for Managed Properties Created by Ektron

When Ektron content is crawled by Microsoft Search Server 2010, the following default values are set for these metadata properties. You can edit the values using the Microsoft Search Server 2010 Central Administration console.

• Queryable—True
• StemmingEnabled—False
• RefinementEnabled—False
• MergeCrawledProperties—True
• SubstringEnabled—False
• DeleteDisallowed—False
• MappingDisallowed—False
• MaxIndexSize—1024
• MaxResultSize—64
• DecimalPlaces—10
• SortableType—SortableEnabled
• SummaryType—Static

Monitoring Microsoft Search Server 2010 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: Managing the Search Crawl

Prerequisite

You are a member of the Administrators group or assigned to the Search Admin role.

1. Choose 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 website.
   • 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: Managing a Microsoft Search Server. 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 intervalWhenever a crawl finishes, Ektron begins to track the time. After the number of seconds specified in the Incremental Crawl Interval expires, Ektron checks for changes to the database. If any occurred, a new incremental crawl starts. If none occurred, the timer is reset. Incremental crawls enhance your search's performance by using fewer resources.—See Also: Setting the Incremental Crawl Interval
   • Crawl filters—See Managing the Search Crawl.
2. 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)

Setting Up a Load-Balanced Search with Microsoft Search Server 2010

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 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
• You have not yet installed Microsoft Search Server 2010—see Installing Microsoft Search Server 2010 to a Primary Server in a Load Balance Cluster

Adding a site to a server that hosts Microsoft Search Server 2010 and Ektron

Adding a Site to a Server that Hosts Microsoft Search Server 2010 and Ektron

1. On the Ektron server, run the Site Setup utility: Windows Start button > Programs > Ektron >version> Utilities > CMS400 Site Setup. See Also: Installing a Site
2. During the Ektron installation, you are prompted to choose a search provider. Choose Microsoft Search Server 2010 Full.
   

   

3. The setup continues as normal. After the installation is complete, the following dialog appears. Click Yes.
   

   

   The Search Configuration screen appears. For documentation of that process, see Managing a Microsoft Search Server

Installing Microsoft Search Server 2010 to a primary server in a load balance cluster

Installing 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

See Hardware and software requirements (Search Server 2010).

1. Obtain, download, and install Microsoft Search Server 2010.

   NOTE: You may be informed that you need to run the Products Preparation Tool before beginning the installation.

2. Choose Server Farm when you are prompted for an installation type.
   

   

3. On the Server Type tab, select Complete then click Install Now. Search server is installed.
   

   

4. Run the Configuration Wizard, which lets you set up Microsoft Search Server 2010. The SharePoint Configuration Wizard is launched.
5. Choose Create a new server farm on the Connect to a server farm screen.
   

   

6. Specify a database server, name, and user name and password for access to the account.
   1. For Database name, accept the default of SharePoint_Config.
   2. 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.
      

      

7. Enter a password for access to the server farm.
   

   

8. Enter a port number and Security settings. You may enter any open http port. For Security Settings, choose NTLM.
   

   

9. Click OK to confirm the information you entered.
10. 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.

    

    

11. Click Start the Wizard and complete the wizard.

Adding servers to a Load Balance cluster

Adding Servers to a Load Balance Cluster

Prerequisite

You need 2 servers running Microsoft Search Server 2010; the servers cannot use Search Server Express.

See Hardware and software requirements (Search Server 2010)

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 Microsoft Search Server 2010 to a Primary Server in a Load Balance Cluster

1. Install Microsoft Search Server 2010

Part 1: Install Microsoft Search Server 2010

1. 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.

2. For an installation type, choose Server Farm.
   

   

3. On the Server Type tab, select Complete then click Install Now.
   

   

   Search server is installed.

4. Run the Configuration Wizard, which lets you set up Microsoft Search Server 2010. The SharePoint Configuration Wizard is launched.
5. On the Connect to a server farm screen, choose Connect to an existing server farm.
   

   

6. On the Specify Configuration Database Settings screen, in the Database server field, enter the primary server in the load balance cluster.
7. Click Retrieve Database Names. The primary server's database appears in the Database name field.
   

   

8. Enter the same passphrase that you entered when setting up the primary server. See Also: Installing Microsoft Search Server 2010 to a Primary Server in a Load Balance Cluster
9. Complete the remaining prompts; the wizard uses information to configure Microsoft Search Server 2010.

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.

1. Open Microsoft Search Server 2010's Central Administration screen.
   

   

2. Click Manage service applications (highlighted). The Service Applications screen appears.
3. Click Search Service Application 1. The Search Service Application 1: Search Administration screen appears.
   

   

4. Scroll down to Search Application Topology and click Modify (highlighted).
   

   

5. To set up the failover server, under Index partition 0, click Query Component, then Add Mirror.
   

   

6. Use the following information to 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—Ektron recommends checking this box. If you do, when the primary search server goes offline, the secondary server processes all search queries until the primary server returns.
7. The Search Service Application 1: Search Administration screen reappears. Click Apply Topology Changes.

   The secondary server now appears under Index Partition (highlighted).

   

   

8. 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.
   

   

9. The Add Query Component Screen appears. Complete Setting Up Microsoft Search Server 2010, but this time do not check the Failover-only Query Component box.
   

   

10. The Search Service Application 1: Search Administration screen reappears. Click Apply Topology Changes.
11. To do that, from the Search Application Topology area, click New > Crawl Component.
    

    

12. Specify the fields when the Add 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.
13. The secondary server appears under Crawl (highlighted).
    

    

14. 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.

15. On the Ektron server, copy C:\Program Files\Ektron\CMS400versionnumber\Utilities\SearchServer\EktronSearchConfiguration.exe.
16. On both search servers, paste EktronSearchConfiguration.exe and run it.
17. On your Ektron Web server, open the Search Configuration screen, available from C:\Program Files (x86)\Ektron\CMS400vxx\Utilities\SearchServer\Ektron.Cms.Search.Config.UI.exe.
18. Click Advanced Options.
19. In the Secondary Search Servers section, click Add () then insert the name of the secondary server(s).
    

    

20. Click Register Site.