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Working with Microsoft FAST search

Microsoft FAST Search provides the following advantages:

This chapter explains how to set up Microsoft FAST Search, and how to use its features.

Setting up a Microsoft FAST search

Prerequisite

You purchased and deployed Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 and SharePoint Server 2010. See also: Licensing Q&A: Determining Your Licensing Needs, Product Licensing Search

After you complete the following tasks...

Part 1: Install SharePoint 2010 and Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010

  1. Install SharePoint 2010 and Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010, each on its own server, on the same domain. Please refer to Microsoft's installation documentation for details.

    NOTE: When installing Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010, you are prompted to enter a certificate password. Note this password, because you need it in Part 2c: Set up SSL-enabled communication.

  2. Create 2 domain user accounts: one for Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 and one for SharePoint 2010.
  3. Add the SharePoint site administrator to the Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 administrators group (located on the Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 server).

Part 2: Set up Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint 2010 Search

You need to create 2 Search Service Applications.

  • FAST Search Connector. for crawling content.
  • FAST Search Query. for accepting search terms, querying the database, and returning results.

Part 2a: Create a collection for the content source

Before creating the FAST Search Connector, create a collection for the Ektron content source. The collection lets you clear only Ektron content from the index. To learn more, see Manage content collections (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint).

  1. On the Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 server, go to Start > All Programs.

    If you're using Windows 8 or 2012, go to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\.

  2. Right click Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint and click Run as Administrator. A PowerShell window for managing Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 appears.

  3. Enter the following command:
    New-FastSearchContentCollection –Name ektroncms –Pipeline ”Office14 (webcluster)”

    NOTE:
    * The Name is the new collection name.
    * Surround the Pipeline name in quotes (as shown above).
    * Surround webcluster with curly brackets ().
    * See also: New-FASTSearchContentCollection

Part 2b: Create a FAST search connector service application for crawling content

  1. Open SharePoint 2010 Central Administration home page.
  2. Under Application Management, click Manage Service Applications.
  3. On the Manage Service Applications page, click New > Search Service Application.

  4. Complete the screen.

    • Name. Enter a unique name for this application.
    • Fast Service Application. Select Fast Search Connector.
    • Search Service Account. Click Register new managed account to create a new account for this search service.
    • Application Pool for Search Admin Web Service. Select Create new application pool and enter a name. Under Select a security account, select Configurable and select the account under which the SharePoint search service is running. You created this account in Part 1: Install SharePoint 2010 and Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010.
    • Content Distributors. On the Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 server, open the %FASTSEARCH%\Install_Info.txt file. Copy the value of Content Distributors (for GUI SSA creation) to this field.
      ===============================================================
FASTSearch: Installation Details
===============================================================
---------------------------------------------------------------
FAST Search Query Search Service Application configuration
---------------------------------------------------------------
Query Service Location HTTP (default): 
  http://ektsqa20.fsqa.ektron.com:13287
Query Service Location HTTPS:
  https://ektsqa20.fsqa.ektron.com:13286
Administration Service Location HTTP (default): 
  http://ektsqa20.fsqa.ektron.com:13257
Administration Service Location HTTPS: 
  https://ektsqa20.fsqa.ektron.com:1325
8Resource Store Location: 
  http://ektsqa20.fsqa.ektron.com:13255
Account for Administration Service: 
  fsqa\fsuser
---------------------------------------------------------------
FAST Search Content Search Service Application configuration
---------------------------------------------------------------
Content Distributors (for PowerShell SSA creation): 
  ektsqa20.fsqa.ektron.com:13391
Content Distributors (for GUI SSA creation): 
  ektsqa20.fsqa.ektron.com:13391
Default Content Collection Name: sp
---------------------------------------------------------------
Other services.....

      NOTE: Keep the Install_Info.txt file open—you need it in Part 2d: Create a search service application for querying.

    • Content Collection Name. Enter the name you entered for the Name parameter in Part 2a: Create a collection for the content source.

Part 2c: Set up SSL-enabled communication

To authorize SSLSecure Sockets Layer (https) communication between SharePoint 2010 and Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010: Source: Create and set up the Content Search Service Application (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint)

Prerequisite

You need the password you supplied when setting up Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010.

  1. Log on to the Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 server.
  2. Open \FASTSearch\installer\scripts.
  3. Copy securefastsearchconnector.ps1 to any folder on the SharePoint server.
  4. Open \FASTSearch\data\data_security\cert.
  5. Copy FASTSearchCert.pfx to any folder on the SharePoint server.
  6. Log onto the SharePoint server.
  7. Open a Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Management Shell using Start >All Programs > Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products.If you're using Windows 8 or 2012, press the Windows key () /Q then enter Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products
  8. Right click SharePoint 2010 Management Shell and click Run as Administrator.
  9. Go to the directory to which you copied the securefastsearchconnector.ps1 script in Step 3.
  10. Run the script, replacing parameters with your environment's values. For example:
    .\SecureFASTSearchConnector.ps1 
  –certPath "path of the certificate\FASTSearchCert.pfx" 
  –ssaName "name of your content SSA" 
  –username “domain\username”

    Replace the following parameter values:

  11. When prompted to enter a certificate password, enter the password you supplied when you ran the post-setup configuration of Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010.

Part 2d: Create a search service application for querying

(Source: Create and set up the Query Search Service Application (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint))

  1. Open the SharePoint 2010 Central Administration home page.
  2. Under Application Management, click Manage Service Applications.
  3. On the Manage Service Applications page, click New > Search Service Application.

  4. Complete the screen.

    • Name. Enter a unique name for this application.
    • Fast Service Application. Select Fast Search Query.
    • Search Service Account. Click Register new managed account to create a new account for this search service.
    • Application Pool for Search Admin Web Service. Select Create new application pool and enter a name, such as EktQueryAdmin. Under Select a security account, select Configurable and select the account under which the SharePoint search service is running. The application pool must run in the context of a FAST Search administrator.
    • Application Pool for Search Query and Site Settings Web Service. Select Create new application pool and enter a name, such as EktQuerySettings. Under Select a security account, select Configurable and select the account under which the SharePoint search service is running.The application pool must run in the context of a FAST Search administrator.
    • Query Service Location. Open the %FASTSEARCH%\Install_Info.txt file to obtain the value for this field. Use the HTTPS value if you want to use secure communications between the SharePoint 2011 and Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 servers.
      ===============================================================
FASTSearch: Installation Details
===============================================================
---------------------------------------------------------------
FAST Search Query Search Service Application configuration
---------------------------------------------------------------
Query Service Location HTTP (default): 
  http://ektsqa20.fsqa.ektron.com:13287
Query Service Location HTTPS: 
  https://ektsqa20.fsqa.ektron.com:13286
Administration Service Location HTTP (default): 
  http://ektsqa20.fsqa.ektron.com:13257
Administration Service Location HTTPS: 
  https://ektsqa20.fsqa.ektron.com:13258
Resource Store Location: 
  http://ektsqa20.fsqa.ektron.com:13255
Account for Administration Service: 
  fsqa\fsuser
---------------------------------------------------------------
FAST Search Content Search Service Application configuration
---------------------------------------------------------------
Content Distri.......
---------------------------------------------------------------
    • Administration Service Location. Obtain the value for this field from %FASTSEARCH%\Install_Info.txt. (See example above.) Use the HTTPS value if you want to use secure communications between the SharePoint 2011 and Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 servers.
    • Resource Store Location. Obtain the value for this field from %FASTSEARCH%\Install_Info.txt. (See example above.)
    • Account for Administration Service. specify a domain account for a user who is a member of the FAST Search Administrators group on the Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 server.
  1. You see a confirmation that a new Query Search service application is created.

Part 3: Enable querying from SharePoint to Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010

Part 3 describes how to transfer a Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 STS certificate (MOSS_STS) from SharePoint Server 2010 to FAST servers. This certificate enables SharePoint query servers to provide security-trimmed queries. See also: Enable queries from Microsoft SharePoint Server (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint)

Prerequisite

You will need a SharePoint Server 2010 directory that is accessible to Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 servers.

  1. At the Windows PowerShell command prompt, enter the following commands.
    $stsCert = (Get-SPSecurityTokenServiceConfig)
  .LocalLoginProvider.SigningCertificate
$stsCert.Export("cert") | Set-Content -encoding byte MOSS_STS.cer
  2. The MOSS_STS.cer file is created in the directory in which you run the commands.
  3. Copy MOSS_STS.cer to a directory accessible to the Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 server(s).
  4. Import the SharePoint STS certificate to each Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 server. To do that:
    1. On the Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 server, click Start >All Programs > Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint.
    2. Right click Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint and select Run as administrator.
    3. At the Windows PowerShell command prompt, browse to <FASTSearchFolder>\installer\scripts\, where <FASTSearchFolder> is the path to the Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 folder. For example, C:\FASTSearch\installer\scripts\.
    4. Enter the following command:
      .\InstallSTSCertificateForClaims.ps1 
-certPath <"full path of MOSS STS certificate">

      Where full path of MOSS STS certificate is the path to the location to which you copied the MOSS_STS.cer file in Step 5.

  5. Repeat steps 6a through 6d for all query servers (if you have more than one).
  6. Within the PowerShell window, check the status of FAST services by entering the following command: nctrlstatus. The results should look something like this.

Part 4: Enable indexing of additional formats

Advanced Filter Pack is a Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 feature that enables text and metadata extraction from several hundred file formats (such as PDF), complementing the document formats supported by the Microsoft Filter Pack.

Prerequisite

Install 1 of the following PDF filters on the Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 server:

  • Foxit PDF filter (Foxit® PDF IFilter - Server—recommended if you will index a large number of PDF files)
  • Adobe 64-bit PDF iFilter (installed on Ektron server C:\Program Files (x86)\Ektron\CMS400vxx\Utilities\iFilterPack)
  1. Go to the [FASTSEARCH] folder (represented by the environment variable %FASTSEARCH%).
  2. Move to the installer\scripts folder using this command: cd .\installer\scripts.
  3. Insert the command .\AdvancedFilterPack.ps1 –enable.
  4. When you see Are you sure you want to continue, enter Y.

  5. Open the file %FASTSEARCH%\etc\config_data\DocumentProcessor\formatdetector\user_converter_rules.xml.
  6. Enable PDF format detection by adding <ext name=".pdf" mimetype="application/pdf" /> and <mime type="application/pdf">PDF Document</mime> as show in the following example:
    <ConverterRules> 
<IFilter> 
<trust> 
<!-- A list of extensions that bypasses the builtin format detection.
  Any extension that is not supported out-of-the-box, need to be 
  added here along with the mimetype if you have installed an IFilter 
  for that type and want to use it. A mime element should also be 
  added to the MimeMapping element with a human-friendly description
  of the type. 
  <ext name=".xxx" mimetype="application/xxx" /> 
  <ext name=".yyy" mimetype="image/yyy" /> -->
  <ext name=".pdf" mimetype="application/pdf" /> 
</trust> 
</IFilter> 
<MimeMapping> 
<!-- A mapping between mime types and the description of them. 
<mime type="application/xxx">XXX Document</mime> 
<mime type="application/postscript">YYY Image</mime> -->
  <mime type="application/pdf">PDF Document</mime> 
</MimeMapping>
</ConverterRules>

    IMPORTANT: Back this file up in a safe location, so that you can re-enter these changes if you later need to apply a FAST service pack, patch, or hotfix.

  7. Stop the FAST service by going to Windows Services, find FAST Search for SharePoint, and click Stop.
  8. Restart the Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 server.

Part 5: Verify that Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 can communicate with SharePoint 2010

  1. On the SharePoint 2010 Central Administration Screen, go to Application Management>Create Site Collections. The Create Site Collection screen appears.

  2. Enter a Title, Description, and URL, assigning any name.
  3. In the Template Selection area, click the Enterprise tab then select FAST Search Center.
  4. In the User name field, enter the name of the SharePoint user you created in Part 1: Install SharePoint 2010 and Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010.
  5. Click OK to create a site collection.
  6. On the SharePoint 2010 server, create a new folder and share it with the Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 user that you created in Part 1: Install SharePoint 2010 and Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010.
  7. On the folder's Security tab, grant the Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 user full control.
  8. Drag and drop a few text files into that folder. If you enabled PDF support (as explained in Part 4: Enable indexing of additional formats), drop some PDFs.
  9. Create a Content Source for the folder. To do this:
    1. On the SharePoint 2010 Central Administration screen, click Manage service applications.
    2. Click the Ektron content service application you created in Part 2b: Create a FAST search connector service application for crawling content.
    3. On the Search Administration screen, under Crawling, click Content Sources.

    4. On the New Content Source screen:
      • Enter a Name.
      • For Content Source Type, select File Shares.
      • For Start Addresses, enter the folder that you created in Step 6.
      • For Crawl Settings, select Crawl the folder and all subfolders of each start address.
      • Check the Start full crawl of this content source box.
      • Click OK.
  10. Verify that the search works by navigating to the FAST search site and searching for content in the test folder you indexed. If correct results are returned, Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 is configured correctly. If not, or if you see errors in the Crawl Log, there is a configuration issue with your setup.

Part 6: Set up Ektron to work with Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010

Install Ektron, setting it up for your environment. When prompted to select a search provider, choose Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010. When prompted to connect the site to a Microsoft Search Server 2010 instance, click No. Complete the Ektron installation. See also: Installing Ektron

Part 6a: Set up the Ektron search connection on the SharePoint server

EktronSearchConfiguration.exe enables communications between your site and the FAST search service.

  1. From the Ektron server, copy the following file to any folder on the SharePoint server.
    %SystemDrive%\Program Files (x86)\Ektron\Utilities\SearchServer
  \EktronSearchConfiguration.exe
  2. From the SharePoint folder, run the file.

Part 6b: Set credentials for the Ektron search server service

  1. On the SharePoint server, open the Windows Services control panel.
  2. Right click Ektron Search Server Service.
  3. Click Properties.
  4. Select the Log On tab.

  5. Select This account.
  6. Enter the credentials of the user under whom the SharePoint Server Search service runs. You created this user in Part 1: Install SharePoint 2010 and Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010.
  7. Click OK.
  8. Restart the Ektron Search Server Service.

Part 6c: Run the Ektron search configuration utility

  1. Log on to the SharePoint server.
  2. Click the Windows Start menu > All Programs > Ektron > CMS400vreleasenumber > Utilities > Search Config. If you're using Windows 8 or 2012, press the Windows key ()/Q then enter Search Config. The Step 1 configuration screen appears.

  3. Enter the Ektron server name.
  4. Enter the SharePoint Administration URL. See also: Logging into Ektron's Search Configuration screen.
  5. Click Next. The Step 2 configuration screen appears.

  6. At the Content Service Application field, select the application you created in Part 2b: Create a FAST search connector service application for crawling content.
  7. At the Query Service Application field, select the application you created in Part 2d: Create a search service application for querying.
  8. Click Next. The Ektron Search Configuration screen appears. For documentation, see Updating the site registration panel.
  9. When you complete the screen, click Register Site. Progress appears in a window.

    During this process, the FAST search index is populated with your data, and the schema is modified to include your site’s searchable properties. This process can be lengthy when registering a site for the first time. You can monitor these activities in the Workarea.

Part 7: Make FAST SharePoint’s query search application

Part 7a: Update web.config with query service application

  1. On the SharePoint server, go to %CommonProgramFiles%\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\ISAPI\EktronWebService.
  2. Open the web.config file.
  3. Find the following entry: <add key="QuerySSA" value="FAST Query SSA" />
  4. Replace the value property with the name of the Query Service application you entered in Part 2d: Create a search service application for querying. To continue that example, the line would look like this: <add key="QuerySSA" value="EktQuery" />
  5. Restart the Ektron search site application pool. See also: Start or Stop an Application Pool (IIS 7).

Part 7b: Set FAST search query as default search service application

  1. Open the SharePoint 2010 Central Administration Page.
  2. Go to Application Management >Service Applications > Configure service application associations.

  3. Under Web Application, click SharePoint-80. The Configure Service Application screen appears.
  4. If EKTQUERYSSA is the default, exit the screen. Otherwise, click the Edit the following group of connections pulldown and choose [custom]. The screen refreshes and the check boxes are active.

  5. Check EKTQUERYSSA[default] then click OK.

Managing FAST administrative tasks

The following topics explain how to perform administrative tasks that are unique to Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010. The following list shows other search-related functions that apply to all Microsoft search providers (including Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010).

Making the title property sortable

By default, the Title property is not sortable. To change it so that it is sortable, follow these steps.

  1. Log into the Fast Central Administrator console.
  2. Choose Manage Service App > Query Service Application > Fast Search Administrator > Managed Properties.
  3. Find the Title Managed Property.
  4. Edit it and check the Sort property box.

IMPORTANT: When used to sort, the Title property follows an ASCII sort pattern. As a result, titles that begin with a capital letter precede ones that begin with a lower case letter. For example:
Better Business Bureau
Tiramisu recipe
american foreign policy

See also:

Using faceted search

Facets are content properties that allow site visitors to filter search results. For example, your site lists job postings. So, your results page offers a Region facet, which visitors use to select jobs in specific regions.

Faceted search has these limitations:

  • If the metadata definition type is integer or date, facet categories only appear if a metadata value is assigned to 2 or more content items. For example, if the South region was assigned to only one content item's metadata, South would not appear on the facets list. However, the content would be returned in search results.
  • If the same metadata value is applied to all content, no facet categories appear. To continue the above example, if all content to which the Regions metadata definition may be applied have South for their value, no facets list appears.
  • The refiner count may be inaccurate if you are using duplicate removal. For more information, see Refiner count is wrong when using duplicate removal.

This section explains how to implement faceted searching using Ektron and Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010.

Creating facets

  1. Create searchable Ektron metadata definitions. See also: Creating and deploying a Search tag definition.

    IMPORTANT: Carefully plan capitalization, spelling, spacing, and so on of metadata definitions for Faceted Search. Minor inconsistencies can result in duplicate entries.

  2. Apply metadata values to appropriate content.
  3. Run a full crawl. The metadata become managed properties within Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010.
  4. Update search server controls to look for the metadata/managed property. They appear as selectors on your search results page.

Creating a faceted search

  1. Create a metadata definition in the Workarea. See Working with Metadata. This example uses a text metadata definition called region.
  2. Apply the new metadata definition to a folder. See Assigning metadata to a folder.
  3. Within that folder, apply the new metadata definition to appropriate content. See Adding metadata to content.
  4. Sign on to Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010.
  5. Go to Search Central Administrator > Manage Service Applications > click the query content source > Fast Search Administration > Managed Properties.
  6. In the Search field, enter emt followed by the metadata definition you created in Step 1. To continue the example, enter emtregion.

    NOTE: You enter emt because this is a text-style metadata definition. Use these prefixes for other styles.

    Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 prefixes for Ektron metadata definition styles:

    • Text, select from list, multiple selections. emt
    • Integer and number. emi
    • Boolean. emb
    • Date. emd
    • Double. emf
    • If the content is an XML Smart Form, use these prefixes instead:
      • Text, select from list, multiple selections. est
      • Integer and number. esi
      • Boolean. esb
      • Date. esd
      • Double. esf
  7. Click the metadata definition/managed property.

  8. Scroll down to Refiner Property.
  9. Check it and the Deep Refiner box.

  10. Complete Steps 1 through 9 for all metadata definitions that you want to add.
  11. Run a full crawl. See Using Microsoft Search Server features.
  12. To enable a search server control to display a metadata selector, modify the SearchController control using a <Refiners> tag as shown. The tag references the managed property name, emtregion in our example. 
    <ektron:SiteSearchController ID="controller" runat="server"> 
  <Refiners> 
    <ektron:Refiner Name="emtregion"/> 
  </Refiners> 
</ektron:SiteSearchController> 
<ektronUI:Pager runat="server" ResultsPerPage="50" 
  PageableControlID="controller" >
</ektronUI:Pager>

    Here are sample search results. If you check a box next to a region, the page refreshes and displays only content to which that metadata property is applied.

Managing rank profiles

Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 lets you adjust the rank of search results, enabling you to control which content appears near the top. This feature is sometimes called "Advanced Sorting." You typically use the Rank Profile feature when site visitors are not getting expected search results. For example, your manage a university website and, when people enter Admissions, the Admissions department page is not among the top search results. To fix that, use a Rank Profile to force certain search results to the top.

See also: Tune relevance factors (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint), Manage rank profiles (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint), Ranking and Sorting (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint).

Increasing the search rank of a content item

Here is an overview of how to increase the search rank for selected content.

  1. Create a metadata definition to define searchable properties.
  2. Apply metadata values to selected content. When the content is crawled, the metadata values become managed properties in Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010.
  3. Use Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 to create a Rank Profile. While defining the profile, you
    • list the metadata values/managed properties
    • modify the search rank of the managed properties, which in turn, modify the rank of content to which they are applied
  4. Update a search server control or the API to use the rank in the search results algorithm.
Part 1: Create metadata definitions

To increase a content item's search rank, first create searchable Ektron metadata definitions. They contain the content attribute by which site visitors will search. Then, apply those metadata definitions to relevant folders and content.

NOTE: The process of creating and applying metadata is abbreviated here. For full details, see Creating and deploying a Search tag definition.

To continue the above example, create a searchable metadata definition named Departments, of the type Select from a List. Add Admissions to the list of values. Then, apply that metadata to all folders that contain relevant content.

Next, find Ektron content that describes your Admissions department. Edit that content, click the Metadata tab, and apply the Admissions metadata to the content.

Part 2: Create a rank profile

Prerequisite

The Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 type and metadata value name you use to increase the search rank. To continue the above example, use emtadmissions. For a list of types, see Using faceted search.

NOTE: For more information on Index schema cmdlets, see Index schema cmdlets (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint).

To create a Rank Profile:

  1. Create and enter a name for the Rank Profile.
    New-FASTSearchMetadataRankProfile 
-name (your profile name)
  2. Define the Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 type and name of the metadata value used to increase search rank. 
    $mp = Get-FASTSearchMetadataManagedProperty 
-Name (your managed property)
  3. Set a variable to your profile. This is typically the same as the name you entered in Step 3.
    $rp = Get-FASTSearchMetadataRankProfile 
-name (your profile name)
  4. Add a managed property boost to your profile. The $mp command has 2 parameters:
    • string,int. the Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 type and name of metadata value whose search rank you want to increase
    • boost number. a relative value by which you want to increase the profile's search rank. See also: Change the managed property field boost weight by using Windows PowerShell
      $rp.CreateManagedPropertyBoostComponent($mp, 
  "<string/integer managed property value>,<boost number>)”)

      Replace values within angle brackets (< >) with actual values.

  5. Update your profile 
    $rp.Update()

    Here’s an example:

    New-FASTSearchMetadataRankProfile -name departments
$mp = Get-FASTSearchMetadataManagedProperty -Name emtadmissions
$rp = Get-FASTSearchMetadataRankProfile -name departments
$rp.CreateManagedPropertyBoostComponent($mp, "admissions,20000")
$rp.Update()
Part 3: Incorporate the rank profile into the search result display

This section explains how to use a Rank Profile to modify search results, using either the SiteSearchInputView server controlA server control uses API language to interact with the CMS and Framework UI to display the output. A server control can be dragged and dropped onto a Web form and then modified. or the APIApplication Programming Interface.

  1. Add the rank to a Search server control:

    Modify all SiteSearchInputView server controls that you want the ranking to modify. See also: Using the Search Server Controls. To achieve that, use <SortProperties> tags. Inside the tags, set these parameters.

    • DisplayName. Enter any unique name to identify this profile.
    • RankId. Your profile name that you created on the FAST server.
      <ektron:SiteSearchInputView ID="SiteSearchInputView1" 
  runat="server" ControllerID="SiteSearchController1">  
  <SortProperties> 
    <ektron:RankSearchProperty DisplayName="Custom Relevance" 
      RankId="departments" /> 
  </SortProperties>
</ektron:SiteSearchInputView>
  2. Add the rank using the API:

    The following illustrates how to modify search results via the Rank Profile using the API.

    criteria.OrderBy = new List<OrderData>() 
{ new OrderData(new RankPropertyExpression("rank profile name"), 
  OrderDirection.Ascending) };

    For example:

    criteria.OrderBy = new List<OrderData>() 
  { new OrderData(new RankPropertyExpression("departments"), 
  OrderDirection.Ascending) };

Removing a boost

  1. Set a variable to the profile. Use the same profile name that you used in Part 1: Install SharePoint 2010 and Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010.
    $rp = Get-FASTSearchMetadataRankProfile -name (your profile name)
  2. Set to a variable the Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 type and name of the metadata value used to increase search rank.
    $mp = Get-FASTSearchMetadataManagedProperty 
-name Name (your managed property)
  3. Set a variable for the boost you want to delete.
    The $_.BoostValue command has 2 parameters: string,int and boost number. Use the same values you used when creating the Rank Profile. See Part 1: Install SharePoint 2010 and Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010.
    $boost1 = $rp.GetManagedPropertyBoosts() 
  | Where-Object{$_.BoostValue -like '*(string/int),(boost number)*'}
  4. Delete the boost.
    $boost1.Delete()
  5. Update your profile.
    $rp.Update()

    Here’s an example:

    $rp = Get-FASTSearchMetadataRankProfile -name departments
$mp = Get-FASTSearchMetadataManagedProperty -name emtadmissions
$boost1 = $rp.GetManagedPropertyBoosts() 
  | Where-Object{$_.BoostValue –like '*admissions,20000*'}
$boost1.Delete()
$rp.Update()

Viewing all boosts

Run this query: $rp.GetManagedPropertyBoosts()

Troubleshooting boosts

Troubleshooting FAST

Problem. Documents are not being indexed.

Solution. Provide full control rights on the %FASTSEARCH%\bin and %FASTSEARCH%\tmp folders for the user running Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010

More information. Crawling and processing Office documents with FAST for Sharepoint 2010 results in document conversion errors in the crawl log

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