Using Search

Setting up search for your website

Ektron Web search finds relevant results within several parts of the CMS structure and offers massive scalability, scaling to tens of millions of items and beyond. Search capability is based on Microsoft Search Server or Apache Solr technology, which provide superior search capability with performance and extensibility currently demanded by enterprises world wide. There are specific search functions for the visitor using the website and the administrator using the Workarea. You can search contentTypes of content include HTML, XML Smart Forms, forms, polls, surveys, DMS documents, Office documents, multimedia, blogs, Web calendars, discussion boards, assets, and content imported from SharePoint., documents, metadataInformation about a content item, such as its title and language. Some types of metadata are [Searchable.] Can be found by the search. [Meta tag.] Resides in a content’s source code, helping search engines find it. [HTML tag.] Information about content used by a Web browser. [Content tags.] Keywords that can be assigned to content and library items. * Simple Dublin Core. 15 standard fields that cover useful information about content., keywords, descriptions, titles, community content, users, groups, and activity streams.

For more information about Search, see the Ektron Framework API > Ektron.Cms.Framework.Search and the Framework UI > Templated Server Controls > Search in the Ektron Online Developer's Reference.

Search providers

Best Practices

The server hosting your search provider needs at least 120 GB free space.

Install SQL Server on a standalone server

Operating system is Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 or 2012

You can choose from the following search providers. Use the following guidelines to determine which search server is best for you.

Solr Search
- An open-source, enterprise-level search platform, from the Apache Lucene project, that is known for scalability and performance.
- Installing Solr on a single on-premises (local) server
Microsoft Search Server Express 2010
IMPORTANT: As of Ektron version 9.3 SP1, Microsoft Search Server 2010 Express is no longer supported.
- A free, enterprise search solution that is simple and flexible to configure, and powerful enough to meet your needs.
- Requirements: Hardware and software requirements (Search Server 2010)
- Installation: Setting up Microsoft Search Server 2010 Express
Microsoft Search Server 2010
IMPORTANT: As of Ektron version 9.3 SP1, Microsoft Search Server 2010 is no longer supported.
- You are indexing more than 10 million items.
- Requirements: Hardware and software requirements (Search Server 2010)
- Installation: Setting Up Microsoft Search Server 2010
Microsoft Search Server 2013 or 2016
- Installation: Installing and Setting up Microsoft Search Server 2013 or 2016
Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010
- You are indexing more than 100 million items.
- Requirements: Hardware and software requirements (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint)
- Installation: Working with Microsoft FAST search
Optimizely Search & Navigation
- A powerful and scalable query platform that lets you index and query large amounts of structured or unstructured content
- Using Optimizely Search & Navigation with Ektron

Search provider comparisons

The following table compares functionality available with search providers.

Function	Solr search	Microsoft Search Server Express	Microsoft Search Server 2010, 2013, or 2016	Microsoft FAST Search Server
Providing suggested results (managed within Ektron)
Synonym sets (managed within Ektron)
Integrated search
Load balanced search
Faceted search
Similar Results
Autosuggest	see autocomplete
Autocomplete
"Did you mean?" feature	single word only
Language support	14 supported "out of the box"¹	as supported by Microsoft Search Server Express	as supported by Microsoft Search Server	as supported by Microsoft Fast Search Server

¹—additional languages may be enabled; see Solr language support

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