A query consists of three basic components: the range of documents to search (the scope), the document content or properties to search for (restrictions), and the viewable results of the query.
Scope of Query
The scope of the query typically defines the directory path or paths on the server containing the documents to be searched. These directories correspond to the Virtual Directories assigned in IIS in the context of a Web site. Index Server bases its indexing operations on the selected Virtual Directories. Indexing can be performed against a single virtual directory, all virtual directories, or a subset of the virtual directories. Similarly, user queries can be performed on single or multiple virtual directories, or on a specific directory contained within a virtual directory.
In addition to the Web site Virtual Roots, Index Server can also index news group content by tracking NNTP Roots (if the NNTP services are installed).
Query Restrictions
A range of query restrictions are available in Index Server, enabling users to specify one or more restrictions in any combination. The types of query restrictions include:
Words, phrases, and complete sentences
Document types (such as only .DOC or .TXT)
Textual properties (such as words within an abstract or author property)
Boolean operators against document content or property values (such as AND, OR, NOT, AND NOT)
Wild-card operators (* and ?)
Numeric operators against constants (such as using the < operator against a document date)
Proximity of words or phrases
Ranked by match quality
Free Text Queries
Free text queries differ from a standard query. A normal query searches for the exact text entered, whereas a free text query isolates the significant terms in the supplied text. A free text query occurs when the user enters a query restriction containing a set of words, phrases, or an entire sentence (and uses the free text query option). In the sample query forms provided, a free text query is specified using the Free Text Query checkbox.
Index Server breaks down the free text query into component parts, and isolates the nouns and noun phrase components. With more complex phrases, Index Server isolates two- to three-word phrases, and removes connecting terms such as “of,” “the,” and “a.”
Fuzzy Queries
Index Server supports what Microsoft refers to as “fuzzy” queries—that is, queries that provide only part of the text that is sought, in combination with wild-card parameters such as * (substitute for all characters) or ? (substitute for one character).
In addition to support for wild-card operators, Index Server provides support for linguistic “inflection” and “stemming,” which supplies past, present, and future tenses of the queried words. Linguistic inflection and stemming are supported in all provided languages, and affect of the ranking order of the query results. The farther the found inflected or stemmed word is from the original word (for example, plural is closer than past tense), the lower its ranking will be in the results provided.
Property Queries
All document properties can be specified within the query restrictions, enabling the user to query against both textual and numeric document properties. Document properties that can be queried include all Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) properties, author, file size, filename, file creation date, and file modification date. The comparison operators that can be used in queries against document properties are >, =>, <, <=, = and !=, as well as the Boolean operators AND, OR, NOT, AND NOT. Property comparisons can only be performed against constant values (for example, @DocAuthor = Doug Sheresh), because properties to property comparisons are not supported.
Query Results
Query results are returned to the client in sets (called result sets) of query hits listed in ranked order, and presented in the browser as links to the documents. Depending on the query form used, the clients may be able to specify the data to return in the result set. Each document property that can be set in the query restrictions can also be set as a column to be displayed in the result set.
To control the length of the results set, the Index Server administrator can set the maximum number of hits to be displayed in the results set.
If the indexed documents being searched are contained on an NTFS volume, all file system security restrictions and permissions will be applied to document access.
MANAGING INDEX SERVER
As with Internet Service Manager for IIS, Microsoft provides two forms of the Index Server Manager to administer the Index Server. The MMC Index Server Manager provides substantially more management functionality than the Web-based version, especially in the assignment of virtual roots and directories. However, Index Server status information can be obtained via the Web-based interface, and index merging is supported.
Using the MMC-based Index Server Manager
The MMC-based Index Server Manager, shown in Figure 18-1, enables you to create and manage catalogs, select Virtual and NNTP Roots to track, select directories to be scanned, control generation properties, and enable caching of properties.
Configuring Index Server Properties
When the Index Server on Local Machine folder is selected, the Action and context menus enable you to start and stop the Index Server’s Content Index service, create a new catalog, and edit the Index Server generation properties.
To create a new catalog, follow these steps:
Right-click the Index Server on Local Machine folder, and select New Catalog.
The Add Catalog dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 18-2. Enter the name for your new catalog, select the storage location, and click OK.
A message appears informing you that the catalog you just created will remain off-line until the Index Server has been restarted.
To set the generation properties for the Index Server, right-click Index Server on Local Machine, and select Properties. The Generation dialog box is displayed (as shown in Figure 18-3), showing two options that are both selected by default: Filter Files with unknown extensions and Generate characterizations. The Generate characterizations option enables you to set the maximum size of the characterizations (the default is 320).
Configuring Catalog Properties
When a catalog is selected (by default, Web is the only catalog), the Action and context menus enable you to merge catalogs, create a new directory, and configure the catalog properties.
The Merge operation merges all catalog indexes, combining the shadow indexes with the master index into a new master index. To merge a catalog, right-click the catalog and select Merge. The Merge catalog dialog box appears, asking you to verify that you want to merge the selected catalog. Click Yes to merge the catalog.
To configure the properties of the catalog, right-click the catalog and select Properties. The catalog Properties dialog box appears, containing three property sheets: Location, Web, and Generation.
The Location property sheet is display-only, and shows the catalog name, logical drive and directory location, and size.
The Web property sheet shown in Figure 18-4 lets you enable (or disable) the tracking of the virtual roots and NNTP roots, as well as the selection of the Virtual Server (Web site) and NNTP Server (NNTP site).
The Generation property sheet is the same as described previously for Index Server on the Local Machine, but the settings apply only to the selected catalog.
Creating a New Directory
Creating a new directory enables you to add a directory to be managed from the Index Server Manager Directories node. For the contents of a directory to be indexed by the Content Index service and return operational document links to the browser client, it must exist as a subdirectory of a virtual directory specified in IIS.
To create a new directory, right-click the catalog (or Directories folder) and select New Directory. The Add Directory dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 18-5.
This box enables you to specify the following:
Path—The logical drive and directory to add to the scope.
Alias—The UNC formatted name (for example, \\server\share alias) that is returned to the client submitting the query. This is an optional field.
Username—If the name of the server specified in the Alias is not the local machine, the Account Information section is enabled, requiring that you provide the Username and Password that will provide access to the remote computer.
Type—Enables you to specify whether to include or exclude the directory from indexing.
The Directories Folder
When you click the Directories node in the scope pane, as shown in Figure 18-6, the Root, Alias, and Exclude Scope fields are displayed in the results pane. When the Directories node is selected, the Action and the context menus enable you to create a new directory.
By default, Virtual and Home directories that are specified in IIS and selected to be indexed are added to the Directories node in Index Server during installation. When you make a new directory in Index Server (see the preceding section, “Creating a New Directory”), this directory is also added to the Directories node.
The Root entry in the results pane corresponds to the root directory of a Virtual Directory specified in IIS under the Home Directory or Virtual Directory property sheets. The Alias entry displays the assigned UNC alias for the directory. The Excluded Scope shows whether or not the contents of the directory are marked for exclusion from indexing.
To rescan a directory, right-click the directory in the results pane, and select Rescan. You are prompted to verify that you want a full rescan of the directory. Click Yes to perform a full rescan, or click No to perform an incremental scan.
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