The Properties Node
When you select the Properties node in the scope pane, as shown in Figure 18-7, the Property Set, Property, Friendly Name, Data Type, and Cached Size fields are displayed in the results pane. When the Properties node is selected, the right-click context menu enables you to commit changes made to any of the properties.
To edit the caching status of a property set, right-click the Property Set in the results pane and select Properties, as shown in Figure 18-8.
To specify caching of the selected property set, click the checkbox next to Cached, and select the corresponding data type in the Datatype drop-down box. The size value is dependent on the data type selected, and will be set automatically.
Using Remote Directories
When a remote directory is first specified as the location for a virtual directory (and Index this directory is enabled), all documents in the directory and its subdirectories are scanned. However, when documents or directories are added to a remote directory, Index Server does not automatically rescan the remote directory. Although local directories are rescanned by default, remote directories must be specified in the Index Server Manager, and rescanned from the console. To rescan a remote directory, right-click it in the Directories node, and select Rescan.
Using the Web-based Index Server Manager
The Web-based Index Server Manager enables you to view the index statistics, unfiltered documents, and virtual root data. Index Server Manager (HTML), shown in Figure 18-9, is primarily useful for viewing Index Server statistics, merging indexes, and rescanning directories.
To monitor Index Server with the Index Server Manager (HTML), click Start Programs Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack Microsoft Index Server Index Server Manager (HTML).
Viewing the Index Server Statistics
Viewing the Index Server statistics using the Web-based Index Server Manager is as easy as loading the Index Server Manager (HTML) application. The current statistics for the Index Server are displayed by default when the Index Server Manager (HTML) is loaded. Clicking the Refresh button updates the displayed statistics.
To monitor these statistics from a remote computer on the network, enter the following URL in your browser:.
http://<servername>/iisadmin/isadmin/admin.htm
In this example, <servername> may be the NetBIOS name of the Index Server computer, or the DNS name that resolves to that server.
Displaying Unfiltered Documents
To view the status of document filtering in Index Server, click the unfiltered documents link. If all the assigned documents have been processed by Index Server, the Unfiltered Documents display will state that all documents have been successfully filtered. If not all documents are filtered (such as when new documents are added), the Unfiltered Documents display will state that the index is out of date.
Viewing Virtual Root Data
The Virtual Root Data link (see Figure 18-10) displays information describing the virtual root and corresponding physical root (local directory), the type of root (Web or News), and the type of scan (none, incremental, or full). The displayed virtual roots are shown in groups of ten, and a Next 10 Roots button is provided to enable you to page through the list of virtual roots. Only the type of scan is configurable from this dialog box. You can select (by clicking a radio button) either None, Incremental, or Full, and then click the Submit Changes button to update Index Server.
Merging Indexes
The Merge Index link is essentially the same as the Merge option on the context menu when a catalog is selected. The merging of the indexes for a catalog combines all shadow indexes with the master index, forming a new master index. When the Merge Index link is selected, the merge operation is performed with no further information or dialog boxes provided.
Indexing Remote Servers
The Index Server can index documents that are physically contained on multiple servers on the network. Remote servers can be other NT servers, NT workstations, or NetWare servers (which requires the Gateway Services for NetWare).
To index a remote server, the following steps must be taken:
The directory on the remote server containing the documents to be indexed must first be shared.
On the server running Index Server, a virtual directory must be created in IIS referencing this remote share.
In the Virtual Directory property sheet, the Index this directory checkbox in the Content Control section must be checked.
Once selected, the contents of the remote directory are scanned. Remote computers that are not NT servers will not be dynamically rescanned following changes in the documents. Periodic or manual rescanning of these remote documents is required.
Editing Index Server Registry Keys
The registry entries for Index Server are maintained under the registry subkey ContentIndex, located under the following registry path:.
The catalogs and languages supported by Index Server are stored as subkeys under the ContentIndex key. Four important index registry entries affecting RAM usage and server performance are located off the ContentIndex branch: the MaxWordLists, MaxWordlistSize, MinSizeMergeWordlists, MinWordlistMemory keys.
For details on the specific registry entries and values, refer to the online Index Server documentation in the Reference, Registry Parameters section.
Monitoring the Index Server
Two different tools are used to monitor the performance of Index server. You can either use the Performance Monitor application (using the Content Index and Content Index Filter objects), or the Web-based Index Server Manager to view current statistics.
Using Performance Monitor on Index Server
The Performance Monitor administration tool is a useful way to monitor indexing operations performed by Index Server. The Performance Monitor counters to track Index Server operations are shown below:
# of documents filtered—Displays the number of documents that have been filtered since the mounting of the index.
Files to be filtered—Displays the number of the files that are to be filtered and included in the index.
Index size (MBytes)—Displays the size of the content index (all persistent indexes) in MB.
Merge progress—Displays the percentage of completion of the current merge process.
Persistent indexes—Displays the number of persistent indexes.
Running queries—Displays the number of queries currently running.
Total # documents—Displays the total number of documents contained in the index.
Unique keys—Displays the number of unique keys in the index (where keys are unique words, phrases, and so on).
Wordlists—Displays the number of word lists.
You may also want to monitor the counters exposed by the Content Index Filter object, which includes:
Binding time (msec)—Displays the time spent (on average) binding to indexing filters.
Filter speed (MBytes/hr)—Displays the speed (in MB per hour) of filtering file contents.
Total filter speed (MBytes/hr)—Displays the speed (in MB per hour) required for filtering the file properties and contents.
To monitor Index Server operations using Performance Monitor, perform the following steps:
Start Performance Monitor, and select View Reports.
Select Edit View Add to Report.
In the Add to Report dialog box, click the Object drop-down box, and select Content Index.
In the Counter list, select all desired counters to monitor for the selected instance (defaults to the Web catalog).
USING INDEX SERVER
Most of the Index Server operations are conducted automatically, and do not require active management. Once the directories are specified, the indexing and updating are done as ongoing background tasks. Keep in mind that every time you change or move documents (or directories full of documents), the Index Server will have to rescan and refilter the changed content.
If a substantial number of the documents handled by the Index Server are being changed frequently, this will put a correspondingly increased load on the server. Assessment of RAM and CPU resources available and used by Index Server should be considered in relation to the frequency of document change.
Indexing Web Site Content
Although the indexing of selected documents does not require specific administrator action, the selection of the documents to be indexed is controlled by specific contingencies. For the documents in a directory to be indexed by Index Server, the directory must be contained within a virtual directory or Web site specified in IIS; also, the Index this directory checkbox must be selected in the Home Directory property sheet for the Web site or virtual directory.
To select a directory to be indexed, that directory must either be an IIS Web site or virtual directory (specified as the content source), or must exist as a subdirectory of one. You can either create a new directory in which to place documents off an existing virtual directory that is being indexed, or you can create a new virtual directory in IIS pointing to the directory (or network share) containing the documents you want to be indexed.
To create or add a new directory to be indexed, you can use Explorer to create a directory below an existing virtual directory (which is indexed), and copy the documents to be indexed into the new directory.
You can specify an existing set of documents (or a new directory for future documents) to be indexed in a local directory or a network share by creating a virtual directory in IIS, and then specifying the location of the documents.
To create a new virtual directory to be indexed, start the Internet Service Manager, right-click the Default Web Site (or other desired Web or FTP site), and click New Virtual Directory. Complete the New Virtual Directory Wizard, providing the names/alias for the new virtual directory and the physical path to the directory (local directory or network share) containing the documents, and then set the desired permissions.
To be able to index the documents located on a remote computer on your network, you must create a virtual directory within IIS and specify the UNC path of the remote share or directory containing the documents.
Indexing starts when Index Server receives the change notifications from the file system. You can manage the rescanning of the contents in Index Server Manager by right-clicking Directories and selecting New Directory, and then selecting the newly created directory.
Once IIS has finished creating the new virtual directory, its documents are scanned by Index Server and the indexing process begins.
Client Access to Index Server
Client access to Index Server functionality is provided by Web-page-driven query forms. Microsoft provides a default set of seven different types of query forms, from simple to advanced ASP, SQL, and HTM/IDQ examples.
Although multiple sample search forms are provided, you can also create your own query forms to meet your networking needs. For detailed information on building your own query forms, refer to the online documentation for Microsoft Index Server in the “Building Search Forms” section. For information on providing SQL access to index data, refer to the online documentation for Microsoft Index Server in the “SQL Access to Index Server Data” section.
To access the sample query forms while at the Index Server, select Start Programs Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack Microsoft Index Server Index Server Sample Query Form. The default display is shown in Figure 18-11.
To access the sample query forms from a remote client, go to the default file on the server iissamples/issamples directory:
Seven sample forms are provided, including the (basic) ASP Sample, HTM/IDQ Sample, Fast Query Sample (HTM/IDQ/HTX), (basic) SQL Sample, Advanced ASP Sample, Advanced SQL Sample, and the NNTP Search Sample. You can select a sample form by clicking the corresponding link.
By default, the (basic) ASP Sample Search Form is displayed, enabling you to enter words or phrases to search on, and providing a checkbox option to use the Free Text Query feature.
The SQL Sample enables you to build a SQL query using the columns (document properties), a FROM clause to select the scope to search, a WHERE clause to set the filter search condition, and an ORDER BY clause to select the result ordering.
The Advanced ASP Sample enables you to specify not only the text to search on, but also the document author, file size, and modified date options.
SUMMARY
In this chapter I described how to deploy the Microsoft Index Server to index your Web server documents, and provide your users with powerful query capabilities to locate document content and properties. The steps of the indexing process and the indexes created were described, and the range of available forms of querying and query operators was discussed.
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