microsoft search server 2008 - technical overview
DESCRIPTION
This document provides a technical overview of the capabilities of Microsoft Search Server 2008 Standard and Express. Dicussed is everything from hardware requirements, licensing, administration, and security. Of particular interest are the slides around search federation.TRANSCRIPT
Viral TarparaMicrosoftwww.HaveYouSeenMyStapler.net
You understand and can articulate the
feature set of Microsoft Office SharePoint
Server 2007 for Search (MOSSfS)
You want to use this deck to highlight only
the new features and functionality in
Microsoft Search Server 2008 that are not
available in MOSSfS
Updated and rebranded version of SharePoint Server 2007 for Search
Key investment areas and new features
Simplified Installation Experience
Enhanced Administration Interface
New Federation Capabilities
Performance and Stability Enhancements
No Preset Document Limits
Available in 2 versions
Microsoft Search Server 2008 (MSS)
Microsoft Search Server 2008 Express (MSSX)
Search Server 2008 can be installed in a
distributed topology to provide greater scale
and redundancy
Search Server 2008 Express can only be
installed in single server mode
Search Server 2008 is licensed per server
Search Server 2008 Express is FREE
There are no other feature differences
No charge update for MOSS customersApplies to Standard and Enterprise CALs
Delivered by a post MOSS SP1 update patch targeting H1 CY08
Via Microsoft Update and the Download Center
MSS features will also be included in SP2
No change to search features in WSS 3.0
Timeline will be1. MOSS and WSS SP1
2. MSS RTM
3. MSS Update Patch for MOSS
Recommended Hardware
Dual 3GHz processors
4GB RAM
At least 3GB free HDD space
Software Requirements
W2K3 SP1 or greater or W2K8
.NET Framework 3.0 with ASP.NET 2.0 enabled
Windows Server Application Role configured
Easy to follow installation “Splash screen”
Server Preparation Tool which installs
Windows Server 2003 SP1 if required
.NET Framework 3.0 if required
IIS and configured the Application Server Role
if required
Choice of 2 installation options
Basic Install
Advanced Install
Quickest and easiest optionTakes ~20 minutes and less than 10 clicks
Automatically Installs SQL Express
Automatically provisions and configuresService Accounts
Database settings
Search Center Site
Shared Service Provider Site and settings
All other settings…
Search Server is operational and can be serving results within ~35 minutes of beginning setup
Enables advanced options to be configuredTakes ~30 minutes
Does not install SQL Express
Allows the administrator toSpecify SQL Server Configuration Options
Create and configure Farm server roles (MSS only)
Specify Service accounts
Change the default Index file location
Set Other Search Service configuration options…
Automatically provisions search server site and starts services
Search Server is operational and can be serving results within ~45 minutes of beginning setup
Microsoft Confidential
Supported
From ToWindows SharePoint Services v3.0
with Full SQL Server
Search Server 2008 or Search
Server 2008 Express with Full SQL
Server
Windows SharePoint Services v3.0
with MSDE
Search Server 2008 or Search
Server 2008 Express with SQL
Express
Search Server 2008 Express with
Full SQL Server
Search Server 2008 with Full SQL
Server
SharePoint Server 2007 with Full
SQL Server
Search Server 2008 Express with
SQL Express
Search Server 2008 with SQL
Express
Search Server 2008 with Full SQL
Server
SharePoint Server 2007 with Full
SQL Server
Microsoft Confidential
Search Server 2008 is built on WSS 3.0
An in-place upgrade willUpgrade WSS 3.0 to Search Server
Enable existing WSS 3.0 site search to be flipped on a per site basis to use Search Server search
Allow you to continue to use WSS 3.0 as before
Enable cross-site search in WSS 3.0
A clean install of Search Server willInstall WSS 3.0
Allow you to use all the features of WSS 3.0
Automatically enable cross-site search in WSS 3.0
Microsoft Confidential
Unsupported
From ToSharePoint Server 2007 for Search
Enterprise or Standard Edition
Search Server 2008 or Search
Server 2008 Express
Search Server 2008 or Search
Server 2008 Express BETA or RC
Search Server 2008 or Search
Server 2008 Express RTM
SharePoint Server 2007 or any
previous versions of SharePoint
Search Server 2008 or Search
Server 2008 Express
Search Server 2008 or Search
Server 2008 Express with SQL
Express
SharePoint Server 2007
Search Server 2008 or Search
Server 2008 Express with SQL
Express
Search Server 2008 or Search
Server 2008 Express with Full SQL
Server
Landing page displayed after install
Designed to walk administrators through
the initial basic tasks to get up and running
quickly
Provides links to
The search administration page
Help on how to configure a content source
Run a query
A “friendly introduction” to the product
Consolidated UI to place key administrative tools and information one click away
Aggregates search settings fromSearch Center Site
Shared Service Provider
Central Administration
Provides a unified view of server statusActive crawl status
Status of recently completed crawls
Search Server system status
Includes links to improved “task orientated” documentation
Much improved reporting on content source current and historical crawl activity including
Last and current crawl duration
Last crawl completed
Last crawl start and end times
7 and 30 day averages of• # of Successes
• # of Errors
• Incremental crawl duration
• Full crawl duration
Enables the display of results from other search engines or applications to be displayed alongside local results
Search Server will
Send a query to other search engines or applications
Format and render the results
Work out of the box or with minimal effort with many existing search engines and applications
Search Server will not
Aggregate multiple result sets into a single result set
Relevance rank results from other search engines or applications
Each search engine or application must be configured as a Federated Search Location
Each Federated Search Location Defines how and when queries will be federated to the location
Controls the formatting of results
Defines authentication settings
Can be connected to one or more Federation Web Parts to render results
Is easily imported and exported as a Federated Location Definition file (.FLD)
OpenSearch 1.0/1.1
Query is sent in a parameterized URL• http://search.live.com/results.aspx?q=searchTerms
searchTerms is replaced with query terms
Results must be returned as XML
Local Search Index
Query is sent through the search object model• searchTerms scope:customers
searchTerms is replaced with query terms
Results are returned as XML
Standard created by Amazon A9 for search syndication and aggregation
An exported Federated Location Definition file is >= an OpenSearch Description Document
Search Server extends the OpenSearchschema to include properties such as;
Triggers
XSL
Location Type
More Results Link…
See www.opensearch.org for more info
Control when to send query terms to a
location based on the terms submitted
Always - Will always send all the query terms
to the location
Prefix - If the prefix matches will only send
the query terms after the prefix to the location
Pattern - Will send some or all of the query
terms based on the regular expression match.
A pattern trigger can be used to build complex
triggers including “OR” statements
Federated Results Web Part
Connected to a single Federated Location
Displays the top X results returned from the location
Top Federated Results Web Part
Connected to multiple Federated locations
Displays the top X results from the first location to return a result in the order of the configured locations
Neither Web Part will render if the location is triggered but it returns zero results
Built in XSL for
OpenSearch Locations that return results as RSS, RDF, ATOM & ATOM2
Local Search Server Index results
Built in XSL can be customized or replaced
Configured in the Location Definition and can be overridden on individual Web Parts
Separate XSL definition for both of the Federated Results Web Parts
“More Results” Link Template available for click through to HTML results
Three modes of authenticating to a locationAnonymous – No credentials required
Common – Shared credentials
User – Per user credentials
Per user credentials requires custom workCode to capture credentials in the UI
Code to store credentials if required
Code to retrieve stored credentials if required
Sample code will be available on MSDN by RTM
Exception is Kerberos which does work OOB
Per user credentials are sent to the location in the correct format automatically
Authentication Type Common Identity Per User
Kerberos N/A
Basic Authentication
NTLM (App pool) N/A
NTLM
Form Based
Cookie Based
How to connect Search Server to Live Search
Query Template
http://search.live.com/results.aspx?q=searchTerms&format=rss
“More Results” Link Template
http://search.live.com/results.aspx?q=searchTerms
Works without any extra effort because live.com can
Process a query in a URL
Return results formatted as XML (RSS)
Be accessed anonymously
There are many other search engines and applications that provide the same connectivity
Connect to a remote MOSS or MSS index
Create a new OpenSearch location
Query Template
http://mss2008/_layouts/srchrss.aspx?k=searchTerms
“More Results” Link Template
http://mss2008/results.aspx?k=searchTerms
Uses the search RSS feed from remote MOSS or MSS search servers
MOSS and MSS are OpenSearch compliant
Develop or purchase if the location does not support one or both of the following
Process a query in a URL parameter
Return results as XML
Federated Search Connectors do one or both of the following
Accept a query as a URL parameter and convert it to a format compatible with the location
Convert and render results in XML
Developed as a web page (aspx)
Packaged and deployed as a Solution Deployment Package
Connect Search Server to the full text search engine in SQL Server
Cannot send a query to SQL in a URL
Build an ASPX page thatProvides a URL for the Query Template
Extracts the searchTerms
Contains code to run the query against SQL
Formats and renders the results as XML (RSS)
If required include code to leverage either corporate or per user authentication
Packaged up and installed as a Solution Deployment Package
Sample code on MSDN for SQL < 50 lines of code
Federated Location Definition Gallery
Linked from within the admin UI
Selection of FLD’s to download and import
from Microsoft and Community submissions
Quick, easy and free
Federated Search Connector Gallery
Partner built Federated Search Connectors
Primarily for LOB applications and services
Available for purchase
OneBox Search
Server
Notes
Query
Both use a URL to pass a query to a
remote source
Results
Both customizable but Search Server
delivers more than just Instant Answers
and can out of the box federate to any
XML (RSS&ATOM) source
Security
OneBox supports per user NTLM, FBA
and Basic Auth out of the box, we require
extra work
Partner
solutions OneBox has established federation
partners, we are ramping up for launch
Can federate to
SharePoint Targeted best bets, people and other
tabs more discoverable, BDC best bets,
geographically distributed indexes…
No preset document limit in MSS or MSSX
The # of documents available in the index is determined by the version of SQL used
Up to 400K documents with SQL Express• Limited by the 4GB database limit in SQL Express
Up to 50M docs with SQL Server 2005• Using appropriately scaled hardware
Can use either version of SQL with either version of Search Server
Search Server 2008 is recommended for deployments with >1M documents
Query Performance ImprovementsIndex format change for large scale deployments (10’s of millions of docs)
Separate index file for “expensive” query terms
New compression algorithm for reading/writing index files
Optimized SQL and Indexer round trips
Crawl Performance ImprovementsMore efficient use of SQL Stored Procedures
Reliability improvementsFixes for Master merge issues, Index corruptions and Service crashes
Microsoft Confidential
New support for crawling web sites protected by Forms or Cookie based authentication
Credentials entered through a web UI that displays the login page
Content is indexed under one account
Need to write a query time security trimmer to trim results if required
microsoft.com /enterprisesearch