Chapter 4 Understanding the Search Server

This topic describes the Portal Server search server. The following sections are provided:

• Search Robot

• Database Taxonomy

Search Robot

The Portal Server search server robot discovers, converts, and summarizes document resources that are available to end users. A robot is a program that:

• Extracts and follows links to resources (also called crawling or enumeration)

• Describes those resources

• Puts the descriptions in the database (also called indexing or generation)

The search server provides utilities to control robot actions. Administrators use the Portal Server management console to run the utilities. The ways that portal administrators can control robot processes include the following:

• When the robot runs by starting, stopping, and scheduling the robot

• Where the robot looks for resources by defining the sites the robot visits

• How aggressively the robot searches by defining the crawling attributes

• What types of resources the robot indexes by defining filters

Portal Server provides a scheduling utility for running the search server robot. Administrators can set multiple start and stop times.

To Configure the Robot

1. Log in to the Portal Server management console.

   The Common Tasks page is displayed.

2. Click the Search Servers tab.

   The Search Server page is displayed.

3. Click the name of the server whose robot you want to configure.

   The Search Server Settings page is displayed.

4. Click the Robot tab.

   The Robot Status and Control page is displayed.

5. Select the activity that you want.

   • To update where the robot crawls, click the Sites tab.

   • To update site definition rules, click the Filters tab.

   • To set up or modify how the robot assigns resources to categories, click the Classifications Rules tab.

   • To control robot operations and property settings, click the Properties tab.

   • To run robot utilities, click the Utilities tab.

   For more information, click the Help button to view online help

To Schedule the Robot

1. Log in to the Portal Server management console.

   The Common Tasks page is displayed.

2. Click the Search Servers tab.

   The Search Server page is displayed.

3. Click the name of the server whose robot you want to run.

   The Search Server Settings page is displayed.

4. Click the Robot tab.

   The Robot Status and Control page is displayed.

5. Click the Scheduling tab.

   The Schedule Robot page is displayed.

6. Set the Start Robot times and the Stop Robot times, and click the Save button.

   The robot schedule is set.

   For more information, click the Help button to view online help

Database Taxonomy

So that end users can type direct queries to search the database or browse through the database contents, administrators set up categories. A hierarchy of categories is called a taxonomy. Categorizing database resources is similar to creating a list of contents for the database.

Administrators use the Portal Server management console to manage taxonomy.

To Manage Taxonomy

Use the Manage Categories page to define taxonomy for a search server.

1. Log in to the Portal Server management console.

   The Common Tasks page is displayed.

2. Click the Search Servers tab.

   The Search Server page is displayed.

3. Click the name of the server you want to configure.

   The Search Server Settings page is displayed.

4. Click the Categories tab.

   The Manage Categories page is displayed.

5. Select the activity that you want.

   • To define or edit categories for browsing or search, click the Browse/Search tab.

   • To update matching rules for categories, click the Autoclassify tab.

   For more information, click the Help button to view online help