Administering Siebel Search Index Settings for Oracle Secure Enterprise Search

This chapter covers administering search indexes and enabling server components required for indexing. This chapter includes the following topics:

About Search Indexes

The search indexes definition determines what fields in a data source or business component are included in the index and are available for searching, and what fields are displayed in the Search Center UI as searchable fields. The index definition can enable more efficient and relevant indexing and searching by omitting less relevant fields from the index and search operations.

Search indexes are defined and configured in the Search Index Settings view of the search administration UI.

Creating a New Index Definition

Search Categories for each Siebel application are defined in Search Definition groupings in the Search Definition view. This view can be used for creating or customizing Search Definitions and Search Definition Categories. The business component for any new custom Search Category must first be mapped in the file Application_Suite_OSES_Field-Mappings.xml. See Defining Index Elements for information on creating custom search objects for Oracle Secure Enterprise Search integration. When a new Search Definition is created, the Definition must be added to the application Object Manager for a Siebel Web Client, or to the application configuration file, for a Siebel Developer Web Client.

Creating a New Index Definition

This topic covers creating a new Search Definition. You create the definition in the Search Definition view.

To create a new index definition for Oracle Secure Enterprise Search

Navigate to Administration - Search OSES screen, the Search Definition view.
Click on the New button.
Complete the Definition fields.
The Name field is mandatory.
Select the Default Flg field if this Definition is to be set as the default.
In the Search Definition Categories list applet click on the New button.
Complete the Category fields.
The Name, View Name and Business Component fields are mandatory. The business component which corresponds to the Search Category must be selected from the list.
Select Save Record on the Search Definition list.

Configuring the Search Definition on the Siebel Web Client

This topic covers configuring a new search definition on the Siebel Web Client.

To configure the search definition on the Siebel Web Client

Navigate to Administration - Server Configuration screen, then the Servers and Components view.
Select the Object Manager Component for your application.
In the Parameters list applet click Advanced.
Query for the Search - Definition Name parameter.
Replace the value of the Search - Definition Name parameter with your Search Definition Name.
Restart the Siebel services.

Configuring the Search Definition on the Siebel Developer Web Client

This topic covers configuring the Search Definition in the SearchDefName parameter of the application configuration file for the Siebel Developer Web Client. Application configuration file names are in the format <application>.cfg, for example, the file shm.cfg is the Siebel Hospitality application configuration file, and the file uagent.cfg is the Siebel Call Center application configuration file. Verify that you are using the correct application configuration file by checking the ApplicationName parameter in the file.

Note: This configuration change must be applied to each application configuration file for each language in the enterprise.

To configure the Search Definition on the Siebel Developer Web Client

Open the application configuration file in a text editor:
- On Windows the file is located at: <install_dir>\siebsrvr\bin\<language>\<application>.cfg
- On UNIX the file is located at <install_dir>/siebsrvr/lib/<language>/<application>.cfg
Go to the SIEBEL section of the configuration file.
Change the value of the SearchDefName parameter to the Search Definition Name value configured in the Search Definition view, and save the changes.

Creating a Logical Collection

This procedure covers grouping Search Categories into Logical Collections, for example, a People Logical Collection could be created to include the search Categories Employees and Contacts. A search on the People Logical Collection would then include a search on both the Employees and Contacts Search Categories.

To create a logical collection for Oracle Secure Enterprise Search

Navigate to Administration - Search OSES screen, Search Index Settings, and then the Search Indices Parent Category View.
In the Search Indices Parent Category View, click New to add a new search index parent category and configure the following fields:
1. In the Name field, type in the parent category name.
2. In the Parent Category Field, select the check box.
3. In the Seq Num field, enter a sequence number.
In the Search Category List applet, click New, and select a category to be included from the list of available categories that appears.
Repeat this step to add more categories to the Search Category List as required.

Filtering the Index Record-Set

The index record-set can be filtered at the Category level, to incorporate custom business rules, using the Filter Search Spec field. This field takes SQL statements that comply with the syntax defined in Filter Search Specifications Syntax for Oracle Secure Enterprise Search.

To filter the index record-set for Oracle Secure Enterprise Search

Navigate to Administration - Search OSES screen, then the Search Index Settings view.
In the Filter Search Spec field, enter the SQL statement for each category that is to be pre-filtered.
The syntax must comply with that defined in Filter Search Specifications Syntax for Oracle Secure Enterprise Search.

Creating Searchable Business Component Fields

Specific fields in a business component can be excluded from the indexing and search operation, to enable more efficient indexing and searching, and more relevant results. The Available Fields list applet determines which fields are included in an index operation, and therefore which fields are available for searching. The new custom fields must first be mapped in the file Application_Suite_OSES_Field-Mappings.xml. See Defining Index Elements for information on mapping custom fields for Oracle Secure Enterprise Search.

To create searchable business component fields for Oracle Secure Enterprise Search

Navigate to Administration - Search OSES screen, then the Search Index Settings view.
Select the business component for which the new fields will be indexed.
In the Available Fields applet, click New and complete the fields.
1. In the Field Name field, select a field name from the drop-down list. This field is mandatory.
2. (Optional) In the Searchable field, select the text box.

About Indexing Search Objects

The indexing process is comprised of a number of tasks on the Siebel side and on the Oracle Secure Enterprise Search side. When indexing initiates, the Status Code changes to a null value in the Search Index Settings view, and a set of SearchDataProcessor jobs are created. The SearchDataProcessor jobs create temporary XML feed files under the XML Indexable Data Location. For each batch of rows to be indexed, a separate job is created. The index operation starts the relevant Oracle Secure Enterprise Search Schedule. Oracle Secure Enterprise Search uses a crawler to collect data from the XML feed files for each data source, and to generate the index. This index is used for searching data sources.

The SearchDataProcessor status can be monitored in the Jobs view of the Administration - Server Management screen. When complete, each SearchDataProcessor job updates the status code for the search index to Indexed, and the Status Details reflect the number of indexed rows. The index operation is complete on the Siebel side when all of the SearchDataProcessor jobs have a status of success or error. The status details for the search index reflect the number of rows successfully transferred to feed files. If the number of indexed rows is lower than the number of records in the business component, it is recommended that the SearchDataProcessor logs are checked for errors on the jobs that have not executed successfully.

The Oracle Secure Enterprise Search schedule status can be monitored in the Crawler Schedules table of the Schedules tab on the Oracle Secure Enterprise Search administration UI. For more information on indexing status, select the log file icon in the Crawler Schedules table.

Siebel Search provides the following indexing operations:

Full Indexing. The full indexing operation can be executed on all search objects defined in the XML mapping file, or on a specific business component or connector. This operation is available for thin and thick clients. For more information, see Indexing Search Objects.
Refresh Indexing. Refreshes the index with any create, update or delete operations which have been executed on the data source since the last index operation. This operation is available for thin and thick clients. For more information, see Refreshing the Index.
Incremental Indexing. Updates the index, at preconfigured intervals, with any create, update or delete operations which have been executed on the data source since the last index operation. This operation is available for thin clients. For more information, see Enabling Incremental Indexing.

Indexing Search Objects

Full indexing can be executed against all entries in the selected Search Category (business component or external file system), by selecting the Index operation, or against all entries in the default Search Definition listed in the Search Index Settings applet, adding any new fields from the field mapping file, by selecting the Index All operation. Upon successful completion of indexing, the Status Code changes to Indexed, and the Status Details column details the number of records indexed. The number of rows indexed must correspond to the number of records in the business component. The number of records indexed is displayed when indexing a business component, and is not displayed when indexing a file system.

To index search objects for Oracle Secure Enterprise Search

Navigate to Administration - Search OSES screen, then the Search Index Settings view.
Do one of the following to index one or all search components:
1. Select the component to be indexed and click Index.
2. Click Index All to index all components for the Default Search Definition.
  When indexing initiates, the Status Code changes to a null value. When indexing completes the Status Code changes to Indexed.
Start the Oracle Secure Enterprise Search administration application to monitor indexing from the Oracle Secure Enterprise Search side:
1. Select the Oracle Secure Enterprise Search Schedules tab.
2. Click the Launching or Executing link in the Status table.
3. Click on the Statistics link.
  The Crawler Progress Summary is displayed, with a list of the number of documents crawled. Indexing is completed from the Oracle Secure Enterprise Search side once the Schedule Status has changed to Scheduled.

Refreshing the Index

Refresh indexing provides for immediate update of the search index. It is supported for both thick and thin clients. The Status Details field is incremented by the number of new records and decremented by the number of deleted records. Record updates do not contribute to the Status Details record count. Refresh indexing is supported for business components, and is not supported for the File System Connector.

Activating search run-time events is a prerequisite for using the index refresh function.

To enable refresh indexing for preconfigured search objects, see Activating Search Run-Time Events.
To enable refresh indexing for custom search objects, see the following:
- Activating Search Run-Time Events.
- Creating Search Run-Time Events for Custom Search Objects.

The following procedure shows you how to refresh index search objects for Oracle Secure Enterprise Search.

To refresh index search objects for Oracle Secure Enterprise Search

Navigate to Administration - Search OSES screen, then the Search Index Settings view.
Select the component to be indexed and click Refresh.
When indexing initiates the Status Code changes to a null value. When indexing completes the Status Code changes to Indexed.
Start the Oracle Secure Enterprise Search administration application to monitor indexing from the Oracle Secure Enterprise Search side:
1. Select the Oracle Secure Enterprise Search Schedules tab.
2. Click the Launching or Executing link in the Status table.
3. Click on the Statistics link.

The Crawler Progress Summary is displayed, with a list of the number of documents crawled. Indexing is completed from the Oracle Secure Enterprise Search side once the Schedule Status has changed to Scheduled.

Enabling Incremental Indexing

Incremental indexing is used to schedule automatic refresh indexing on all search objects. The index for all search objects (business components or search categories) is updated, at preconfigured intervals, with any create, update or delete operations which have been executed on the data source since the last index. The interval is configured at the level of each business component, and a different interval can be configured for each business component. For example, a Service Request business component index could be scheduled to update every five minutes, and an Account business component index could be scheduled to update every ten minutes. Incremental indexing is supported for business components, and is not supported for the File System Connector.

Note: Incremental indexing is supported only on thin clients.

To enable incremental indexing for preconfigured search objects, see Activating Search Run-Time Events.

To enable incremental indexing for custom search objects, see Activating Search Run-Time Events and Creating Search Run-Time Events for Custom Search Objects.

Administering Asynchronous Indexing and Index Status Monitoring

This topic covers enabling and disabling the asynchronous indexing and index status monitoring features. These features are enabled by default. For information on configuring indexing mode settings in Siebel Tools, see Configuring the Indexing Mode for Index Status Monitoring.

To administer asynchronous indexing and index status monitoring for Oracle Secure Enterprise Search

Navigate to the Administration - Search OSES screen, then the Search Engine Settings view.
In the Driver Parameters applet, configure the Advanced Batching and Indexing setting as follows:
- Set Advanced Batching And Indexing to True to enable the asynchronous indexing and index monitoring features.
- Set Advanced Batching And Indexing to False to disable the asynchronous indexing and index monitoring features.
Restart the Siebel server.

Monitoring Index Status

The index status for FTP indexing mode can be monitored in the Search Index Status view. The data feed for indexing is collated into index batches, and submitted to the Oracle Secure Enterprise Search crawler for indexing. The number of records in each index batch is defined by the Batch Submit Size setting in the Search Engine Settings view. For information on configuring indexing mode settings in Siebel Tools, see Configuring the Indexing Mode for Index Status Monitoring.

To monitor the index status for Oracle Secure Enterprise Search

Navigate to the Administration - Search OSES screen, then the Search Index Status view.
Click Query to populate the table with the status of the index batches for the current indexing operation.
Verify the status for each index batch in the Status Indicator column.
Click Refresh to update the status for the records in the table.
Click Purge Table to clear the status records from the table.

Administering Batch Processing Status for FTP Indexing

You can perform the following batch processing operations on FTP index status information in the Search Index Status view.

Purge Table. Deletes index status information from the table.
Query. Queries the index status information for specific index records.
Refresh. Refreshes the index status information to display the latest information, including any updates to the table.

According to the filter specification that is defined on the business component, batch processing operations (Purge Table, Query, Refresh) are performed on the FTP index status information. For more information, see Checking Batch Status for FTP Index.

Checking Batch Status for FTP Index

The following procedure shows you how to check the batch status on FTP index information.

To check batch status for FTP index for Oracle Secure Enterprise Search

In Siebel Tools, configure the indexing mode for index status monitoring:
1. Set the search specification on the Search Index Batches BC business component to the following:
```
Index Mode <> ‘HTTP’ 
```
  This filter specifies to show records where Index Mode is FTP (not HTTP) only, and as a result batch processing operations will be performed on FTP index status information only.
2. Update the repository and deliver the update, then start the Siebel application.
  For more information, see Configuring the Indexing Mode for Index Status Monitoring.
Delete the FTP index status information in the Siebel application as follows:
1. Navigate to the Administration - Search OSES screen, then the Search Index Status view.
  The index batch information appears on screen.
2. Review the status for each index batch in the Status Indicator column.
3. Click Purge Table to delete the index status records from the table.
  All the FTP records are deleted.
Query the FTP index status information in the Siebel application as follows:
1. Navigate to the Administration - Search OSES screen, then the Search Index Settings view.
2. Select a Search Index Setting record (for example, Service Requests) and then click Index.
  This creates a Service Requests index category for the FTP index mode.
3. Go to the Administration - Search OSES screen, then the Search Index Settings view.
4. Click Query, and then click Go.
  The new batches generated for the indexed Service Requests category appear on screen.
Refresh the FTP index status information in the Siebel application as follows:
1. Navigate to the Administration - Search OSES screen, then the Search Index Settings view.
2. Select a couple more Search Index Setting records and then click Index.
  For example, select SR Attachment and Solution (Call Center) to create the corresponding index categories for the FTP index mode.
3. Go to the Administration - Search OSES screen, then the Search Index Settings view.
4. Click Refresh.
  The new batches generated for the newly indexed SR Attachment and Solution (Call Center) categories appear on screen.
  When the index batches are queued for indexing, their status changes to Queued and the Status Indicator field shows a progress bar.

8Administering Siebel Search Index Settings for Oracle Secure Enterprise Search