Manage How Content Is Indexed and Searched

Administrators can set up how data sources and catalog content are indexed and crawled so that users find the latest content when they search or create visualizations from the search bar on the Home page.

Topics

• Configure Search Indexing

• Schedule Regular Content Crawls

• Monitor Search Crawl Jobs

• Certify a Dataset to Enable Users to Search It from the Home Page

Configure Search Indexing

Oracle Analytics crawls and indexes the catalog objects and semantic models so users can quickly find content when they search or visualize data from the search bar on the Home page.

Administrators can control whether or not content is indexed (and searchable) from the Search Index page.

• Semantic model - Use the Data Model tab to configure how and when to index subject areas.
• Catalog objects - Use the Catalog tab to configure how and when to index objects in the catalog.

Note:

File-based datasets are indexed differently. Users who upload datasets decide how and when they're indexed through the dataset's Inspect dialog. See Make a Dataset's Data Available for Search.

1. In the Oracle Analytics Home page, click the Navigator, and then click Console.
2. Click Search Index.
3. Specify how semantic model content is indexed so users can find the most recent information when they search for subject area columns.
   1. Click the Data Model pane.
   2. Select Enable Data Model Crawl.
   3. In User to Run Crawl As, click the search icon and enter the name of a user with permissions to manage the semantic model. That is, a user with either the BIDataModelAuthor or BIServiceAdministrator application role.
   4. For Languages, select all the languages you want to create indexes for.
      Crawl results are added to the index in the languages that you specify. For example, if your company's headquarters are in the United States, and you have offices in Italy, then you can choose English and italiano to create an indexes in both English and Italian.
   5. Use the Select Data Models to Index and Crawl Status columns to browse for and specify which subject areas and dimensions you want to index.

      Select only the items needed to create useful search results. Indexing all items yields too many similar search results.

      • Index Metadata Only: Indexes only dimension and measure names. This is the default selection. For example, column names such as Product or Order, and metric names such as # of Orders. Always use this option if the column contains sensitive data values that you don’t want to expose to users when they search on the Home page.

      • Index: Indexes metadata (dimension names and measure names) and data values. Applies only to dimension or attribute columns. For example, if you select this on a Product column, both the metadata for the Product column and its data values (such as iPad, iPod, iPhone ) are indexed.

        Indexing data values provides additional functionality for users who want to visualize data values from the search bar on the Home page. Be aware that selecting this option can be costly because it indexes values for all of the columns in all subject areas of the semantic model.

        Caution: When you index data, it's visible to all users who have access to that column. Take care not to index data for columns that contain sensitive data, as this will expose the sensitive data values on the Home page.

      • Don’t Index: Use this selection to completely exclude subject areas, tables, or columns from the index.

4. Specify how catalog objects are indexed so that users find the most recent information when they use the Home page to search for catalog content (workbooks, analyses, dashboards, and reports). In most cases, you don't need to modify the settings in this tab.
   1. Click the Catalog pane.
   2. For Languages, select all the languages you want to create indexes for.
      Crawl results are added to the index in the languages that you specify. For example, if your company's headquarters are in the United States, and you have offices in Italy, then you can choose English and italiano to create an indexes in both English and Italian.
   3. In Select Catalog Objects to Index, confirm that Index User Folders is selected.
      Oracle recommends that you don't deselect this option. When deselected, no folders in the catalog are indexed so Home page searches return very limited and possibly no results.
   4. Use the Catalog Object (Shared Folders) and Crawl Status columns to browse for and specify which folders, subfolders, and items you want to index or not index.

      Select only the items needed to create useful search results. Indexing all items yields too many similar search results.

      • Index: Use this option to include folders and items in the index.

      • Don’t Index: Use this selection to exclude folders and items from the index.

        Oracle recommends that you don't set the Crawl Status field to Don't Index as a way of hiding an item from users. Users won't see the item in search results or on the Home page, but are still able to access the item. Instead, use permissions to apply the proper security to the item.

5. Click to save your changes.
6. Optional: Click to rebuild the search index with your changes.

Schedule Regular Content Crawls

The administrator selects which folders to crawl and schedules when and how often to crawl the content.

1. In the Oracle Analytics Home page, click the Navigator, and then click Console.
2. Click Search Index.
3. Select Data Model or Catalog.
4. Use the Schedule options to specify when and how often to run the crawl.
   The index updates automatically as users add or modify content in the catalog.
   • Catalog crawl frequency: By default, a catalog crawl runs once a month. The minimum number of days you can specify between catalog crawls is 7 days.
   • Data model crawl frequency: By default, a data model (that is, semantic model) crawl runs once a day.

   Normally you don't need to change the defaults. However, in some cases you might want to schedule a crawl as needed (for example, after importing a BAR file or if automatic indexing didn't run).

5. For Languages, select all the languages you want to create indexes for.
   Crawl results are added to the index in the languages that you specify. For example, if your company's headquarters are in the United States, and you have offices in Italy, then you can choose English and italiano to create indexes in both English and Italian.
6. Click the Save icon to save your changes.

Monitor Search Crawl Jobs

Administrators can check the last time content was indexed and monitor the status of crawl jobs. You can stop any crawl job that is running, cancel the next scheduled crawl before it starts, or rerun a failed crawl.

If users report search issues, check the status of crawls to ensure that they're current. After a crawl is completed, users might have to wait a few minutes before they can locate the latest content.

1. In the Oracle Analytics Home page, click the Navigator, and then click Console.
2. Click Search Index.
3. Click Monitor Crawls.
   The Crawl Job Status page shows information about the past, current, and the next scheduled crawl. In the Progress column, XSA indicates a dataset.
4. Look at the Status column to find out when the content was last crawled and when the next crawl is due.
5. Click Cancel to stop a crawl job that is Running or Scheduled.
6. To rerun a crawl with the status of Terminated or that displays progress totals of zero:
   1. Click the Configure Crawls link.
   2. In the Data Model tab, deselect and then reselect the Enable Data Model Crawl checkbox.
   3. Click Save.
   4. Click the Monitor Crawls link and locate the scheduled job. The revised crawl runs in a few minutes time.

Certify a Dataset to Enable Users to Search It from the Home Page

You certify a dataset uploaded by a user so that other users can search it from the home page using the search bar.

As an administrator, you use certification to control how much compute time is consumed by indexing datasets, which can affect system performance.

1. From the Home page, click Navigator, click Data, then click Datasets.
2. Hover over the dataset you’d like to certify, click Options , then click Inspect.
   If you can't see Options, expand the size of your browser or scroll to the right-hand side of your device screen.
3. On the General tab, click Certify.
4. On the Search tab, click Index Dataset for Searching, and select the level of indexing.
5. Use the other options on the Search tab to specify the language and indexing frequency.