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.

Configure Search Indexing

The catalog and semantic models are crawled and indexed so users can quickly find content when they search or visualize data from the search bar on the Home page.

The Data Model pane on the Search Index page controls which subject areas are indexed. The indexing of an uploaded file-based dataset is controlled on its Inspect dialog. See Index File-Based Datasets.
  1. In the Oracle Analytics Home page, click the Navigator, and then click Console.
  2. Click Search Index.
  3. To ensure users find the most recent information when they search for subject area columns, in the Data Model pane, select Enable Data Model Crawl and 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.
    • Choose Index Metadata Only to index dimension and measure names only. This is the default setting.
    • Choose Index to index dimension names, measure names, and values. Indexing values provides additional functionality for users who 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.
  4. To ensure that users find the most recent information when they use the Home page to search for catalog content (workbooks, analyses, dashboards, and reports), in the Catalog pane and specify what to index. In most cases you shouldn't have to modify the settings in this tab.
    • Confirm that the Index User Folders field is selected. Oracle recommends that you don't deselect this option. If deselected then no folders in the catalog are indexed and the Home page search returns very limited and possibly no results.
    • Use the Catalog Object (Shared Folders) list 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.
    • 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.

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 catalog content.

    By default, a semantic model crawl runs once each day and a catalog crawl runs once each week.

    Normally you don't need to change this default. 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 Ellipsis with three vertical dots, 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.