Sep 15
Search Server 2008 Express and WSS
Tim Allison
After graduating in 1989 I worked as a consultant, then off to Herman Miller as a Network Admin, and finally landed at C/D/H. So ultimately 19 years! Wow!
I enjoy making life better: at home, at play and at work. Technology happens to be one of those areas. In the same manner helping those around me become better through sharing knowledge only results in a better place for us all.
Family is important to me. I am finding my granddaughter (yes, I have three grandchildren) is always on the top of my “love to spend time with” list.
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Articles by Tim Allison
Search Server 2008 Express and WSS
One of my clients has been evaluating SharePoint as an architectural decision for their organization. To start, they decided to use the free Windows SharePoint Services (WSS); however WSS does not contain all of the full Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS) elements.
One very important feature that is missing from WSS is search. Microsoft provides site level search in WSS but what if you need to search data outside of WSS? Yes you guessed it, Microsoft has an answer for this: Search Server 2008 Express.
How To Install Search Server 2008 Express
As usual MS has produced some very nice documentation on the process. It is located here. If you are upgrading your WSS you will need to follow these instructions. There is also a nice comparison chart here regarding the different versions of Search Server 2008.
While the installation is very straight-forward there are some items you will want to take into consideration before jumping into it with your WSS installation. First, make sure you have the proper level of SQL services available and the proper WSS version. Second, be prepared for a worst case scenario; sometimes installs go bad. Third, be sure your current WSS server can handle the additional load. There will be added CPU utilization for search “crawls” as well as additional storage requirements for the database server. Lastly determine “what” you will be “crawling” and when you will “crawl” it.
Versions
Make sure the version you are running is SQL 2000 SP3a or SQL 2005 SP2 (special cases require SP2, so if you can, use SP2). If you do require a SQL upgrade do not take it lightly. Make sure all applications that use this SQL server can and will support the new version you are upgrading. Simple SP upgrades have caused numerous applications to cease functioning properly.
WSS 3.0 SP1 is also required. This is an upgrade that is worthy of the install and the time to complete it properly. MS has help located here.
Be Prepared
An upgrade to your WSS will require significant changes. Make sure to backup the WSS server and SQL databases. More great detail from MS on this. DO NOT BLOW OFF THIS STEP OR YOU MIGHT REALLY REGRET IT.
Server Load
Installing Search Server 2008 Express provides the new feature-rich search engine that many who use the full-grown SharePoint product have come to expect. However, this does come with a price. The server that will act as the search engine will be performing “crawls” of your WSS and, optionally, of other locations like file shares. Be sure to plan for increased CPU load, memory utilization and potentially network utilization. You may need to install additional hardware; if not, be aware that you will be impacting the performance of the server.
What and When to Crawl
“Crawling” is the core of what Search Server needs to do to create a useful search engine. During the install you will be prompted to enter a start address for your WSS search. This will create the necessary default content search. You should also consider what other types of content you want to search. I have included file shares into most of these search scopes to provide quick access to the files located in the legacy file shares. The really nice thing about this is Search Server will honor the file and folder permissions on the share.
There are two types of schedules you will need to be concerned about: Full and Incremental. The full is required once for the initial “crawl”, and then the incremental will run to gather any changes. I suggest you consider running the full “crawl” during off hours as it will eat up a lot of resources. You will then need to determine how often you will need the content incrementally “crawled” to update. Keep in mind that this incremental “crawl” will also eat up resources on the Search Server but not for as long as a full “crawl”.
Summary
Search Server 2008 Express can make your WSS sites come to life and provide some great visibility into stagnant or hidden data. You will find that a little planning up front will save you a headache later. Happy Searching!