July 4, 2012 
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Configure SharePoint 2010 Search using best practices
, when to crawl content. , FAST search topology.
January 4, 2012 1 Comment
In the previous (Configure SharePoint Fast Search 2010 Part 1 ) post we installed all the prerequisites for FAST Server and Installed FAST Search Server for SharePoint 2010
In this sections we are going to configure FAST Search Server in SharePoint 2010
1. Start | All Program | Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint
2. Welcome to the Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint post-setup configuration wizard
Click next to start the configuration
3. Select the deployment type
- Single Server stand alone
Install all FAST search server 2010 for SharePoint components on a single server
- Admin Server
Configure the admin server in a multiple server deployment. You can only have one admin server in the deployment
- Non-admin server
Configure a non-admin server in a multiple server deployment. Non-admin servers connect to an existing admin server.
4. Enter the user name and password for the FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint user. The user name must be an existing Windows account.
I enter the user name and password in the following format
Domain Name\User Name
Password
The message I get? User Validation failed while installing FAST Search for SharePoint
Looks like FAST Search server will not accept domain\user name, the correct format would be
domain.com\user name
For example if you enter vsharepoint\admin it will not work but vsharepoint.com\admin will work
5. Enter a certificate password
Certificates are used for secure communication between servers. The password you specify below will be used when moving certificates between servers
7. Enter your server settings. It should be server name.your domain.com
8. Enter your database settings for your FAST Search Server.
If server.domain.com is not working, try just the name of your DB Server
9. Click Through relevancy settings
To ensure that click-through relevancy data is transferred from Microsoft SharePoint
server to FAST, you must enable click-through relevancy. Select the Microsoft SharePoint server installation type
the user name should be domain.com\username
10. FAST Search Server configuration summary
11. Fast Search Server post configuration was successfully completed. You must restart the server
January 4, 2012 1 Comment
How to install and configure Fast Search 2010 in SharePoint 2010?
1. Download Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint
Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint is a new search solution that delivers the power of FAST with the simplicity and TCO of Microsoft. It provides the best general productivity search on the market AND makes it easy and economical to build high-value search applications.
Download Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010
2. Extract the files and open splash to install FAST Server Server 2010 for SharePoint
3. If you click on Read Installation Instructions, it will take you to
Deployment for FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint
To install Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint as a stand-alone deployment (single server deployment) or multiple server deployment, perform the tasks outlined in this overview.
The following is the minimum and recommended hardware requirements to deploy FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint:
| Minimum hardware requirements | Recommended hardware requirements |
|---|---|
| 4 GB RAM | 16 GB RAM |
| 4 CPU cores, 2.0GHz CPU | 8 CPU cores, 2.0GHz CPU |
| 50 GB disk | 1 terabyte disk space on RAID across 6 spindles or more. |
Before you install FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint, you must install Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 and Microsoft SQL Server 2008
SharePoint Server 2010
1. Install FAST Search Server prerequisite
The FAST search server 2010 for SharePoint prerequisite installer checks your computer for required products and updates. It may connect to the internet to download products from the Microsoft Download Center. The tool installs and configures the following products
2. Prerequisite for FAST server are completed
3. Install FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint
Welcome to the Microsoft FAST Search server 2010 for SharePoint setup wizard
The setup wizard will install Microsoft FAST search server 2010 for SharePoint on your computer. Click next to continue or cancel to exit the setup wizard
4. Destination Folder
Click next to install to the default folder or click browse to choose another
5. Ready to install Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint
Click install to begin the installation. Click back to review or change any of your installation settings. Click Cancel to exit the wizard
6. The installation of Microsoft FAST Search server 2010 for SharePoint has completed. Click Finish to exit the setup wizard.
You must now run the configuration wizard.
January 3, 2012 1 Comment
What is federated Search?
Federated search In this approach, you are enabled to display search results for additional content that is not crawled by your search server. With federation, the query can be performed over the local content index, or it can be forwarded to an external content repository where it is processed by that repository’s search engine. The repository’s search engine then returns the results to the search server. The search server formats and renders the results from the external repository within the same search results page as the results from the search server’s own content index.
Source: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc806030.aspx
How to setup federated Search in SharePoint 2010?
To setup federated search in SharePoint 2010 go to Central Administration | Search Service Application | Search Administration
In left hand side below Queries and Results click on Federated Locations
By using search federation, users can simultaneously search content in the search index on this server, as well as in other locations, such as database systems, internet search engines and specific scopes on this server.
To add a new location, visit the Online Gallery, download the location and then import it. Alternatively, you can define a new location by clicking on New Location. You may need to specify a proxy – click on Proxy and timeouts to use the crawl proxy specification.
To enable users to search the location in the Search Center, specify the location in the properties in one of the Web Parts enabled for federation.
By default we have following Federated locations :
Internet Search Results | Internet Search Suggestions | Local Search Results | Local People Search Results | Local FAST Search Results
To add a new location, click on new Location and if you want to modify existing locations click Edit
Use this page to edit a federated location. On this page, you can enter general information about the location and specify how search results should be obtained and formatted.
| General Information | Location Information | Display Information | Restrictions and Credentials Information|
In location Information Query Template is set to Live/Bing search. You can edit this to a different search if you like
How to add federated Search to SharePoint Enterprise Search?
To add federated search to SharePoint , you need to edit result.aspx page
Site Actions | Edit Page
Add a web part in Right Zone
Adding Federated Search Results
Select Search under Categories and select Federated Results Web part and save and publish result.aspx page
Now let’s go and search “ Books” and see how Federated Search Results shows up
When I search books, SharePoint Federated Search Results from Bing displays all the results from internet.
January 1, 2012 3 Comments
Setting up SharePoint 2010 best bets search
SharePoint 2010 search allows you to allows you add selected content at the top of search queries for certain keywords and this is called SharePoint Search Best Bets
This is blog I am going provide all the steps you need to setup best bet search in SharePoint 2010
1. Site Actions | Site Settings | Search Keywords below Site Collection Administration
2. Add new Keywords
3. Keyword Information
The Keyword Phrase is what search queries will match to return a keyword result
Synonyms are words that users might type when searching for the keyword. Separate them using semicolons.
Best Bets
Best Bets are the recommended results for this keyword. Best Bets will appear in search results in the order listed.
Click on Add best bets and enter following information
Click OK for all open Windows and go to your search center and type in your Best Bet and search.
In my situations I created a folder called Books added four different books. I added this URL as Best Bet and when I perform search as my keywords “Books”
SharePoint 2010 displays my best bet URL on the top of the search page
Note: Make sure your Search Center is in the same site collection. If your search center is in different site collection your best bets result will not work
If you follow above steps, you can configure best bet search in SharePoint 2010
December 29, 2011 8 Comments
1. Go to Central Administration Search Service Application: Manage Content Sources
Name
Type a name to describe this content source.
Select what type of content will be crawled.
Note: This cannot be changed after this content source is created because other settings depend on it.
Type the URLs from which the search system should start crawling.
This includes all SharePoint Server sites and Microsoft SharePoint Foundation sites.
Specify the behavior for crawling this type of content.
Selecting to crawl everything under the hostname will also crawl all the SharePoint Sites in the server.
Caution: After you select crawl settings for a SharePoint content source, you cannot change crawling behavior unless you re-create the content source. Verify that you select the option that best suits your needs
Select the crawl schedules for this content source.
Select "Start full crawl of this content source" and click "OK" to start a full crawl of this content source.
Click Ok to perform a full crawl of this content source
3. Let’s go and create Search Scopes for External File Share
Use this page to view and manage search scopes. The order in which the search scopes appear in this list is the order in which they will appear in the search scope list next to the Search box.
Central Administration Search Service Application: View Scopes
Add your scopes and click OK
4. Now click on your new scope which you created and add rules
Scope rules define what is in or not in a scope. Use different types of rules to match items in various ways
Web Address scope rules can be used to create search scopes that include content in web sites, the shares, exchange public folders, or any other content in the search index that has a URL.
Folder rules will include items in the folder and subfolders of the indicated path.
Domain or hostname rules include all items within the specified domain or hostname.
Decide how this rule should be applied to the overall scope. The scope-wide filter is used when combining the items matching all rules to determine what is in the scopes overall.
Select Content Source and from the drop down list select File Share
Step 2 : Create a SharePoint Enterprise Search Center
1. Go to Central Administration | Application Management | Create Site Collection
Select Enterprise search center template to create Search Center
2. Copy your new Search Center URL and go to your SharePoint Site
The new top-level site was created successfully with the specified URL. If you have permission to view the Web site, you can do so in a new browser window by clicking the URL. To return to SharePoint Central Administration, click OK .
Site Actions | Site Settings | Site Collection Administration | Search Settings
Past your Search Center URL and Enable Custom Scopes
Site Collection Search Center
To enable sites to search custom scopes (such as "All Sites"), you must define a Search Center URL.
Once enabled, Search Boxes will show custom scopes to the user in the scopes dropdown. Custom scopes can be defined in either this Site Collection or the Search Service scopes pages. Queries will be sent to the Search Center URL with the scope’s results page appended.
By checking the "Use site level defaults" web part property, the search box will send custom scope queries to the Search Center defined in this "Site Collection Search Center" property.
Use this setting to configure the dropdown mode for search boxes in this site collection. The dropdown can include Contextual or Custom Scopes. The dropdown can show in the interface, or it can not show and simply direct searches to a default scope.
By default, a Search Box will use the "Dropdown Mode" property in the web part. By checking the "Use site dropdown mode" property, the search box will use this "Site Collection Search Dropdown Mode" setting instead.
Use this setting to configure the search results page used for contextual searches (such as "This Site"). This page will not be used for custom scopes.
By default, a Search Box will use the "Target Results Page" property in the web part. By checking the "Use site level defaults" property, the search box will use this "Site Collection Target Results Page" setting instead.
Step 3 : Create a SharePoint Enterprise Search Center
Site Actions | Site Settings | Site Collection Administration | Search Settings | Search Scopes
Under unused scopes you can see File Share. Now click on Display Groups
Click on Search Dropdown
Select your File Share
Scopes in this group will appear with the search box in the scopes dropdown.
This will enable File Share in Search dropdown and allow you to search files with in the shared folder.
I had to restart IIS to see this
Let’s go and search some files in the File Share folder. These are the files which I have in the Shared Folder
I am going to search “ ERP Data”
Results: All the files are coming from my Shared Folder.
August 1, 2011 2 Comments
When you add the People Search Box Web Part to your page, the layout looks fine.
People Search Box
The problem arises when you click on the Search Options link.
People Search Box Layout Problem
As you can see, the property box is shown with a transparent background and the labels are almost unreadable.
To solve this problem, you could add the following CSS styles to your custom stylesheet or inside the master page itself.
.psrch-OptionsContainer {
font-size: 8pt;
height: 130px;
margin-top: 20px;
width: 355px;
}
People Search Box With CSS Fix
Source: Fix: People Search Box Has Layout Problems When Used Outside a Search Center
July 15, 2011 0 Comments
SharePoint Search XSL samples for SharePoint 2010 by Matthew McDermott
Render Links List URL
Presents link list results as links to the content rather than a link to the DispForm.aspx page.
July 15, 2011 0 Comments
By default SharePoint 2010 Search Center site will not have the top navigation.
To add the top navigation to your SharePoint 2010 Search Enter Site, you need to copy from the v4.master the entire block of code starting
<div id=”s4-topheader2” class=”s4-pr s4-notdlg”> and to end of <dev> and past it in your SharePoint Search Center site where you want the top level navigation to reside
Copy the code from v4.master and past it in your SharePoint Search Center Site to display top level navigation to your site.
After pasting the code, you should see the top level navigation appear in your SharePoint 2010 Search Center Site
May 31, 2011 0 Comments
Location of SharePoint 2010 Noise Word Files:
%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Office Servers\14.0\Data\Office
Server\config are copied to the Microsoft Office Servers\14.0\Data\Office Server\
Applications\(serviceGUID)\Config
To edit SharePoint 2010 Noise Word Files, go to the folder and edit the document in notepad and enter the words you do not want used in queries, one word per line.
May 8, 2011 4 Comments
How to enable search scope dropdown in SharePoint 2010? Example All Site Search, Current Site and People Search as a dropdown.
By default when you create sites in SharePoint 2010, your search will only allow you to search current site
To enable search scope dropdown in SharePoint 2010, please follow the instructions.
1. Go to Site Actions | Site Settings | Site Collection Administration | Search Settings |
2. By default it will say Do not use custom scope. Use only contextual scopes (such as “This Site”). Display results in the site collection
search results page configured below. This is the reason we are not able to see the search scope dropdown in SharePoint 2010 sites.
3. To enable custom search scope, check “ Enable Custom Search Scope” and enter the search URL. Your search URL should be
/search/pages/default.aspx and specify the dropdown mode for search boxes. Click ok and go back to your site
4. Now you will see a drop down list in SharePoint 2010 sites
April 17, 2011 2 Comments
User profile synchronization service in SharePoint 2010 enables synchronization of Users and Groups data from directory sources such as active directory and LDAP.
1. Central Admin > System Settings >
2. Select Manage Services on Server
3. Scroll down and select User Profile Synchronization Service. If it says Stopped, click Start
4. When you click on Start, SharePoint 2010 will ask you to enter user user name and password. To import profile the account farm account HAS TO BE A LOCAL ADMINISTRATOR
Enter your password and click OK
5. Now your status should say Starting
6. After couple of minutes if you refresh, it would stay started
6. Do an iisreset . Go to Start and run and type in iisreset
7. lets go to Central Administration and navigate to Manage Service Applications
8. In Manger Service Applications scroll down and select User Profile Service Applicaitons
9. In User Profile Service, Click on Configure Synchronization Connections
10. Create a new connection to your domain
11. Enter a name for your Connection Name, Account Name and password to create a connection to Active Directory to import profiles to SharePoint 2010. Don’t forget to enter Forest Name
12. Once you have al the information, click on Populate Containers. Select the containers which you want to import to SharePoint 2010
13. Click OK to start Start Profile Synchronization. It takes time depend on number of users you have in your forest.
April 17, 2011 2 Comments
Open Central Administration and navigate to “Manage Service Applications”
In Manage Service Applications select Search Service Application or Enterprise Search Service Application depend on your SharePoint Setup.
In Search Service Application in SharePoint 2010, select Content Sources in your left hand side under Crawling
In Content Source right click on your site and select Edit
check your Crawl status. If you see your current status is Idle, you should start your crawl in order to search people or any contents
Go back to your previous windows and right click on your site and select Start Full Crawl
When crawl completes, you can check the status and crawl log when you right click on your site
If everything looks good, you should able to search people in SharePoint 2010. This is how you enable People Search in SharePoint 2010.
If your still having problem, please see my Configuring profile import in SharePoint 2010
