Chapter 12: Administering the Indexing Service
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Overview
You use the Indexing Service to build catalogs of documents that can be searched. When you add this capability to a World Wide Web site, it allows users to search for topics of interest using a standard Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) form. Like Internet Information Services (IIS), the Indexing Service is integrated into the Microsoft Windows operation system and can be used on intranets, extranets, and the Internet. As the Web administrator, you set up the catalogs that the Indexing Service needs, configure content indexing, and manage indexing on a day-to-day basis.
Managing the Indexing Service is very different from managing IIS. Before you can use the Indexing Service, you must perform the following tasks:
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Install the Indexing Service using the Windows Components Wizard. Then configure the Indexing Service on the site or virtual server you want to index. Once the Indexing Service is installed on the server, it’s configured to start automatically by default.
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Create a catalog of documents to be searched. Each catalog should associate with a specific Web site, and each catalog can be associated with a Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) virtual server as well if you like.
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Specify the directories and files to be indexed. You specify content indexing options using the IIS snap-in.
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Create a search page on the Web site. This page is used to access the catalog and retrieve information that matches the user’s search parameters. The search page must specify the catalog’s physical location using the CiCatalog variable. Other variables are available to configure index searching as well.
Once you configure the Indexing Service for a site or virtual server, the service automatically creates and updates indexes. The service also attempts to manage its catalogs so that the data they contain is consistent and current. Data within catalogs occasionally gets out of sync, and when this happens, you might need to rebuild the catalog or force the Indexing Service to rescan directories for documents that should be indexed. These and other administration tasks are covered in this chapter.
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