SharePoint Portal Server Settings

You can modify settings to improve performance while creating indexes or for performing search queries.

Using Index Workspaces for Creating and Updating Indexes on a Separate Server

Because creating and updating an index is a resource-intensive process, you can choose to have a separate server that is dedicated to creating and updating indexes. The workspace on this server is an index workspace. An index workspace is designed to manage only content sources. The index workspace does not use the document management capabilities of SharePoint Portal Server, such as checking in or checking out documents or versioning, nor does it provide a dashboard site.

Adjusting Index and Search Resource Usage

On the computer hosting the dashboard site, adjust the resource usage of the server to "background."

To adjust the resource usage of the server to background:

1. Open SharePoint Portal Server Administration, and right-click the SharePoint Portal Server computer name and choose Properties.
2. On the Properties page, click the General tab.
3. Adjust the Search resource usage and Indexing resource usage settings to Background.

This ensures that no background index-related tasks consume CPU resources and take away resources from the dashboard site and the Web Storage System. However, if you use your workspace for many search activities, you may want to adjust the Search resource usage to Dedicated instead. Figure 15.1 illustrates these settings.

Figure 15.1. Specifying resource usage

Moving Property Store Files to a Different Volume

For high performance, the property store and property store log files must be on separate dedicated physical volumes. You cannot move property store files by using SharePoint Portal Server Administration in Microsoft Management Console (MMC). You must use Catutil.exe to move property store files and to change the location of log files for the property store.

SharePoint Portal Server provides a utility named Catutil.exe that you can use to move index files and property store files and to change the location of the log files for the property store. Property store files contain the metadata from documents. SharePoint Portal Server shares the log files across all workspaces on a server. By default, SharePoint Portal Server stores the property store file and log files in the following directory:

\Data\FTData\SharePointPortalServer directory.

To move the property store file to a new location:

1. Stop the Microsoft Search Service (MSSearch).
2. On the Start menu, point to Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Command Prompt.
3. Change to the Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\MSSearch\Bin folder.

   By default, Catutil.exe is stored in the Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\MSSearch\Bin folder. However, if you install SharePoint Portal Server on a computer running Microsoft SQL Server^™ 7 or SQL Server 2000, Catutil.exe is stored in the Program Files\Common Files\System\MSSearch\Bin folder.

4. At the command prompt, type Catutil.exe PROPSTORE and then press ENTER. A usage description appears.
5. Type Catutil.exe PROPSTORE SharePointPortalServer -m "path\sps.edb" and then press ENTER.
   • For example, if you want to move the property store to a folder named Store on drive D, you would type:

     Catutil.exe PROPSTORE SharePointPortalServer -m "D:\Store\sps.edb"

   • Note that you can change the name of the .edb file from sps.edb to something else. For example, you can type:

     Catutil.exe PROPSTORE SharePointPortalServer -m "D:\Store\MyFileName.edb"

6. Start the MSSearch service.

To specify a new location for the log file:

1. Stop the MSSearch service.
2. On the Start menu, point to Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Command Prompt.
3. Change to the Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\MSSearch\Bin folder.

   By default, Catutil.exe is stored in the Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\MSSearch\Bin folder. However, if you install SharePoint Portal Server on a computer running SQL Server 7 or SQL Server 2000, Catutil.exe is stored in the Program Files\Common Files\System\MSSearch\Bin folder.

4. Type Catutil.exe PROPSTORE and then press ENTER. A usage description appears.
5. Type Catutil.exe PROPSTORE SharePointPortalServer -l path and then press ENTER.
   • For example, if the property store file is on drive D, you may want to change the location of the log files to a folder named Logs on drive E to improve performance. You would type:

     Catutil.exe PROPSTORE SharePointPortalServer -l"E:\Log"

6. Start the MSSearch service.

   Do not change the location of the log files for the property store to the root of a directory. For example, do not change the location to D:\. MSSearch does not function properly if the files are on a directory root. If you have changed the location to a directory root and MSSearch no longer functions, change the location of the files to a subdirectory instead. For example, change the location to D:\Log Files.

Improving Query Performance

If query performance is slow and the computer has processor memory available, you can increase performance by specifying that MSSearch keep the property store in memory.

It is recommended that you do not set the CacheSizeMin to a value more than fifty percent of the available memory. If the CacheSizeMin value is set too high, it causes all queries to the server to fail with the message, "Internal Server Error." In addition, the Subscriptions Summary Web Part displays the following message, "Failed to get subscriptions results." If you encounter either of these errors, set the CacheSizeMin parameter to a lower value and restart the Microsoft Search service.

To increase query performance:

1. On the taskbar, click Start, and then click Run.
2. Type regedit and then click OK.

   Incorrectly editing the registry may severely damage your system. Back up the current version of the registry before making any changes. You should also back up any valued data on the computer.

3. In Registry Editor, go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Search\1.0\Databases.
4. Right-click Databases, point to New, and then click DWORD Value. A new DWORD value appears.
5. Type CacheSizeMax as the name for the new value, and then press ENTER.
6. Right-click CacheSizeMax, and then click Modify. The Edit DWORD Value dialog box appears.
7. In the Value data box, type the maximum number of 4,096-byte pages that you want the server to keep in memory. For example, if you want to use 1 GB of RAM, divide 1,024³ (1,024 multiplied by 1,024 multiplied by 1,024) by 4,096, and type 262,144 in the Value data box.

   The total address space for MSSearch is 2 GB. Do not type a value greater than 1.7 GB, even if you have 2 GB or more of RAM.

8. In Base, click Decimal.
9. Click OK.
10. Right-click Databases, point to New, and then click DWORD Value. A new DWORD value appears.
11. Type CacheSizeMin as the name for the new value, and then press ENTER.
12. Right-click CacheSizeMin, and then click Modify. The Edit DWORD Value dialog box appears.
13. In the Value data box, type the minimum number of 4,096-byte pages that you want the server to keep in memory. This number should be between 50 and 90 percent of CacheSizeMax. For example, if CacheSizeMax is 262144, type a number between 131072 and 235929 in the Value data box for CacheSizeMin.
14. In Base, click Decimal.
15. Click OK.
16. Close Registry Editor.
17. Restart MSSearch. To do this:
    • On the taskbar, click Start, point to Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Services.
    • Right-click Microsoft Search, and then click Restart.