Google Search Appliance software version 6.0
Posted June 2009
The Google Search Appliance enables you to provide universal search to your users. You can get the most from your Google Search Appliance by using some or all of its many features to fine-tune and enhance universal search. Become familiar with the Google Search Appliance's features by reading this document and apply those features that best suit your search solution.
After the search appliance has been installed and configured, you can begin to use the Admin Console to crawl and index content sources in your organization, as well as to enhance, fine-tune, and optimize your search solution. The Admin Console is a web-based interface with pages that you use to set up and manage a search appliance.
For example, to enable user alerts, use the Serving > Alerts page in the Admin Console. The following figure shows the Serving > Alerts page.
As shown in the figure, a navigation bar, which appears on every Admin Console page, provides easy access to other pages.
To retain changes you make on any Admin Console page, click the Save button. If you navigate to another page without clicking Save, your changes are lost.
Sections in this document that describe activities that use one or more Admin Console pages contain references to those pages.
Log in to the Admin Console by entering your administrator User Name and Password. You can log in to the Admin Console using HTTP or HTTPS:
Using HTTPS provides better protection for passwords and other information.
Using HTTP increase the risk of exposing passwords and other information to users on the network who are not authorized to see such information.
To log in to the Admin Console:
Each page in the Admin Console contains help links, as shown in the following figure.
By clicking the Help Center link, which appears on each Admin Console page, you can navigate to the Help Center Welcome page. From this page, you can browse various help topics. By clicking a help link for a section of a page, you can navigate to context-sensitive help about the page section.
The Google Search Appliance supports search and indexing in almost every language. Additionally, the search appliance provides the following types of language support:
The following sections briefly describe each type of language support.
The Admin Console and Help are localized into the following 27 languages:
The language of the Admin Console is determined by the language setting in your browser. If the Admin Console does not appear in the language that you prefer, make sure that your browser is set for the preferred language.
One form of feedback to users that Google provides by default is spelling suggestions. This is a built-in feature of the Google Search Appliance that works the same as it does on Google.com. When a user types a search term that seems to be a misspelling, the search appliance responds with a spelling suggestion. The spell checker supports the following languages:
You cannot edit the search appliance's spell checker.
The Google Search Appliance can present search results pages in a language other than English, the default. You also can have several languages active for your users and the search appliance will present search results for an active language based on the settings detected in the user's computer.
The search appliance allows multiple stylesheets that present the search page, advanced search, and results pages in different languages, all associated with a single front end. The language-specific stylesheet is selected based on the Accept-language header sent from the user's browser. The stylesheet is selected from the set of languages marked "active"; if there is no match, the default language is used.
To change the default language for a front end, use the Language drop-down menu on the Output Format tab of the Serving > Front Ends page in the Admin Console.
To make a language active, use either the Page Layout Helper or the XSLT Stylesheet Editor. A language-specific stylesheet is created when you make a language active. You can customize each language's stylesheet independently.
For more information about front end language options, refer to the Admin Console help page for the Output Format tab of the Serving > Front Ends page.
For a given front end, you can choose to:
Filtering supports the following languages:
To select languages for filtering search results, use the Filters tab on the Serving > Front Ends page in the Admin Console.
For more information about language filters, refer to the following topics in Google Search Appliance documentation:
The Google Search Appliance provides preconfigured local synonyms files for query expansion in the following languages:
Whenever a user enters a search query that matches a synonym in one of these languages, the term is expanded.
You can enable or disable a synonyms file by using the Serving > Query Expansion page in the Admin Console.
For information about language synonyms files, refer to Using Preconfigured Local Query Expansion Files in Creating the Search Experience: Best Practices.
In addition to enhancing universal search by using the Google Search Appliance features described in this document, you can also extend universal search by:
The Search Protocol is an HTTP-based protocol that enables you to control how search results are requested and presented to a user.
A search request is a standard HTTP GET command to the Google Search Appliance. The search appliance returns results in either XML or HTML format, as specified in the search request. HTML-formatted results can be displayed directly in a web browser.
XML-formatted output makes it possible to process the search results in web applications or other environments.
The search protocol provides capabilities for:
Use search parameters in a search request to manipulate search results. Ways that you can use search parameters to manipulate search results include:
Use query terms to restrict a search. Ways that you can use query terms to restrict searches include:
XML-formatted output makes it possible to integrate the search results in various applications. Using the Google XML results format, you can use your own XML parser to customize the display for your search users.
Google XML results can be returned with or without a reference to the most recent DTD (Document Type Definition) describing Google's XML format. The DTD is a guide to help search administrators and XML parsers understand the XML results output.
To use the Search Protocol, you need a basic understanding of the HTTP protocol and HTML document format.
To work with search results in XML format, you need a basic understanding of XML and XSLT.
For complete information about the Search Protocol and the XML results format, refer to Search Protocol Reference.
The Feeds Protocol enables you to write a custom application to feed a data source into the Google Search Appliance for processing, indexing, and serving. You can also use a feed to remove content from the index.
Using a publicly available tool, called the GSA Feed Manager (http://code.google.com/p/gsafeedmanager/), can help with feeding data to the GSA. This application can alleviate issues that you might have with creating a feed client.
To write your own feed client, you need knowledge of the following technologies:
For complete documentation on feeds, refer to the Feeds Protocol Developer's Guide.
You can enable a Google Search appliance to communicate with an existing access control infrastructure by using the following Service Provider Interfaces (SPIs):
These interfaces communicate by way of standard Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) messages.
Before using the Authentication and Authorization SPI, you must configure the appliance to crawl and index some secure controlled-access content. The SPI is only used when a user queries for secure results.
The Authentication SPI allows search users to authenticate to the Google Search Appliance. Instead of authenticating search users itself, the search appliance redirects the user to an Identity Provider, a customer-implemented server, where the actual authentication takes place. The Identity Provider then redirects the user back to the appliance, while passing information that includes the identity of the search user.
The Authentication SPI supports the following methods:
If you use the Authentication SPI, you must use the Authorization SPI as well. However, if you decide to authenticate your users with x509 certificates, or LDAP, you do not need to implement the Authentication SPI.
Once the user's identity has been authenticated, the Authorization SPI checks to see whether the user is authorized to view each of the secure documents that match their search. Using the authenticated cookie set during Authentication, the search appliance sends a message inside a SAML Authorization request. The message contains the user identity and the URL to the customer's server that provides access control services, or Policy Decision Point. In response to authorization check requests, the Policy Decision Point responds with a message that says either "Permit," "Deny," or "Indeterminate."
The Authorization SPI can be used with any one of the following authentication methods:
When using the SAML Authorization SPI to serve secure content results from SMB shares, you must use Kerberos for user authentication.
To write an Identity Provider or Policy Decision Point web service, you need a basic understanding of the following technologies.
Configure the search appliance to use the Authentication or Authorization SPI by using the Serving > Access Control page in the Admin Console.
For more information about how the SAML Authentication and Authorization SPIs work and how to set up the Identity Provider and Policy Decision Point web services that are required by the Authentication and Authorization SPIs, refer to Authentication/Authorization for Enterprise SPI Guide.
For more information on search appliance configuration for use with these SPIs, refer to The SAML Authentication and Authorization Service Provider Interface (SPI) in Managing Search for Controlled-Access Content: Crawl, Index, and Serve.
Google provides the Enterprise connector framework for developing custom connectors to non-web repositories. The Google Enterprise Connector Framework project on code.google.com provides open source software for the connector manager and connectors. Developers using the resources provided in this project can create connectors for virtually any type of document-based repository. Google does not support the open-source software or changes you make to the open-source software.
To develop a custom content connector by using the Connector Framework, you need a basic understanding of the following technologies:
For information about developing a connector, refer to the Connector Developer's Guide.
Google is always experimenting with new features aimed at improving the universal search experience. Many of these can be easily applied to your company's Google Search Appliance. The Google Enterprise Labs page is the place to go to find many of these experimental features.
Many search appliance features were first made available through Google Enterprise Labs. These features include Google Apps integration and advanced search reporting.
The Google Search Appliance provides extensive reports that can help you to analyze the content that has or has not been indexed and why. You can also monitor the Search Appliance by using an SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) management application. SNMP is an Internet standard protocol that is used to monitor the operation of devices on a network.
Reports are available from the Admin Console. The following table lists and describes each report and gives the Admin Console page where you can find the report.
| Report | Description | Admin Console page |
|---|---|---|
| Crawl status | Crawl status shows documents served, crawling rate and errors. | Serving and Reports > Crawl Status |
| Crawl diagnostics | Crawl diagnostics provides interactive navigation through directories to see the status of each page. It also provides a "list format," which displays each of the crawled URLs and status. | Serving and Reports > Crawl Diagnostics |
| Crawl queue snapshot | A crawl queue snapshot shows the set of URLs that are overdue to be crawled and the URLs that the appliance is waiting to crawl. Multiple snapshots can be defined, each with their own criteria, such as number of URLs to include, forthcoming hours to include, and include URLs from a specific host. | Serving and Reports > Crawl Queue |
| Content statistics | Content statistics provide summary information about crawled files such as Mime Types, Number of Files, Average Size, Total Size, Minimum Size, and Maximum Size. | Serving and Reports > Content Statistics |
| Serving status | Serving status shows recent queries per second by collection. | Serving and Reports > Serving Status |
| System status | The System Status page monitors the available disk space, the temperature of the components, and the status of the computers that make up the search appliance. | Serving and Reports > System Status |
| Search reports | A search report is a summary of information about user search queries for a specified timeframe. | Serving and Reports > Search Reports |
| Search logs | Search log reports provide a monthly, weekly or daily snapshot of search activity, segmented by collection. For each time period, the report shows the top 100 queries, top no match searches, traffic by day and hour, an so on. | Serving and Reports > Search Logs |
| Event log | The event log is an audit trail of all system activity, including user logins and logouts, crawling and indexing activity per collection and other statistics. | Serving and Reports > Event Log |
You can also set up the search appliance so that status information can be monitored using any third-party SNMP management application. Through SNMP, the search appliance provides a subset of the information that appears in the Admin Console. The data provided through SNMP is read-only.
To use SNMP monitoring with your search appliance, you need:
For more information about using SNMP with your search appliance, refer to the Admin Console help page for Administration > SNMP Configuration.
Google provides software point and patch updates as well as software feature updates to customers with valid support contracts. You can download updates from the Google Enterprise support site.
Update a search appliance by performing the following tasks:
During the update process, the search appliance continues to serve search queries, but crawling and indexing are paused. You are able to test the new software version before "accepting" the update.
It is recommended that you only install a software update when it:
For more information about updating a Google Search Appliance, refer to update documentation, which is available on the Google Enterprise Support web site.
Google provides information, assistance, and third-party experts for helping you to deploy your search appliance. You can use the following resources for getting help with your deployment:
This section briefly describes each resource and contains links that you can follow to get more information about each one.
The search appliance Admin Console also provides assistance in the form of help pages. For more information about this type of help, refer to Using the Admin Console Help Center.
Google provides technical support for the Google Search Appliance on the Enterprise Technical Support web site.
The support term for your Google Search Appliance is two years. Your Google support account begins upon shipment of your search appliance. Coverage includes both software updates and support as well as hardware warranty and support. A support account also provides you with access to advisories, and other technical material. The welcome email you receive from Google contains the user name and password for your support account.
Your support account information includes the terms of the Technical Support Guidelines for your search appliance.
If you are experiencing a production serving outage, you may call Google Enterprise Support at one of the following phone numbers:
For any and all other issues, use the following email contact information:
To request escalation of an Enterprise ticket, do so in your email to Google Enterprise Support, providing the ticket number, reason for the request and the current business impact.
Under the terms of the Support Agreements for the Google Search Appliance, Google Enterprise Support requires direct access to your search appliance to provide some types of support. For example, direct access is needed to determine whether your search appliance is eligible to be returned to Google and exchanged for a new search appliance. Different access methods have different requirements. The requirements for remote access are discussed in Remote Access for Technical Support.
When you open a ticket with Google Enterprise Support (via email or phone), you must provide the following information in your request:
To learn more about Google Enterprise support, visit their web site. You can also find more information in Planning for Search Appliance Installation and Installing a Google Search Appliance.
Google partners are preferred third-party experts that can help you with search appliance deployment and customization. Google partners can be especially helpful with complex search appliance deployments.
You can find a directory of Google partners at the Google Enterprise Partner Directory. This site links customers to vendors whose solutions integrate and extend Google's communication, collaboration, and enterprise search products. You might also visit the Google Solutions Marketplace, where you can read some customer success stories from Marketplace vendors.
Google offers the following types of training for customers and partners:
For more information about training, visit the Google Search Appliance training page.
Google wants you to get all possible value from your Google Search Appliance. An effective way to do this is to join the Google Search Appliance Discussion Forum. At this discussion forum, you can post questions and feedback, or solicit advice for other users. The group also provides access to a knowledge base and useful files for administering a Google Search Appliance.
Members of the Google Search Appliance group includes other Google Search Appliance customers, administrators, and users. Members of the Google Search Appliance product, engineering, and support teams monitor the groups and occasionally provide assistance to other members.
Let Google know what you think about this document by sending feedback to gsadoc-gtm-feedback@google.com.
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