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.
The following table provides an checklist of activities for deploying universal search. Some of these activities, such as installation and configuration, are mandatory. Other activities, such as customizing the user interface, are optional. Depending on your search solution, you might choose to perform all the activities listed in the table or you might perform just a subset of the optional activities. To read about a specific activity, refer to the section listed in the table.
| Activity | Described in Section |
|---|---|
| Planning for providing universal search for your users and installing a Google Search Appliance on your network | Planning |
| Installing a Google Search Appliance and configuring it to communicate with other computers on your network | Installing and Configuring a Search Appliance |
| Setting up two Google Search Appliances for load balancing and failover | Configuring Search Appliances for Load Balancing and Failover |
| Setup administrator and manager accounts for the Google Search Appliance | Creating User Accounts |
| Configuring a search appliance to create an index by crawling public content, such as web pages and file shares | Crawling Public Content |
| Configuring a search appliance to crawl controlled-access (secure) content | Crawling Controlled-Access Content |
| Using a connector to enable a search appliance to index content in an Enterprise Content Management (ECM) system | Indexing Content in Non-Web Repositories |
| Using a feed to enable a search appliance to index content that cannot be found through links on crawled web pages | Indexing Hard-to-Find Content |
| Configuring a search appliance to crawl database content | Indexing Database Content |
| Integrating with Google Apps to enable a search appliance to index documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and sites | Indexing Google Apps Content |
| Testing an index | Testing Indexed Content |
| Creating a framework for deploying one or more search experiences | Using Front Ends |
| Enabling a search appliance to present specific URLs to the top of search results | Forcing Specific URLs in Search Results |
| Enabling a search appliance to show alternative search terms above search results | Suggesting Alternative Search Terms along with Results |
| Enabling a search appliance to show groups of similar results above search results | Grouping Search Results by Topic |
| Enabling a search appliance to return real-time, structured data with search results | Providing Real-Time Connectivity to Business Applications |
| Enabling a search appliance to restrict results by language, file type, web site, and/or meta tags | Restricting Search Results |
| Enabling a search appliance to expand queries automatically and providing your own synonyms for query expansion | Controlling Automatic Searching of Synonyms |
| Influencing the order of documents in search results | Influencing Results Rankings |
| Dividing the search index into meaningful segments that improve searches | Segmenting the Index |
| Enabling users to create email alerts for topics of interest | Enabling User Alerts |
| Creating a user interface that focuses on your users | Customizing the User Interface |
| Exporting and analyzing data about user clicks | Collecting Metrics about User Clicks |
| Running various tests to validate your search appliance implementation | Testing Your Search Appliance Implementation |
| Launching your universal search solution | Going Live! |
| Choosing languages for front ends, search results, and query expansion | Using Language Options |
| Controlling search results and manipulating XML-formatted results | Controlling Results with the Search Protocol |
| Writing applications to feed hard-to-find content into the index | Writing Applications with the Feeds Protocol |
| Enabling a Google Search Appliance to work with your existing security infrastructure | Integrating with an Existing Access Control Infrastructure |
| Writing a custom connector for indexing content in unsupported non-web repositories | Developing Custom Connectors |
| Enhancing the search experience with experimental features | Using Experimental New Features from Google Enterprise Labs |
| Monitoring crawling, serving, and your search appliance | Monitoring a Search Appliance |
| Updating a search appliance to the latest software version | Updating a Google Search Appliance |
For some deployment activities, certain types of knowledge are useful. The following table lists the types of knowledge that are useful for several deployment activities. To read more about each activity, refer to the section listed in the Reference Column. If staff in your organization does not have the appropriate knowledge, you might consider contacting Google partners, who can provide the needed knowledge.
| Knowledge | Activity | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Knowledge of the content sources to be indexed | Deciding which content sources to crawl and which search experience features to use | Identifying Content Sources |
| A hardware background, knowledge of your network, and familiarity with network appliance | Installing and configuring a Google Search Appliance | Setting Up a Search Appliance |
| Knowledge of the security access methods to be implemented, such as HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) Basic, NTLM (NT Lan Manager) HTTP, and Windows Integrated Authentication/Kerberos | Planning and implementing secure crawl and serve in the Google Search Appliance | Data Access-Control Methods and Crawling and Serving Controlled-Access Content |
| Knowledge of the content sources and what searches users are likely to perform | Implementing end-user search experience features | Using Features to Enhance the Search Experience |
| Knowledge of markup languages, including HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), XSLT (XSL Transformations), and XML (Extensible Markup Language) | Making extensive changes to the user interface using the XSLT stylesheet | Customizing the User Interface |
| Knowledge of DHTML (Dynamic HTML), Javascript, and a web-based programming language | Making advanced changes to the user interface | Customizing the User Interface |
| Enabling a search appliance to return real-time, structured data with search results | Providing Real-Time Connectivity to Business Applications | |
| Knowledge of HTTP, XML, and a scripting language | Controlling search results and manipulating XML-formatted results | Controlling Results with the Search Protocol |
| Knowledge of XML, SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language) 2.0, and Web services | Enabling a Google Search Appliance to work with your existing security infrastructure | Integrating with an Existing Access Control Infrastructure |
| Content management systems, Java programming | Writing a custom connector for indexing content in unsupported non-web repositories | Developing Custom Connectors |
Let Google know what you think about this document by sending feedback to gsadoc-gtm-feedback@google.com.
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