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Multibox BETA > Configuration

Use the Multibox > Configuration page to create a collaborative search solution, in which several search appliances work together as if they were a single Google Search Appliance, or to configure search appliance replication, in which more than one search appliance serves search results from a search index replicated from a single appliance. Collaboration and replication can be used separately or together.

Warning: Do not create both federation and multibox configurations on a set of search appliances. Configure either federation or multibox.

This help page provides information on the following topics:

• Before Starting these Tasks
• Configuring Multibox Collaboration on the Master Shard
• Configuring Multibox Collaboration on the Non-master Primary Shards
• Configuring Multibox Replication
• Exporting a Multibox Configuration
• Importing a Multibox Configuration
• Disabling the Multibox Feature
• For More Information

Before Starting these Tasks

Perform the following tasks before creating a multibox configuration:

• Determine which search appliances will participate in the multibox feature.
• Determine which search appliance will be the master. You enable the multibox feature from the master search appliance. After the non-master primary search appliances are configured, the master and non-master search appliances behave as if they are a single search appliance. All subsequent configuration, such as setting crawl patterns, is performed only on the master search appliance.
• Determine whether the search appliances will use multibox collaboration, multibox replication, or both.
• Obtain the appliance ID and host name or IP address for each search appliance in the configuration.
• Determine the multibox network IP address for each search appliance. The multibox network IP addresses are used for communication among the search appliances in the configuration. The multibox network IP addresses must conform to the private address space as defined in RFC 1918 and must not overlap with any other private address space in use on your network.
• Determine a secret token for each search appliance. The token can be any alphanumeric combination of characters.

Configuring Multibox Collaboration on the Master Shard

To configure multibox collaboration on the master shard:

1. On the Admin Console of the machine intended to be the master search appliance, navigate to Multibox > Configuration.
2. Type the number of shards in the No. of shards field. Each participating search appliance in the multibox configuration represents one shard. For example, if four search appliances are participating, type in 4.
3. Click Enable Multibox. A configuration form is displayed, listing each shard in the configuration. The master node is shard 0. Each additional shard is assigned a number incremented by 1. If there are four search appliances in the configuration, the shards are assigned numbers 0, 1, 2, and 3.
4. Click the View/Edit link corresponding to the master shard. You see a screen that says There is no node in this shard. Add a node to this shard.
5. Click Add. A form appears on which you enter information about the new node.
6. On the drop-down list, choose Primary.
7. Type in the node's GSA Appliance ID.
8. Type in the Appliance hostname or the IP address of the search appliance.
9. Type in the Multibox network IP of the search appliance.
10. Type in the Secret token of this search appliance.
11. Click Save.
12. Click Apply Configuration.
13. Repeat steps 4 through 12 on the current search appliance for each of the other shards in the multibox configuration. When you are finished, each shard in the configuration is defined.
14. Click Export and save the multibox configuration file to your local computer.

Configuring Multibox Collaboration on the Non-master Primary Shards

After you configure the master shard and export the multibox configuration, configure each of the non-master primary shards.

To configure the non-master primary shards:

1. Log in to the Admin Console of a non-master primary shard in the multibox collaboration configuration.
2. Navigate to Multibox > Configuration.
3. Type in the correct number of shards and click Enable Multibox.
4. Click Browse and navigate to the location of the multibox configuration you exported in step 14 of the instructions in Configuring Multibox Collaboration on the Master Shard.
5. Select the configuration and click Open.
6. Click Import.
7. Click Apply Configuration.
8. Repeat steps 1 to 7 on each non-master primary shard in the configuration.

Configuring Multibox Replication

Multibox replication is a feature in which the search index and search appliance settings on a particular Google Search Appliance are duplicated to another search appliance. In one common use case, one of the replicated search appliances is used for crawling and the other search appliance is used for serving. For more information on replication use cases, see "Administering Multibox Configurations," which is linked to the public Google Search Appliance documentation page.

To configure replication:

1. Log in to the Admin Console.
2. Navigate to Multibox > Configuration.
3. If multibox configuration is not enabled, type in the number of shards you want in the multibox configuration and click Enable Multibox.
4. Click the View/Edit link for the shard where you want replication enabled.
5. Click Add.
6. On the drop-down list, choose Primary.
7. Type in the primary node's GSA Appliance ID.
8. Type in the Appliance hostname or the IP address of the search appliance.
9. Type in the Multibox network IP of the search appliance.
10. Type in the Secret token of this search appliance.
11. Click Save.
12. Click Add.
13. On the drop-down list, choose Replica.
14. Type in the replica node's GSA Appliance ID.
15. Type in the Appliance hostname or the IP address of the search appliance.
16. Type in the Multibox network IP of the search appliance.
17. Type in the Secret token of this search appliance.
18. Click Save.
19. Click Apply Configuration.

To add a replica to an existing primary node:

1. Log in to the Admin Console.
2. Navigate to Multibox > Configuration.
3. Click the View/Edit link for the shard where you want replication enabled.
4. Click Add.
5. On the drop-down list, choose Replica.
6. Type in the replica node's GSA Appliance ID.
7. Type in the Appliance hostname or the IP address of the search appliance.
8. Type in the Multibox network IP of the search appliance.
9. Type in the Secret token of this search appliance.
10. Click Save.
11. Click Apply Configuration.

Exporting a Multibox Configuration

Export a multibox configuration when you want to duplicate the configuration on a different shard in the configuration or to create a backup of federation values.

To export a configuration:

1. Log in to the Admin Console of a search appliance that is a member of a multibox configuration.
2. Navigate to Multibox > Configuration. The existing configuration details are displayed.
3. Click Export.
4. Navigate to the location on the local computer where you would like to save the configuration file.
5. Click Save.

Importing a Multibox Configuration

Use these instructions to import a multibox configuration that you previously saved.

1. Log in to the Admin Console of the search appliance into which you want to import the configuration.
2. Navigate to Multibox > Configuration. The existing configuration details are displayed.
3. Click Browse.
4. Navigate to the location on the local computer where the configuration file you want to import is saved.
5. Select the configuration file and click Open.
6. Click Import.

Disabling the Multibox Feature

Use these instructions to disable the multibox feature.

To disable the multibox feature:

1. Log in to the Admin Console of the search appliance into which you want to import the configuration.
2. Navigate to Multibox > Configuration.
3. Click Disable Multibox.

For More Information

For more information on federation, see "Administering Multibox Configurations," which is linked to the public Google Search Appliance documentation page.