Webcast "Best of" Questions and Answers - An In-Depth Look at SharePoint Server 2007 Search Technology (October 23, 2006)

 Squeek!

Below I’ve pasted an edited and cleaned up copy of the Q&A from the webcast “An In-Depth Look at SharePoint Server 2007 Search Technology” (October 23, 2006).  

If you’re interested in viewing the webcast (either again or for the first time), here it is .

I also need to send out a BIG thank you to Mr. Matt "Mongo" Hester for handling the Q&A on the backend today. It is his work that these answers represent. Thanks Mongo!

-Kevin

Questions and Answers:

“What is LDAP directory?”

LDAP = Lightweight Directory Access Protocol. It is the directory services that provide network authentication and security to your organization. Active Directory is one example of an LDAP directory, and there are several other non-Microsoft directories services that use LDAP to create and work with them.

“Litware Inc?”

Just our demo company.

“Do you have a plugin into PeopleSoft?”

In a sense yes. The business data catalog (bdc) is how you would integrate PeopleSoft into the index. You would need to define the metadata file to integrate the application into the index. Take a look here for more information on the bdc: https://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms566019.aspx

“In the past search results displayed the ‘Title’ property of an MS Office document first, if it existed, or the actual file name, if the Title property was blank. Is this still the default? If so is it possible to configure to just use the file name?”

I am not sure what the default is, I have not tested that scenario, however I do know you can modify the search results page and therefore modify the view to have it display whatever meets your needs. The customization in the search know is greatly enhanced.

“Can you index and search SAP data? Are there any criteria?”

Yes, this is the integration into the Business Data Catalog (bdc). What you would need to do is to create and then import the XML file which defines the metadata file into MOSS 2007. Take a look here for more: https://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms566019.aspx

“What was typed into the search field to limit the file type? I didn't catch it. Are there other options to this control over the search?”

I entered “filetype:doc office” to return just Word documents. You could also use kind:docs.
Yes you can use a lot of the metatag properties to control the searches, i.e. type: genre: date: .,..etc. For more details take a look here: https://windowssdk.msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/aa361580(VS.80).aspx

“Does the new security model support result filtering based on rights via an HTTP crawl?”

Not natively. It is not necessarily the service issue; it is more due to the HTTP protocol. The protocol has no way to read back the access control information. However, you can write a custom protocol handler to accomplish as well, not the easy solution but it is possible

“If you start looking at a single workstation with Office 2007, then a SBS2003 with 5 - 10 users, then a larger organization, at what point can you start justifying MOSS 2007 and can you still just use the Office to CompanyWeb integration in SBS2003?”

There really is no generic answer to this, and it really depends on how your organization sees value. MOSS has several value propositions, but you need to see if they match your organizations needs. From a search perspective, MOSS 2007 can search and index SharePoint 2003 sites. So if you think you can benefit from improved search this may be one reason to look at it. Integration of Office documents, managing document workflow and lifecycle (including version control) is another reason. Ultimately it depends on the goals of your organization.

“What happens when you click the RSS link on the search results page?”

It allows you to subscribe to the RSS feed for those results, which would then be a feed that would be updated with new items as they become available.

“Why was ‘Ofice’ not in the zero results report?”

Ah.. because I restarted that virtual machine when we had all that trouble.. so it hadn't happened yet. Otherwise it would have been there.

“What is the survey link for this session?”

Yeah… thanks for your willingness to fill out the full survey. They’re currently working to resolve the issue of profile information not showing up for pre-registered users. To complete the survey, click here: https://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=5587349