Experience Management

Expert Search is an important feature from Google Search Appliance (GSA). The default frontend provided out of the box support to Expert Search since 7.0. Here are a few major bullet points that involve Expert search configuration and result display. Configuration of Expert Search for frontend via Admin console (For 7.0, Social Connector → Expert […]

When customizing the XSLT stylesheet for Expert Search, I noticed many places where elements starting with /GSP/ExpertSearchConfig/ were referred. However, I have never found any Google document to explain them. From the usage of those elements in the XSLT stylesheet, they looked like the display layout configuration for Expert Search results. Given the fact that […]

I have always been impressed with Google’s attention to detail.  The custom yellow shell around the Google Search Appliance is completely useless, but I suspect it has enhanced the value of their trademark.  GMail’s reminder when you mention an attachment in your message but forget to actually attach a document is downright useful. Two recent examples caught my attention, and […]

With Google Search Appliance (GSA) connector framework 3.x, user group lookup is an essential part of user authorization when searching for controlled-access content, especially for early binding. During controlled-access content search, GSA first authenticates user with the authentication mechanism configured. After the user identity is resolved, GSA will pass it to the connector for group […]

Quite often we need have last access time for File share content. Google File System connector 3.x does not support it out of the box. Since Google engineers already added retrieving the information to JCIFS code base to reset last access time for SMB content  (yes, Google connector is using a modified version of JCIFS), […]

The Google Search Appliance has historically required Connectors to facilitate the indexing of non-HTTP content repositories.  A Connector is a program that sits between the GSA and a repository, and pushes the GSA everything it needed to know to index the repository (including the content, metadata, and security information).  A Connector can use any technique to interrogate the repository […]

Out of the Box The Google Search Appliance ships with a full-function — but no thrills — XSL template (XSLT) that we refer to as the ‘out of the box’ user interface.  It looks a little bit like google.com did a few years ago – lots of blue and white, and very few graphics.  But […]

GSA Mirroring, or GSA^n, is simply the ability to link two or more appliances together so that they share the same configuration and search index. This article is an introduction to this powerful technique that should be in every search administrator’s toolkit. The most common reason for mirroring is high availability. A mirror appliance can […]

Congratulations, you have either purchased or are interested in purchasing the Google Search Appliance.  You will soon be able to search until your heart is content.  Your friends will be jealous. Now might be a good time to think about the staff required to deploy and maintain your cool new toy investment. The Google Search Appliance, being […]

If you read Chad Johnson’s recent post, Why do I need metadata?, you may be thinking: “Metadata sounds great in theory but the level of effort is too high!” I won’t deny the value of metadata entered carefully by hand, but it can be very labor-intensive to do this for large body of content. Fortunately, with Google Search Appliance […]

In my last post, I discussed several ways that metadata can be used in a Google Search Appliance solution.  But where does metadata come from? Let’s hold on to that question for just a second, and start with an even simpler one. What is metadata? Every record in a Google Search Appliance (such a document, a web page)  […]

Enterprise search tools have been around for many years and it is the easiest way for us be more productive by uncovering the value of information assets stored in our databases and file shares. Then why are there so many studies and articles showing that knowledge workers spend at least 15 to 25%of their workday searching […]