Using the Domain Search tool on your Lotus Domino server

Domino provides the ability to search for files across multiple servers using a tool called Domain Search. Database information that is searchable includes documents, files, and file attachments.

Setting up Domain Search requires a server to be designated as the indexing server. This server creates a master index that contains all of the results from search queries run in the domain. The database that is used by Domain Search is Domain Catalog. The databases in the domain are then searched by the indexing server using a search spider. Based on the size of the domain, this task could take a few hours, a few days, or a few weeks.

Indexing is an intensive task and proper consideration should be taken to make sure that the indexing server is adequately configured to handle the work. Multiple processors, disk arrays with high-speed access, and large amounts of RAM are recommended for the indexing server. Lotus recommends a dedicated indexing server if more than six servers in the domain will be participating in the Domain Search, but use this as a "rule of thumb" only based on the configuration of the domain. When a user's search is performed, the indexing server accesses the Domain Catalog and returns search results that are valid based on the user's access restrictions.

When setting up the Domain Search program, set the search spider to run at a time when server use is low, typically at night.

Follow these steps to set up the Domain Search:

1. Create the Domain Catalog on the indexing server. Create a new database using the CATALOG.NTF as the database template.
2. Using the Domino Administrator, open the Configuration tab and select the server to be used as the indexing server. Click Edit Server to open the Server document.
3. Navigate to the Server Tasks tab, choose the Domain Indexer tab, and select enabled for the Domain Catalog field. In the Limit Domain Wide Indexing to the Following Servers field, select the servers to add to the search.
4. Click Save & Close to save the document.
5. This task requires a server restart before it starts. Restart the server when possible and then verify that the Directory Indexer task has started by issuing a show tasks command at the server prompt.