We have posted the first 16 sections of Step-by-Step: Installation and Configuration of a Google Enterprise Search Platform. These initial sections offer a basic, practical guide to how The Findability Project, with its project specs as ground zero, proceeded with installation of the Windows server software and settings, installation and configuration of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS), and basic configuration of the SharePoint document site.

Much more is coming. These first several steps simply set the stage for getting into deployment of the Google Search Appliance (GSA), what we think are the more interesting and challenging parts. Among other things, upcoming are documentation of how to install and configure the connector to the GSA, and walkthroughs explaining how we have configured our GSA to accomplish the goals of the project.

(Kudos to Ed Lachgar, IT extraordinaire at Legal Services of Northern California for writing up these first 16 sections.)

We have completed the initial “blunt instrument” build of the hardware and software infrastructure for the Findability Project. Refinements will be detailed here later — and there are many that must and will be done — but here is a breakdown of our basic enterprise search platform:

• Windows Server 2003 – this is the software platform backbone, so to speak. To be detailed later in a separate posting, all local LSNC office-specific network shared file servers have been built out using Windows 2003 Server, which allows installation of SharePoint Server 2007, the open source Google SharePoint Connector and Windows Server 2003 Active Directory, described below. Windows 2003 Server is a robust secure server which allows local and subdomain user authentication for multiple locations. It also provides centralized authentication for SharePoint access as part of the universal, shared domain login available to all LSNC offices.
• Windows Server 2003-certified ASUS PM52-M motherboard – if you’re going to build a platform suited to working with Windows Server 2003, it is not just a matter of purchasing a server that nominally meets basic system requirements. You also need to ensure it is certified to do just that. It is not the only such option, but the ASUS PM52-M motherboard is so certified. There are numerous other Intel chipsets that are not. This is a distinction that matters.
• SharePoint Server 2007 – this will be detailed in later posts as well, but the elevator pitch is that SharePoint Server 2007 has been installed on a single server in the LSNC Sacramento office (a k a “The Mothership”). SharePoint Server provides an array of features and functionality, some but not all of which will be exploited as part of the Findability Project, with their integration with the Google Search Appliance (GSA). Among other things, SharePoint Server provides a web-based interface for sharing and managing domain-site content across a common network. (You know, like documents and files and web pages and stuff like that.) Out of the box, SharePoint also provides a capable, basic document management system for data indexing, creating collaborative sites, and adding metadata.
• Google SharePoint Connector – available as an open source project at the Google Code site, the Google SharePoint Connector provides a seamless connection between the GSA and the Windows and Sharepoint servers. This connection uses Active Directory authentication for managing content permissions as well as the interface for the GSA to access and crawl all the domain content.
• Google Search Appliance (GSA) – think of the GSA as “He-Who-Must-Be-Named.” The Google Search Appliance is, quite literally the brain, the cerebral cortex, the heart and the soul of the Findability Project. Some call it the “Godhead.” Others call it “Big Yellow.” Whatever you call it, it is Google search mojo and magic in a high-end computer with the capacity to provide enterprise-level search capabilities for crawling and indexing any targeted content within our organization as well as external sites. If the organization has permission to a site, the GSA can crawl and index it, purée and shake and bake it six ways to Sunday and then return search results in all sorts of different ways. (Obviously, we will be writing up more about all that, later.)
• Microsoft Office 2003 – huh? Why are we not listing Microsoft Office 2007 here? We know this will come as a shocker to all, but it turns out that some of the key features in Microsoft SharePoint work better with the Microsoft Office 2003 suite than they do with the 2007 version. (Insert your own Microsoft joke here.) We expected issues with non-Microsoft apps (WordPerfect, Acrobat, and so on) but did not expect some of the hurdles we have encountered with Microsoft Office. Not to worry. We will get into the details and work-arounds in later posts, but the short version is that the reason for using Microsoft Office 2003 is that it allows itself all but universal and seamless integration of all the above technologies, using Active Directory authentication with the document management features available in SharePoint — most notably desktop application integration of features that enable users to add metadata.
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or later – IE is listed here because, at the system level, it is required for the type of enterprise search platform we’ve built. Not to worry. From the user side, everything works just fine with Firefox. But the network, system-level issue here is that IE 6.0 or later must be installed and configured on each workstation in a way that allows intranet and SharePoint integration with trusted domain-site functionality. The short version is that adding a network local site to trusted sites binds Active Directory authentication to the intranet web interface in SharePoint. Once properly configured, users can then rely on either IE or Firefox as their browser of choice. (We’ll explain it all later.)
• Microsoft ISA Server 2006 – still with us? OK, one more piece: the Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server allows offsite access to content returned in search results by providing an Active Directory authenticated external web interface. (If you got this far, odds are you know what that means.)