Configure a dedicated front-end Web server for crawling by using the user interface (Search Server 2008)

  • Article

Applies To: Microsoft Search Server 2008

 

Topic Last Modified: 2009-06-26

Before you perform this procedure, confirm that:

Use the following procedures in the order listed to configure a dedicated front-end Web server for crawling by using the Configure Office SharePoint Server Search Service Settings on server page in Central Administration.

In this article:

  • Ensure that the dedicated front-end Web server for crawling is not in the network load balancing rotation

  • Start the Windows SharePoint Services Web Application service on the front-end Web server

  • Specify the dedicated front-end Web server to use for crawling

  • Verify that the Hosts file is correct

Ensure that the dedicated front-end Web server for crawling is not in the network load balancing rotation

Because crawling content typically places the front-end Web server under heavy load, we recommend that you remove the dedicated front-end Web server from the network load balancing rotation. Otherwise, user requests that the network load balancer directs to the dedicated front-end Web server for crawling will be subjected to inconsistent performance. For more information about network load balancing, see Remove a host from a Network Load Balancing cluster (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=91030).

Start the Windows SharePoint Services Web Application service on the front-end Web server

You must ensure that the Windows SharePoint Services Web Application service is running on the front-end Web server that you want to use for crawling content.

Important

You must be a farm administrator to complete this procedure.

Starting the Windows SharePoint Services Web Application service

  1. In Central Administration, on the Operations tab, in the Topology and Services section, click Servers in farm.

  2. On the Servers in Farm page, in the Server column, click the name of the server that you want to configure as your dedicated front-end Web server for crawling.

  3. On the Services on Server page, in the Start services in the table below section, find the Windows SharePoint Services Web Application row. Verify that the Status column displays Started. If this service is started, no further action is needed. Otherwise, click Start.

Specify the dedicated front-end Web server to use for crawling

Important

You must be a farm administrator to complete this procedure.

Specifying the front-end Web server to use for crawling

  1. In Central Administration, on the Operations tab, click Servers in farm.

  2. On the Servers in Farm page, in the Server column, click the name of the index server.

  3. On the Services on Server page, in the Service column, click Office SharePoint Server Search.

  4. On the Configure Office SharePoint Server Search Service Settings on server page, in the Web Front End And Crawling section, select Use a dedicated web front end computer for crawling and then select the computer that you want to use from the list.

  5. Click OK.

Verify that the Hosts file is correct

Important

You must be a server administrator to complete this procedure.

After completing the previous procedure, the Office SharePoint Server Search service automatically updates the Hosts file with the IP address of the dedicated front-end Web server that you specified for crawling.

Note

The Office SharePoint Server Search service uses the Hosts file to locate the IP address of the front-end Web server to use for crawling instead of using a domain name server (DNS).

In some cases, the Office SharePoint Server Service updates the Hosts file with an incorrect IP address, which could prevent you from accessing any SharePoint sites on your sever farm. Such an error can occur if the servers in your farm have been configured with multiple static IP addresses or have implemented network load balancing. Because of this, we highly recommend that you verify that the Office SharePoint Server Search service updated the Hosts file with the IP address of the front-end Web server that you specified for crawling.

Use the following procedure to view the Hosts file to determine if the correct IP address for the server that you specified as the dedicated front-end Web server for crawling was added.

View the Hosts file

  1. Log on to the index server as a member of the Administrators group.

  2. Navigate to <systemdrive>:\winnt\system32\drivers\etc.

  3. Open the Hosts file in a text editor, such as Notepad.

  4. View the IP addresses assigned to the server that you specified as the front-end Web server for crawling.

    Note

    The IP address that the Office SharePoint Server Search service adds to the Hosts file is appended with a comment similar to the following:

    #Added by Office SharePoint Server Search (5/1/2007 1:26 PM)

If the Office SharePoint Server Search service did add the wrong IP address to the Hosts file, do the following:

  1. Repeat the steps in Specify the front-end Web server to use for crawling and select Use all web front-end computers for crawling in step 4 to remove the entries from the Hosts file.

  2. Update the Hosts file directly to configure a dedicated front-end Web server for crawling. For more information, see Configure a dedicated front-end Web server for crawling by editing the Hosts file (Search Server 2008).

See Also

Concepts

Estimate performance and capacity requirements for Search Server 2008
Configure a dedicated front-end Web server for crawling (Search Server 2008)
Configure a dedicated front-end Web server for crawling by editing the Hosts file (Search Server 2008)