Configuring Communicator Web Access Search Properties

Topic Last Modified: 2010-02-23

When a user types a name into the Search box in the Communicator Web Access client window and then presses ENTER, Communicator Web Access searches Active Directory for the name that was entered. As an administrator, you have several options available for customizing how this search is conducted and for specifying how many results are returned per search.

Search criteria are configured on a per-site basis. This means that you can have different search criteria for an internal virtual server than you have for an external virtual server. You cannot use the Communicator Web Access snap-in to configure Search criteria. Instead, you must manage search settings by using WMI. This typically means that you have to write a script or use Wbemtest.exe, a WMI tool included with the Windows operating system.

One important property that you can configure by using WMI is the default search field (that is, DefaultSearchField). When you search for a contact in Active Directory, Communicator Web Access searches two Active Directory attribute values: the user’s display name and the user’s e-mail address. However, administrators can change these default search values. Instead of display name and e-mail address, you can use any (or all) of the attributes and values shown in the following table.

For example, to modify the site properties so that searches are conducted only on e-mail addresses, you set the value of DefaultSearchField to 8. For details, see the procedure “To change WMI settings using Wbemtest.exe” later in this topic. You can also sum the values in the table in order to search on multiple attributes – with limitations. You can only search on 1 or 2 attributes. For example, to search on both first name and last name, set DefaultSearchField to 3: 1 (first name) + 2 (last name). An example of a setting for the DefaultSearchField that would fail is 11: 1 (first name) + 2 (last name) + 8 (e-mail address). The list of valid entries:

1. 1 - First Name
2. 2 - Last Name
3. 3 - First Name and Last Name
4. 4 - Display Name
5. 5 - First Name and Display Name
6. 6 - Last Name and Display Name
7. 8 - E-Mail Address
8. 9 - First Name and E-Mail Address
9. 10 - Last Name and E-Mail Address
10. 12 - Display Name and E-Mail Address

In addition to defining the search fields you can use WMI to configure search limits and quotas. You do this by modifying one or more of the following properties:

• SearchMaxServerResults. The maximum number of search results that Active Directory returns to the Communicator Web Access server. The minimum value for this property is 1 and the maximum value is 1000. This is important because users do not have to type in an entire name in order to conduct a search. For example, if a user types the letter “a” and then presses ENTER, Communicator Web Access searches Active Directory for all users whose display name begins with the letter “a.” In a domain with a lot of user accounts this could result in hundreds of names being returned.
• SearchMaxClientResults. The maximum number of search results that the client displays. This value should not exceed the value of SearchMaxServerResults. The results that the client displays are the first SearchMaxClientResults results out of the total SearchMaxServerResults results returned by Active Directory. For example, if SearchMaxServerResults is set to 500 and SearchMaxClientResults is set to 25, the client displays only the first set of 25 results from the larger set of 500. The minimum value for this property is 1 and the maximum value is 300.
• MaxQueuedSearches. The maximum number of search requests that can be in the server’s search queue at any given time. The minimum value for this property is 1 and the maximum value is 500.