Overview of Business Intelligence Indexing Connector architecture (SharePoint Server 2010)

 

Applies to: SharePoint Server 2010

Important

The Microsoft Business Intelligence Indexing Connector free download was removed from the download site. Customers who have downloaded the Business Intelligence Indexing Connector as of March 2011 will continue to be supported as per standard support procedures. However, Business Intelligence Indexing Connector will not be tested or supported for SharePoint Server 2010 Service Pack 1.

This article describes the topology for a multi-server deployment of Microsoft Business Intelligence Indexing Connector added to Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint (the back end) and SharePoint Server (the front end). One server is defined as the admin server, where administrative services are installed and run. The deployment can be scaled out to create a multiple-server deployment by adding one or more non-admin servers. A non-admin server does not have the administrative services set up, but connects to a running admin server in a multiple-server deployment. The non-admin server runs services such as search, indexing, and document processing. For more information, see Plan the search solution (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint).

Business intelligence indexing connector

Setup for FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint (back end)

The FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint admin and document-processor servers must have Business Intelligence Indexing Connector installed. In Business Intelligence Indexing Connector configuration wizard, you have the option to enable crawling functionality for external data sources. By default, the feature is disabled. Business Intelligence Indexing Connector extends the existing IFilter interface for Office on the FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint crawl servers. The following kinds of files are crawled and processed by the Business Intelligence Indexing Connector.

  • Microsoft Office Excel 2007 and Microsoft Excel 2010 workbooks (.xlsx)

  • Microsoft Macro-Enabled workbooks (.xlsm)

  • SQL Server Reporting Services and Report Builder 3.0 reports (.rdl)

For more information about installation, see Install and configure BI Indexing Connector (back end).

Setup for SharePoint Server 2010 (front end)

Business Intelligence Indexing Connector client setup is a feature that can be enabled on the SharePoint Server farm. It customizes the specified FAST search site. The setup occurs when you install the SharePoint Solution Pack. For more information, see Install or uninstall SharePoint Solution Pack for BI Indexing Connector (front end).

Logical architecture

The following is a closer look at the architecture for Business Intelligence Indexing Connector.

Architecture for BI Indexing Connector