Configure a stand-alone deployment or a multiple server deployment (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint)

 

Applies to: FAST Search Server 2010

This article describes how to configure either a stand-alone deployment (single server deployment) or a multiple server deployment by running the post-setup configuration wizard.

Before you can run the post-setup configuration wizard to do the initial configuration of the servers, follow the steps in Install FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint.

Select one of the following:

  1. Configure a stand-alone deployment

    or

  2. Configure a multiple server deployment

  • A stand-alone deployment is useful when you want a deployment for product evaluation or demonstration, a small-scale deployment with minimal administrative overhead, or a development environment or test environment. A stand-alone deployment is an installation of FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint on a single server. All required components are installed on this server.

  • A multiple server deployment is recommended for most production environments, except small deployments without any fault-tolerance requirements. A multiple server deployment is an installation of FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint services on multiple servers. During configuration, one server is defined as the administration server, which is the server where the administrative services are installed and run. The deployment is scaled out by adding one or more non-administration servers. A non-administration server does not have the administrative services set up, but connects to a running administration server in a multiple server deployment. The non-administration server runs services such as query matching, indexing and document/item processing.

Configure a stand-alone deployment (single server deployment)

This section describes how to configure a stand-alone deployment (single server deployment) by running the configuration wizard.

In this section:

  1. Configure a stand-alone deployment

  2. Verify that all modules are running

Configure a stand-alone deployment

  1. From the Start menu, run Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint Configuration Wizard as a local administrator.

  2. On the Welcome page, click Next.

  3. On the Select the deployment type page, select Single server (stand-alone) and then click Next.

  4. On the Enter the user name and password page, enter the user name and password for the FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint user. This user must be a domain user. Refer to Required permissions for more information.

  5. On the Enter a certificate password page, enter a certificate password of your choice. This password will be used to protect the general purpose FAST Search certificate (see also Manage certificates (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint)). You will need this password to install certificates on other servers. Retype the password and then click Next.

  6. On the Server settings page, enter the fully qualified domain name of the server and the base port. A deployment file will be generated automatically with all the settings configured.

    Note

    If you require a specific setup, you can create and use a custom deployment file. If you want to do this, select Use an existing deployment file, and then enter the Deployment file location. Refer to deployment.xml reference for more information.

  7. On the Database settings page, enter connection information to the SQL database that you installed and created before you installed FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint. Enter the Database connection string in the format <ServerName>\<DBInstanceName> (Example: mysqlserver1.contoso.com\myinstance).

    To determine the database connection string: On the server where the SQL Server is installed, open SQL Server Configuration Manager from the Start menu. Under SQL Server Services, you see the SQL Server main service. The service name contains the connection string in parentheses.

    Enter the Database name and Database port. The database will be created when you complete the configuration wizard. Click Next.

  8. On the Click-through relevancy settings page, add the desired relevancy click-through settings. Click-through relevancy enables automatic relevancy tuning based on how search users click on results. Select the relevant Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 installation type.

    • If you have installed SharePoint Server 2010 using the Standalone option, specify the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) of the SharePoint Server 2010.

    • If you have installed SharePoint Server 2010 using the Server Farm option, specify the user who is running the Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Timer Service. This user is specified in the SharePoint Server 2010 post-setup configuration.

    • If you do not want click-through relevancy, or if you do not have the necessary information, select Do not enable click-through relevancy.

    Click Next.

  9. On the Configuration settings summary page, review the settings and then click Configure.

    Wait while the configuration finishes.

  10. On the Post-setup configuration was successful page, click Finish.

    Note

    If the configuration fails, you will see an error message with a link to the relevant log file if possible. For information about how to troubleshoot a configuration failure, see Installation: Configuration wizard fails (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint).

  11. Before you restart the server, make sure that administrative permissions are defined. Update the local FASTSearchAdministrators group (which was created by the configuration wizard) to include either the user who will administer the FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint farm, or the domain group of your FAST Search Administrators.

  12. Restart the server.

Verify that all modules are running

  1. Log in as a user who is a member of the local FASTSearchAdministrators group.

  2. On the Start menu, click All Programs.

  3. Click Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint.

  4. Right-click Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint shell and select Run as administrator.

  5. At the Windows PowerShell command prompt, type the following command:

    nctrl status

  6. Make sure that all modules have the status Running.

Next step

You have now completed the initial configuration of a stand-alone deployment. To be able to crawl content by using the connector framework provided by SharePoint Server, follow the steps in Create and set up the Content Search Service Application (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint) to create and set up the FAST Search Content Search Service Application (Content SSA).

Configure a multiple server deployment

This section describes how to configure a multiple server deployment by running the configuration wizard. For more information about how to plan your farm topology, see Plan search topology (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint).

In this section:

  1. Prepare the deployment file

  2. Configure the administration server in a multiple server deployment

  3. Verify that all modules are running on the administration server

  4. Configure the non-administration server(s) in a multiple server deployment

  5. Verify that all modules are running on the non-administration server

Prepare the deployment file

The deployment file, deployment.xml, specifies the distribution of components and services across servers in a FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint farm. Each FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint farm has one deployment file. Each server in the farm can read the deployment file and determine the services that run locally on that server. Each server also determines the location of other services that it communicates with.

The deployment file is a required input parameter when you run the configuration wizard (or configuration script) on the administration server. Non-administration servers will download the deployment file from the administration server, determine which services should run on the local server, and start these services.

An example deployment.xml template is shown later in this document: Deployment.xml template. You can also find example deployment.xml templates directly under <FASTSearchFolder>\etc\, where <FASTSearchFolder> is the path of the folder where you have installed FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint, for example C:\FASTSearch.

For information about how to prepare the deployment file, see deployment.xml reference.

The completed deployment file to be used for the installation must be named deployment.xml.

The FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint administrator can reconfigure the deployment by adding or removing servers or services in the deployment file. For more information about reconfiguring, see Reconfigure the farm deployment (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint).

Deployment.xml template

The following template shows a multiple server deployment file, with three servers.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> 
<deployment comment="FAST Search Server three node deployment example" xmlns="https://www.microsoft.com/enterprisesearch">
  <instanceid>FASTSearchMultiNodeDemo</instanceid> 
  <!-- 
 NOTE: Host names "fastserver1.contoso.com", "fastserver2.contoso.com" and "fastserver3.contoso.com"
       must be changed to the actual server names in use 
  --> 
  <connector-databaseconnectionstring /> 
  <host name="fastserver1.contoso.com">
    <admin /> 
    <indexing-dispatcher /> 
    <content-distributor /> 
    <webanalyzer server="true" link-processing="true" lookup-db="true" /> 
    <document-processor processes="2" /> 
  </host>
  <host name="fastserver2.contoso.com">
    <searchengine row="0" column="0" /> 
  </host>
  <host name="fastserver3.contoso.com">
    <searchengine row="1" column="0" /> 
    <query /> 
  </host>
  <searchcluster>
    <row id="0" index="primary" search="true" /> 
    <row id="1" index="none" search="true" /> 
  </searchcluster>
</deployment>

Configure the administration server in a multiple server deployment

This section describes how to configure a server as the administration server in a multiple server deployment by running the configuration wizard. The administration server must be configured and running before you can add one or more non-administration servers to the deployment.

Make sure to follow these steps as a user who is a member of the local Administrators group.

  1. Prepare a deployment file as described in the deployment.xml reference document.

  2. From the Start menu, run the Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint Configuration Wizard.

  3. On the Welcome page, click Next.

  4. On the Select the deployment type page, select Admin server and then click Next.

  5. On the Enter the user name and password page, enter the user name and password for the FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint user. This user must be a domain user.

  6. On the Enter a certificate password page, enter a certificate password of your choice. This password will be used to protect the general purpose FAST Search certificate (see also Manage certificates (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint)). You will need this password to install certificates on other servers. Retype the password and then click Next.

  7. On the Server settings page, enter the fully qualified domain name of the server and the base port. Make sure that the server name is the same as the administration server that is defined in deployment.xml.

    In the Deployment file location box, enter the path of the deployment.xml file that you created. If there is an error in your deployment.xml file, you will get a warning. If no warnings or errors appear, your deployment.xml file syntax is correct. Click Next.

  8. On the Database settings page, enter the connection information to the SQL database that you installed and created before you installed FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint. Enter the Database connection string in the format <ServerName>\<DBInstanceName> (Example: mysqlserver1.contoso.com\myinstance). Enter the Database name and Database port. The database will be created when you complete this configuration wizard. Click Next.

  9. On the Click-through relevancy settings page, add the desired relevancy click-through settings. Click-through relevancy enables automatic relevancy tuning based on how search users click on results. Select the relevant SharePoint Server 2010 installation type.

    • If you have installed SharePoint Server 2010 using the Standalone option, specify the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) of the SharePoint Server 2010.

    • If you have installed SharePoint Server 2010 using the Server Farm option, specify the user who is running the timer service in SharePoint Server 2010. This user is specified in the SharePoint Server 2010 post-setup configuration.

    • If you do not want click-through relevancy, or if you do not have the necessary information, select Do not enable click-through relevancy.

    Click Next.

  10. On the Configuration settings summary page, review the settings and then click Configure.

    Wait while the configuration finishes.

  11. On the Post-setup configuration was successful page, click Finish.

    Note

    If the configuration fails, you will see an error message with a link to the relevant log file if possible. For information about how to troubleshoot a configuration failure, see Installation: Configuration wizard fails (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint).

  12. Before you restart the server, make sure that administrative permissions are defined. Update the local FASTSearchAdministrators group (which was created by the configuration wizard) to include either the user who will administer the FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint farm, or the domain group of your FAST Search Administrators.

  13. Restart the server.

Verify that all modules are running on the administration server

  1. Log in as a user who is a member of the local FASTSearchAdministrators group.

  2. On the Start menu, click All Programs.

  3. Click Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint.

  4. Right-click Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint shell and select Run as administrator.

  5. At the Windows PowerShell command prompt, type the following command:

    nctrl status

  6. Make sure that all modules have the status Running.

Configure the non-administration server(s) in a multiple server deployment

By default, all servers in a multiple server deployment, except the administration server, are non-administration servers. In this section, you will configure each non-administration server that is specified in your deployment file as a non-administration server by running the configuration wizard. As part of this configuration process, the server will connect to the administration server to join the FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint farm.

First, verify that the newly configured administration server is running, by following the steps in Verify that all modules are running on the administration server.

On each non-administration server, do the following:

  1. Log in as a user who is a member of the local Administrators group.

  2. On the Start menu, right-click Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint Configuration Wizard, and select Run as administrator.

  3. On the Welcome page, click Next.

  4. On the Select the deployment type page, select Non-admin server and then click Next.

  5. On the Enter the user name and password page, enter the user name and password for the FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint user. This must be the same user as you specified for the administration server during post-setup configuration.

  6. On the Enter a certificate password page, enter the certificate password. Use the password that was used for the certificate in the administration server post-setup configuration. Click Next.

  7. On the Server settings page, enter the fully qualified domain name of the server. Make sure that the server name is the same as the corresponding server name that is defined in deployment.xml.

    Enter the fully qualified domain name and the base port of the administration server and then click Next.

  8. On the Configuration settings summary page, review the settings and then click Configure.

    Wait while the configuration finishes.

  9. On the Post-setup configuration was successful page, click Finish.

    Note

    If the configuration fails, you will see an error message with a link to the relevant log file if possible. For information about how to troubleshoot a configuration failure, see Installation: Configuration wizard fails (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint).

  10. Before you restart the server, make sure that administrative permissions are defined. Update the local FASTSearchAdministrators group (which was created by the configuration wizard) to include either the user who will administer the FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint farm, or the domain group of your FAST Search Administrators.

  11. Restart the server.

    Important

    Skip this step if you perform this procedure during recovery after an indexer server failure (the procedures described in Replace a failed primary indexer server and Replace a failed backup indexer server).

Verify that all modules are running on the non-administration server

  1. Log in as a user who is a member of the local FASTSearchAdministrators group.

  2. On the Start menu, click All Programs.

  3. Click Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint.

  4. Right-click Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint shell and select Run as administrator.

  5. At the Windows PowerShell command prompt, type the following command:

    nctrl status

  6. Make sure that all modules have the status Running.

Next step

You have now completed the initial configuration of a multiple server deployment. To be able to crawl content by using the connector framework provided by SharePoint Server, follow the steps in Create and set up the Content Search Service Application (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint) to create and set up the FAST Search Content Search Service Application (Content SSA).

See Also

Concepts

Deployment for FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint
Install FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint
Plan search topology (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint)
Run scripted installation (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint)
Reconfigure the farm deployment (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint)
Manage certificates (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint)
Enable click-through relevancy after initial configuration (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint)