• Article

Add or remove a crawl database (Search Server 2010)

 

Applies to: Search Server 2010

Topic Last Modified: 2010-02-22

Note

  • You can modify a search topology only if you selected the Server Farm installation option when you installed Microsoft Search Server 2010.

  • Microsoft Search Server 2010 Express is an entry-level enterprise search solution that has limited scalability. In Search Server 2010 Express, the topology components of each Search service application must be on one server. Although it is possible to add topology components on that server, in most cases it is not useful. For information about scalable solutions for enterprise search in Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products, see Technical diagrams (SharePoint Server 2010).

In Search Server 2010, a crawl database contains data related to the location of content sources, crawl schedules, and other information specific to crawl operations for a specific Search service application. You can distribute the database load by adding crawl databases to different computers that are running SQL Server. Crawl databases are associated with crawl components, and can be dedicated to specific hosts by creating host distribution rules. For more information about crawl components, see Add or remove a crawl component (Search Server 2010). For more information about host distribution rules, see Add or remove a host distribution rule (Search Server 2010).

To add a crawl database to a Search service application

  1. Verify that the user account that is performing this procedure is a member of the Farm Administrators group.

  2. In Central Administration, in the Application Management section, click Manage service applications.

  3. On the Service Applications page, click the name of the Search service application to which you want to add a crawl database.

  4. On the Search Administration page, in the Search Application Topology section, click the Modify button.

  5. On the Manage Search Topology page, click New, and then click Crawl Database.

  6. In the Add Crawl Database dialog box, in the Add Crawl Database section, specify a database server to which you want to add the crawl database, the database name, and database authentication information. By default, the Database Server field contains the host name and instance that is used to store the farm’s configuration database, and the Database Name field is pre-populated with a suggested name.

  7. In the Failover Database Server field, you can optionally specify a failover database server that is used in conjunction with SQL Server database mirroring.

    Important

    Do not enter a server name into this field unless SQL Server database mirroring is currently configured and operational.

  8. In the Dedicated Database section, you can select the Dedicate this crawl store to hosts as specified in Host Distribution Rules check box if appropriate.

    Note

    It is not possible to set a crawl store (that is, a crawl database) as dedicated after it has been created.

  9. Click OK to add the new crawl database to the job queue.

  10. On the Manage Search Topology page, click the Apply Topology Changes button to start the SharePoint timer job that will add the new crawl database to the specified SQL Server computer and make it available for association with crawl components.

    Note

    You can make other changes to the Search topology and then apply them all at the same time by clicking the Apply Topology Changes button.

To remove a crawl database from a Search service application

Important

Before you can delete a crawl database, you must remove associations with any crawl components, either by removing the crawl components or by assigning them to a different crawl database. If any crawl components are currently associated with the crawl database, the Delete option will not appear when you click the crawl database.

  1. Verify that the user account that is performing this procedure is a member of the Farm Administrators group.

  2. In Central Administration, in the Application Management section, click Manage service applications.

  3. On the Service Applications page, click the name of the Search service application from which you want to remove a crawl database.

  4. On the Search Administration page, in the Search Application Topology section, click the Modify button.

  5. On the Manage Search Topology page, click the crawl database that you want to remove, and then click Delete.

    Note

    If any crawl components are currently associated with the crawl database, the Delete option will not appear when you click the crawl database.

  6. In the message box, click OK to add the removal of the crawl database to the job queue.

  7. On the Manage Search Topology page, click the Apply Topology Changes button to start the SharePoint timer job that will delete the crawl database from the specified SQL Server computer and remove it from the farm.

    Note

    You can make other changes to the Search topology and then apply them all at the same time by clicking the Apply Topology Changes button.