Verify the status of the backup indexer (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint)

 

Applies to: FAST Search Server 2010

This article describes how to verify if the Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint backup indexer is synchronized with the primary indexer.

Verify this status whenever there has been any downtime on one of the indexer servers or you have observed issues with indexing or search availability.

In this article:

  • Verify the status of the backup indexer by using SCOM.

    You may use this procedure if you already use SCOM for monitoring your FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint farm.

  • Verify the status of the backup indexer by using RC.

    RC is a FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint tool that can be used to collect monitoring data from different components of the farm.

  • About FiXML files.

Verify the status by using SCOM

To verify the status of the backup indexer by using SCOM

  1. Ensure that you have installed Microsoft System Operations Manager (SCOM) 2007 SP1 or R2 and the FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint Management Pack for SCOM.

  2. Open System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) 2007 Performance Monitor.

  3. For each backup indexer server, view the performance counters for FAST Search Indexer. View the counter ManualFTSyncNeeded.

    If this counter has the value "1.000", you must manually synchronize the indexer servers. For more information, see Synchronize the primary and the backup indexer servers (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint).

Verify the status by using RC

To verify the status of the backup indexer by using RC

  1. Verify that you meet the following minimum requirements: You are a member of the FASTSearchAdministrators local group on the computer where FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint is installed.

  2. On the Start menu, click All Programs.

  3. Click Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint.

  4. Click Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint shell.

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

    rc -r | Select-String "manual FT sync needed","indexer column id"
    

    All indexers must report "0" for manual ft sync needed. If any of them report "1", you must manually synchronize the indexers. For more information, see Synchronize the primary and the backup indexer servers (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint).

    In the following example command output for a deployment with three index columns we can see that one indexer server is out of sync in index column 2.

    PS C:\FASTSearch> rc -r | Select-String "manual FT sync needed","indexer column id" indexer column id                         : 0 manual ft sync needed                     : 0 indexer column id                                : 0 manual ft sync needed                            : 0 indexer column id                         : 1 manual ft sync needed                     : 0 indexer column id                                : 1 manual ft sync needed                            : 0 indexer column id                         : 2 manual ft sync needed                     : 0 indexer column id                                : 2 manual ft sync needed                            : 1

About FiXML files

After item processing, the crawled items are distributed to individual index columns based on a statistical routing algorithm. The routing algorithm ensures that items are evenly distributed across the columns, and also ensures that updates to an item are routed to the correct column.

The items are stored in an XML-based pre-index format (FiXML files). The indexer uses the FiXML files as input to the indexing process.

In a fault-tolerant indexer setup, the primary indexer copies the FiXML files to the backup indexer. Manual recovery is required if a backup indexer gets out of sync with the primary index and is unable to recover automatically.

See Also

Reference

rc.exe reference

Concepts

Manage high availability of the content index (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint)
Synchronize the primary and the backup indexer servers (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint)
Replace a failed primary indexer server (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint)
Replace a failed backup indexer server (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint)
Monitor FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint with SCOM