Planning for Search Appliance Installation
For information about specific feature limitations, see Specifications and Usage Limits.
For planning information for other software versions and search appliance models, see the Archive page (https://support.google.com/gsa/answer/2812980), which contains links to previous versions of the search appliance documentation.
About This Document
How Does the Search Appliance Work?
Installation
Setting up the software on a search appliance includes the following tasks:
If you are indexing content in a content management system, you must also install a connector manager and the connector for the particular content management system. Review the documentation set for the correct connector software version (https://support.google.com/gsa/topic/4566684), which provides information on preinstallation tasks, required software, and required hardware for the connector manager and connectors.
Crawl
If the search appliance is crawling a web site, the crawl software issues HTTP requests to retrieve content files in the locations defined by the URLs and to retrieve files from links discovered in crawled content. If the search appliance is crawling a file share, the crawl software uses the SMB or common Internet file system (CIFS) protocol to locate and retrieve the content files. For more information on crawl, see Administering Crawl, which also includes checklists of crawl-related tasks in the Crawl Quick Reference.
Traversal
Feeds
For more information on feeding, see the Feeds Protocol Developer’s Guide and External Metadata Indexing Guide.
Indexing
Indexing is the process of adding the content from the crawled documents to the index.
Serving
You can customize the behavior and appearance of the search page from the Admin Console, which you use to administer and configure the search appliance. For complete information on customizing the search page and other aspects of the user experience, see Creating the Search Experience.
About the End User License Agreement
How Do I Plan My Installation?
For Sites or Locations with New Content
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For Sites or Locations with Existing Content
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What Character Encoding Should Content Files and Feeds Use?
What Hardware and Software Do I Need?
You need the following hardware and software to install and support the search appliance:
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A web browser, which must be a current version of Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Chrome. The Guide to Software Release 7.4 lists the supported browsers.
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What Does the Google Search Appliance Shipping Box Contain?
The Google Search Appliance shipping box contains the following:
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What File Types Can Be Indexed?
The Google Search Appliance can crawl and index more than 200 different file formats, including:
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The exact file formats and versions depend on the software version installed on a particular search appliance. For a complete list, see Indexable File Formats.
What File Sizes Can Be Indexed?
To change the default amount, use the Index > Index Settings page in the Admin Console.
What Content Locations Can Be Crawled or Traversed?
The Google Search Appliance can crawl files located on an intranet or a web site.
If you install a connector, the Google Search Appliance can also traverse content located in a content repository such as FileNet or Documentum. For more information, see the Google Search Appliance Connector documentation.
Content on a web site is crawled using the HTTP or HTTPS protocol.
For more information on creating virtual directories, see the Windows Help system.
How Many URLs Can Be Crawled?
How Do I Control Security?
For information on how to configure crawl for your security model, see Administering Crawl. For information on how to integrate your search appliance with different authentication and authorization models, see Managing Search for Controlled-Access Content.
How Can My Security Model Improve Performance?
Using policy ACLs and per-URL ACLs to control which users have access to content located in particular URLs speeds up the process of authorization and improves search appliance performance. For more information on ACLs, see Managing Search for Controlled-Access Content.
Can the Search Appliance Use a Dedicated Network Interface Card for Administration?
What Ports Does the Search Appliance Use?
Ports Used at All Times
The following table lists the outbound search appliance ports.
Crawls secure content and connects to the SupportCall server. |
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Used for exporting logs for the preinstalled connector manager at the URL https://search_appliance_location:7885/connector-manager/getConnectorLogs/ALL |
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The following table lists the inbound search appliance ports.
Additional Ports Used When the Dedicated Administrative Network Interface Card is Enabled
When the dedicated network interface card is enabled on a search appliance, the ports in the following table are visible only on the dedicated interface card except for SSH (22). Port 22 is always available on both the main (yellow) NIC and on the dedicated administrative NIC. All other port usage remains as detailed in the section Ports Used at All Times.
What User Accounts Do I Need?
You need the following accounts to use with the search appliance:
How are Administration Accounts Authenticated?
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Under Local Authentication, administrators and managers are authenticated using credentials you enter directly on the Admin Console.
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Under LDAP Authentication, administrators and managers are authenticated against an LDAP server. To use this option, you must initially connect to the Admin Console using the admin account and the password you assign the account during configuration, then provide settings for the LDAP administrator group and the LDAP server itself. After you save the LDAP information, LDAP authentication for administrators and managers takes effect.
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Under Local and LDAP authentication, the search appliance attempts to authenticate administrators and managers against both the local credentials and the LDAP server. If an account can be authenticated against either the local credentials or the LDAP server, the login attempt succeeds.
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How Do I Obtain Technical Support?
For complete information on obtaining technical support, refer to the web page at http://www.google.com/support/enterprise/go/gsa_support.
Support Requirements
Under the terms of the Support Agreements for the Google Search Appliance, Google for Work Support requires direct access to your search appliance to provide some types of support. For example, direct access is needed to determine whether your search appliance is eligible to be returned to Google and exchanged for a new search appliance. Different access methods have different requirements. The requirements for remote access are discussed in Remote access methods for technical support (https://support.google.com/gsa/answer/2644822).
How is Power Supplied to the Search Appliance?
How is Data Destroyed on a Returned Search Appliance?
What Values Do I Need for the Installation Process?
Required Values
Before you install and configure the Google Search Appliance, obtain the following required values and write them in the column labeled Your Value. Most of these values will be provided by your network administrator.
Optional Values
What Tasks Do I Need to Perform Before I Install?
Required Tasks
Before you install and configure the Google Search Appliance, perform the following required tasks.
Ensure that the search appliance host name is configured in the network’s DNS. |
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Ensure that the search appliance can crawl content files located anywhere on the network. |
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Mount the search appliance on a rack or otherwise place it in the desired location. |
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If you have firewall software running on the computer, ensure that the firewall is configured so that you can open the network configuration wizard on the search appliance at http://192.168.255.1:1111/. |
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The search appliance can autonegotiate network speed and duplex settings. |
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The processing unit label is printed with a service tag and a number in the format U1-xxxxxxxxxxxxx. The storage unit that must be used with that processing unit has a label with its service tag and the same number that is on the processing unit. |
Optional Tasks
If the search appliance must access content through a proxy server, set up the proxies. |
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Electrical and Other Technical Requirements
The G100 and G500 complies with the following ASHRAE guidelines:
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The following table shows requirements for the G100 and G500.
The following table shows requirements for the GB-7007 and GB-9009.