Using ASP to View Site Server Search Catalog Properties
Introduction
The Search facility of Site Server 3.0 is invaluable for adding search facilities to
your website, especially when your content is spread over multiple websites. But the
problem of indexing multiple websites is that it can be difficult to keep track of how
large the catalogs are growing. This is a particular problem if you are not responsible
for the content on the websites you are indexing.
Obtaining Site Server Search Catalog Properties
The following short script will make it easy to have an at a glance look at the
properties of your search catalogs. The script connects to the Search server, and extracts
property information for each of the catalogs on that Search server.
The script has several parts. The first part creates a Search administration object.
Note that because I like my date and formats to be in UK English format (DD/MM/YY
HH:MM:SS) rather than US format (MM/DD/YY HH:MM:SS PM), the session’s locale
identifier (LCID) is set to 2057 (0809 Hex). If you are based in the US, this line can be
commented out.
<%
session.LCID = 2057 ' Set locale ID to UK English
Set searchhost = Server.CreateObject("Search.SearchAdmin.1")
Set searchserver = searchhost.SearchServer
Set searchservercatalogs = searchserver.SearchCatalogs
%>
The following code creates a table with four columns for catalog properties: Catalog
name, Date of last update, Number of documents and Size (Mb). Catalog properties are
enumerated using a standard For…Each loop. There are several other catalog properties
that can be obtained using this type of script, but I have chosen the most useful ones.
<div align="center"><center>
<table border="0" cellpadding="2" width="75%"
cellspacing="0">
<tr>
<td width="25%" style="background-color: rgb(132,132,255); border: 1px
groove rgb(0,0,0)"><strong>Catalog
name</strong></td>
<td width="25%"
style="background-color: rgb(132,132,255); border-left: 1px none rgb(0,0,0);
border-right: 1px groove rgb(0,0,0); border-top: 1px groove rgb(0,0,0); border-bottom: 1px
groove rgb(0,0,0)"><strong>Date
of last update</strong></td>
<td width="25%"
style="background-color: rgb(132,132,255); border-left: 1px none rgb(0,0,0);
border-right: 1px groove rgb(0,0,0); border-top: 1px groove rgb(0,0,0); border-bottom: 1px
groove rgb(0,0,0)"><strong>Number
of documents</strong></td>
<td width="25%"
style="background-color: rgb(132,132,255); border-left: 1px none rgb(0,0,0);
border-right: 1px groove rgb(0,0,0); border-top: 1px groove rgb(0,0,0); border-bottom: 1px
groove rgb(0,0,0)"><strong >Size
(Mb)</strong></td>
</tr>
<%For Each catalog in searchservercatalogs
Set catalogprops = catalog.Properties
%>
<tr>
<td width="25%" style="background-color:
rgb(223,223,255)"><%=catalog.Name%>
</td>
<td width="25%" style="background-color:
rgb(223,223,255)"><%=catalogprops.BuildDate%>
</td>
<td width="25%" style="background-color:
rgb(223,223,255)"><%=catalogprops.NumberOfDocuments%>
</td>
<td width="25%" style="background-color:
rgb(223,223,255)"><%=catalogprops.IndexSize%>
</td>
</tr>
<%Next%>
</table>
</center></div>
Finally, the objects that have previously have been created are tidied up:
<%
Set searchservercatalogs = nothing
Set searchserver = nothing
Set searchhost = nothing
%>
And that’s it. This script will be very useful for having an at a glance
inspection of your Search Server’s health. The resulting web page should look
something like this:
This script will, therefore, allow you to watch for the following:
- Problems with catalogs will sometimes result in the catalog containing zero documents.
- Problems with the Windows NT Task Scheduler will often result in the catalog(s) not
being updated at the required date and time.
- When indexing third party websites you have to be careful that the size of the index
doesn’t grow so large that the Search server is overwhelmed.
- Sudden surges in the number of documents being indexed on the server are usually cause
for concern (and hence further investigation).
Further reading
If you want to delve further into remote administration of Site Server, then the
comprehensive Software Developer’s Kit is useful
(the kit is also on the Site Server 3.0 CD-ROM). Further uses for this script include
writing a Windows Scripting Host or Perl script that will periodically record the number
of documents in each Search catalog over time. This is useful in recording the growth of
your website(s).
-
Index Server Companion. The Index Server Companion allows Index Server to index content from remote websites and ODBC databases. A much cheaper alternative to Site Server 3.0 Search!
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Author details
Brett Burridge
has worked as a web developer since 1997 and has developed web applications for a range of corporations, start up busiensses and educational establishments.
Brett is presently employed as an Internet developer and technical writer
through his own company,
Winnersh Triangle Web Solutions Limited.
The company produces a number of
innovative products, including a range of software documentation tools, which include the
ASP Documentation Tool™, the .NET Documentation Tool for VB.NET and C#, and the SQL Server Documentation Tool. Other products include The Website Utility, which functions as a website error checker, search engine optimizer and ASP/ASP.NET search engine builder application.
As well as the ASPAlliance, Brett has written articles for Ariadne.ac.uk,
ASPToday, the software documentation portal www.softwaredocumentation.info, and has contributed recipes to the ASP.NET Developer's Cookbook.
links
Outside web development, Brett is interested in travelling (here are my travel logs from New York, Hong Kong and Tokyo), digital photography (here's my photo gallery), tropical fishkeeping
and collecting contemporary works of art by artists such as Doug Hyde.
Contact Brett by emailing
Article history
"Using ASP to view Site Server Search catalog properties" originally
published on ASPWatch.com on October 16 1999. Republished on ASPAlliance.com on 28
September 2001.
ASP Kitchen: ASPWatch.com
articles: ASP and Site Server Search
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