Domain Search

Notes® client and Web users can use Domain Search to search an entire Domino® domain for database documents, files, and attachments that match a search query.

To support Domain Search, you need to designate a Domino® server as the indexing server, which builds a domain wide index that all Domain Search queries run against. In order for the indexing server to build the index, you must first create a Domain Catalog on the server -- a database that controls which databases and file systems get indexed. The indexing server then spiders, or crawls, the servers that contain the content to be indexed.

When a user submits a query, the results that the indexing server returns contain only database documents to which that user has appropriate access.

If the indexing server is set up as a Domino® Web server, it can support searches from both Notes® and Web browsers.

Support for multiple languages

With Domain Search, you can index and search on documents regardless of their language. Even multiple-language documents can be indexed.

If users choose to display document summaries in their search results, Domain Search cannot create these summaries in all languages. You can use the NOTES.INI setting FT_Summ_Default_Language to specify which language the summary should default to in these cases. Details on this setting include a list of languages in which Domain Search can create summaries.

Domain Search and single-database full-text search

Single-database full-text indexing and domain indexing are distinct processes in Notes/Domino, and most likely you will want to use both.

Use Domain Search for less active databases such as archives and product specifications. Use full-text indexes for single databases for active databases such as mail files, discussion databases, problem-tracking databases, or any database used for generating reports. You might also want to have single-database full-text indexes on servers with restricted user access, or in cases where users already know what database they want to search in.

Implementing Domain Search

Implementing Domain Search in a Domino® domain involves these tasks:

  • Planning the Domain Index
  • Creating the Domain Index
  • Customizing Domain Search forms
  • Setting up Notes® users for Domain Search
  • Setting up Web users for Domain Search