Migrate search collections between portal versions

 

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Overview

The data storage format and index structure of Portal Search is not backward compatible between the different product versions. Preserver search collections before migration.

If you do not want to migrate the search collections, delete them before the migration, otherwise the collections will be corrupted.

 

To preserve the search collections

To migrate the search collections, use the Import or Export Collection option of the Manage Search portlet to export and import the search collections. To migrate the search collections...

  1. Before you migrate the portal to a later version, export the search collections. This exports the configuration data and all document URLs of the search collections.

    Before you export a collection, verify the portal application process has write access to the target directory location. Otherwise you might get an error message, such as File not found.

  2. Document all of the following data:

    • The target file names and directory locations to which you export the collections.

    • The following configuration data of the collections:

      • The location, name, description, and language for each of the collections

      • The setting for the option Remove common words from queries for each collection.

  3. Delete the search collections from the existing portal.

  4. Upgrade the WebSphere Portal to a later version as required.

  5. After you have completed the portal upgrade, create the search collections again. This task creates the empty shell for the search collection. Fill in the following data entry fields and select the following options according to the data that you documented:

    • Location of Collection:

      Fill this in with the new collection location. The location can match the old setting, but does not have to match it.

    • Name of Collection:

      Fill this in with the collection name. The name can match the old setting, but does not have to match it.

    • Description of Collection:

      Fill this in with the collection description. The description can match the old setting, but does not have to match it.

    • Specify Collection Language:

      Select this to match the old setting.

    • Select Categorizer:

      You do not need to select this option. the value will be overwritten by the import.

    • Select Summarizer:

      You do not need to select this option. the value will be overwritten by the import.

    • Remove common words from queries (e. g. in, of, on, etc.):

      Check or uncheck this to match the old setting.

    You do not have to add content sources or documents, as that will be completed by the import task.

  6. Import the data of the search collections back into the portal. For the import source information use the documented file names and directory locations to which you exported the collections before the portal upgrade.

Use the Manage Search portlet for the tasks related to the search collections. Use the Import or Export Collection option of the Manage Search portlet for both exporting and importing. For more details about these tasks refer to Exporting and importing search collections and to the Manage Search portlet help.

Notes:

  1. If you do not perform these steps, the search collections are lost after you upgrade the WebSphere Portal.

  2. Before you export a collection, verify the portal application process has write access to the target directory location. Otherwise you might get an error message, such as File not found.

  3. Import collection data only into an empty collection. Do not import collection data into a target collection that has content sources or documents already.

  4. When you import search collection data into a collection, most of the collection configuration data are also imported. For example, this includes the content sources, schedulers, filters, and language settings. If you configured such settings when creating the new collection, they are overwritten by the imported settings.

  5. When you import a collection, a background process fetches, crawls, and indexes all documents which are listed by URL in the previously exported file. Therefore be aware of the Memory required for crawls and the Time required for crawls and imports and availability of documents.

  6. When you import a portal site collection from a V5.1 portal to a V6 portal, the collection configuration data are imported, but not the documents. Therefore, to enable users to search the portal site collection on the target portal, we can either import the portal site collection and then start a crawl, or create the portal site collection new. This restriction does not apply if you migrate the portal site search collections between V6 portals.

  7. For information about migrating a Search and Browse portlet between portal versions refer to Migrating the Search and Browse portlet between portal versions.

 

Parent topic:

Migrating Portal Search between portal versions