Configure the default location for search collections

 

+

Search Tips   |   Advanced Search

 

The default directory location under which search collections are created...

• UNIX:

  portal_server_root/collections

• i5/OS:

  portal_server_root_user/collections

• Windows:

  portal_server_root\collections

This default can be applied when you create a new search collection, depending on the value you specify in the entry field Location of Collection when you create a new search collection:

• If you type a relative directory location of your choice, the location for the new search collection is combined from the default directory for search locations and the location that you type.

  Example: If you type my_collection_location, the new search collection is created under the directory...

  portal_server_root/collections/my_collection_location

• To create the search collection in a location that is different from the default search collection location, type the full directory location as required. The new search collection will be created under the directory location specified.

You can customize this default directory location under which search collections are created. To do this, you set the directory location of your choice as the value for the parameter DefaultCollectionsDirectory for the search service. You can configure this parameter for each search service separately. The value that you set for this parameter is prefixed to the relative location specified when creating a new search collection for that search service.

The specified value determines the default directory location for the search collections that you create. When you create a new search collection and specify only a relative path (not a full path location), the default value set by this parameter and the relative path specified are combined to form the full directory path under which the search collection is created. If you do not specify a value for DefaultCollectionsDirectory, the default directory for search collections remains as set by the installation and described above. To configure a different default search collection location, proceed by the following steps:

1. Navigate to the Manage Search portlet by clicking...

   Administration | Search Administration | Manage Search | Search Services

2. Click the New Search Service button. Or, if you want to customize the default collection location for an existing search service, click the Edit icon for that search service.

3. Set the value of your choice for the parameter DefaultCollectionsDirectory for the search service. The value that you set for this parameter is prefixed to the relative location specified when creating a new search collection.

4. Click OK to save your updates. Manage Search returns to the Search Services panel.

The directory location specified can be on a different hard drive or machine.

If you change the value for the DefaultCollectionsDirectory parameter make sure that you do all of the following:

• Specify a full directory path, for example, /root/our_search_collections.

• On the specified hard drive create the directory specified as the value for the DefaultCollectionsDirectory parameter.

• Manage the write access to the directory to enable creation of search collections in that.

• The value set for this parameter is used only if during the creation of a new search collection you specify a relative directory for the location of the new search collection. If you specify a full directory for the location of the search collection, the collection is created in that. In this case the value that is set for the default directory under the search service has no effect, but is overwritten by the full directory location that you specify for the search collection.

• The initial default directory as given above is created during the installation. The process has write access to this default.

• The default site collection that is part of the installation is created under the default. Creation of the site collection is started when you navigate to the Manage Search portlet. If you created the site collection by navigating to the Manage Search portlet before changing the default directory for the collection location, you might want to relocate the site collection to your new default. For details about how to do this, refer to Creating or resetting the portal site collection.

• If you set up a remote search service, for example for a cluster, then this parameter is mandatory. You need to configure the default location for search collections to a directory on the remote server that has write access.

• The file path length for search collections is limited to 118 characters. If this limit is exceeded, the collection cannot be created. In this case specify a shorter value for the parameter DefaultCollectionsDirectory. This can occur particularly when the site collection is created under UNIX operating systems. For details about this refer to Creating the portal site search collection fails.

 

Parent topic

Administering Portal Search

 

Related tasks

Creating or resetting the portal site collection

 

Related reference

Hints and tips for using Portal Search