How to create and configure a catalog for indexing

After you create an index of documents and start Indexing Service (it is not started by default), you can use any of the following methods to perform queries to search the index for specific text in documents or document properties:

• Start Microsoft Windows Explorer, and then click Search.
• Click Search on the Start menu.
• Use the Indexing Service query form. To do this, start the Indexing Service snap-in, click to expand the catalog that you want to search, and then click Query the Catalog. The query form is displayed in the right pane.
• Use a Web browser to submit a query in a Web page that was created by a Web master or administrator.

When Indexing Service is installed with Windows 2000, the following catalogs are automatically created:

• System catalog: By default, the System catalog lists all folders on all permanently attached disk drives. It contains an index for all file system documents (except certain system and temporary files). The System catalog is created in the volume of your hard disk that has the greatest available free space.
  
• Web catalog: If Internet Information Services (IIS) is installed, Indexing Service creates a Web catalog that contains an index of IIS content. By default, the Web catalog is created in the Inetpub folder.

You can add and remove additional catalogs or configure existing catalogs to meet your requirements at any time.

Create a new catalog

To create a new catalog:

1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management.
3. In the console tree, double-click Services and Applications, and then double-click Indexing Service.
   
   
4. Right-click Indexing Service, point to New, and then click Catalog.
5. In the Name box, type a name for your new catalog.
6. Click Browse, click the folder in which you want your new catalog located, and then click OK twice.
7. When you receive the "Catalog will remain off-line until Indexing Service is restarted" message, click OK.

The new catalog is created and is listed under Indexing Service in the console tree.

Define the scope of the catalog

After you create a new catalog, you must add the folders that you want included in the catalog's scope. The scope is the set of folders that is included in and excluded from the catalog; the scope defines the content that is included and excluded from the index. For each folder that is included or excluded, all of its subfolders are also included or excluded.


To define the scope of the catalog:

1. In the console tree, double-click the catalog to expand the container (if it is not already expanded).
2. Right-click Directories, point to New, and then click Directory.
   
   
3. Click Browse, locate and click the folder that you want to add, and then click OK.
   
   
   If the folder that you add is located on a different computer, follow these steps:
   1. In the User Name box under Account Information, type the domain and user name of a user account that has permission to access that computer, for example, domain\username.
   2. In the Password box, type the password that is associated with the user account.
   3. In the Alias (UNC) box, type the Uniform Naming Convention (UNC) path to the folder, for example, \\computername\sharename.
4. Under Include in Index, perform one of the following tasks:
   • Click Yes if you want to include the folder in the catalog.
   • Click No if you want to exclude the folder from the catalog.
5. Click OK.
6. Repeat steps 2 through 5 to add additional folders to your catalog.
7. If Indexing Service is running, right-click Indexing Service in the console tree, and then click Stop.
8. Right-click Indexing Service, and then click Start.

The folders that you specified are now added and are either included or excluded from the catalog. When you click Directories, the folders are listed in the details pane of the Computer Management console.


Notes

• If the catalog is tracking a Web server, folders are added automatically.
• If you do not want an NTFS file system file or folder included in the index, follow these steps:
  1. Start Windows Explorer, and then locate and click the file or folder that you do not want to index.
  2. On the File menu, click Properties.
  3. Click the General tab, and then click Advanced.
  4. In the Advanced Attributes dialog box, click to clear the For fast searching, allow Indexing Service to index this file check box.

Configure the catalog

To configure the catalog:

1. Right-click the catalog that you want to configure, and then click Properties.
2. Click the Tracking tab.
3. Under Inheritable Settings, perform one of the following tasks:
   • If you want Indexing Service to use the share name of any shared folder as the alias for that folder, click to clear the Inherit above settings from Service check box, and then click to select the Add Network Share Alias Automatically check box.
     
     
     -or-
     
   • If you want to use the same settings as the service, click to select the Inherit above settings from Service check box (if it is not already selected).
4. If IIS is installed on your computer and you want to index a Web server, click the Web server that you want to index in the WWW Server box.
5. If the NNTP Service is installed and running on your computer and you want to index virtual news servers, click the NNTP virtual server that you want to use in the NNTP Server box.
6. Click the Generation tab.
7. Under Inheritable Settings, perform one or more of the following tasks:
   • If you want to index files with unknown extensions, click to clear the Inherit above settings from Service check box, and then click to select the Index files with unknown extensions check box.
   • If you want to generate abstracts for files that are found in a search, click to clear the Inherit above settings from Service check box, click to select the Generate abstracts check box, and then type a size limit for the abstracts in the Maximize size box.
     
   • If you want to use the same settings as the service, click to select the Inherit above settings from Service check box (if it is not already selected).
8. Click OK.
9. If Indexing Service is started, right-click Indexing Service in the console tree, and then click Stop.
   
10. Right-click Indexing Service, and then click Start.

Users can now search the index for documents that contain specific words, phrases, or properties.

Troubleshooting

No results are displayed in search results

If the search does not return the expected search results when you query the index, index data may be corrupted.


To troubleshoot this issue, stop and restart Indexing Service to reindex all documents:

1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management.
3. In the console tree, double-click Services and Applications.
4. Right-click Indexing Service, and then click Stop.
5. Right-click Indexing Service, and then click Start.

Disk is full

Indexing pauses temporarily if the volume in which the catalog is stored is low on disk space. If there is very little disk space available (less than 20 MB), Indexing Service pauses until more disk space is freed up. A message is logged in the Event Viewer Application log when disk space on the volume that contains the catalog starts to fill up.


To troubleshoot this issue, monitor the Application Log in Event Viewer for these messages, and then free up disk space when necessary.

Specific documents are not indexed

If Indexing Service detects corrupted files or if it continually has problems accessing particular documents, those documents are marked as unindexed.


To troubleshoot this issue, use the Indexing Service query form to generate a list of unindexed documents:

1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management.
3. In the console tree, double-click Services and Applications, and then double-click Indexing Service.
   
4. Click Query the Catalog.
   
   
5. In the Enter your free text query below box, type @unfiltered=true, and then click Search.
   
   
   A list of unindexed documents is displayed below the query form in the details pane. If a specific type of document is not indexed consistently, investigate possible issues with the filter that is used to index those documents.

Network connection is lost

If folders in a catalog are located on remote computers, and the connection to those network shares is lost, Indexing Service detects and scans the network shares to determine when the connection is active again. You do not need to reconfigure the catalog.