Setting up global search

Before you use IBM OpenPages® global search in production, set up global search for a small set of data, such as a few thousand records in a test environment, and use the default settings.

For more information about global search, see Global search FAQs.

You can set up search on the same server as the one hosting the IBM OpenPages application. Make sure that the server has at least 12 GB of RAM to host both the IBM OpenPages application and search feature.

Procedure

  1. Install IBM OpenPages with the default settings. Make sure that you also install the Search Server component. Specify the default values for all the fields. For more information, see the topic Search server postinstallation tasks in the IBM OpenPages Installation and Deployment Guide .
  2. Copy the JDBC database driver and start the search server. See Copying database driver files to the search server in the IBM OpenPages Installation and Deployment Guide.
  3. Log in to IBM OpenPages as a user with administrative privileges.
  4. Click Open Administration menu Administration menu > System Configuration > Global Search and click Create.
    Create appears only on initial enablement.

    Creating the index also enables global search.

  5. Optional: Configure UI components that provide users access to global search. For more information, see Adding a Search panel.
  6. Optional: Administer global search. For more information, see Customizing global search.
  7. Optional: Use global search. For more information, see Searching for objects with global search in the IBM OpenPages User Guide.

Setting login information for the search server

You can set the usernames and passwords that the search server uses to access the database server and the IBM OpenPages global search service (Apache Solr). You can set the login information before you enable global search.

When you set up passwords, they are encrypted automatically to ensure secure and authenticated access.

If you have enabled global search and you want to change the login information, see Changing the database connection information for the search server.

Remember: When you update the username and password, the changes are applied only to the search server. You must update the database server as well to ensure that the login information is synchronized.

Procedure

  1. On the search server, open a command prompt.
  2. To change the login information that the search server uses to log in to the database, enter the following commands:
    Microsoft Windows 
    cd <SEARCH_HOME>/OPSearch/opsearchtools/
opsearchtool.cmd setdbuserpassword -username <current-username> -password "<current-password>" -newusername <new-username> -newpassword "<new-password>"
    Linux®
    cd <SEARCH_HOME>/OPSearch/opsearchtools/
./opsearchtool.sh setdbuserpassword -username <current-username> -password '<current-password>' -newusername <new-username> -newpassword '<new-password>'
    Table 1. Parameters to change the database login information
    Parameter Description
    <current-username> The database username

    The value is the username that you entered in the OpenPages installation app when you configured the search server.
    <current-password> The password of the database user

    The value is the password that you entered in the OpenPages installation app when you configured the search server.
    <new-username> The new database username
    <new-password> The new password for the database user
    For example, the following command changes the password to dbNEWpassword, but keeps the same database username:
    opsearchtool.cmd setdbuserpassword -username dbuser -password "dbpassword" -newusername dbuser -newpassword "dbNEWpassword"
    The following command changes both the database username and the password: 
    opsearchtool.cmd setdbuserpassword -username dbuser -password "dbpassword" -newusername dbNEWuser -newpassword "dbNEWpassword"
  3. To change the login information for the global search service (Apache Solr), enter the following commands:

    On Microsoft Windows operating systems,

    cd <SEARCH_HOME>/OPSearch/opsearchtools/
opsearchtool.cmd setsolruserpassword -newusername <new-solr-username> -newpassword <new-solr-password>

    On Linux operating systems,

    cd <SEARCH_HOME>/OPSearch/opsearchtools/
./opsearchtool.sh setsolruserpassword -newusername <new-solr-username> -newpassword <new-solr-password>
    Table 2. Parameters to change the global search service login information
    Parameter Description
    <new-solr-username> The new username for the Solr service

    The Solr user does not need to be an OpenPages user.
    <new-solr-password> The new password for the Solr user
    Note: You do not need to provide the current username and password to change and encrypt the password for the global search service. The script uses the current login information of the database server for authentication before it allows the change. The default username and password is OpenPagesAdministrator / OpenPagesAdministrator.

    For example, the following command sets the username to solruser and the password to solrpassword:

    opsearchtool.cmd setsolruserpassword -username solruser -password solrpassword
  4. Start the global search services.
    For more information, see Starting the global search services by using a script.
  5. If required, set up SSL for the Solr service.

    For more information, see Setting up a secure connection for the global search service

Changing the login information for the search server

You can change the user names and passwords that the search server uses to access the database server and the global search service (Apache Solr).

When you change the passwords, they are encrypted automatically to ensure secure and authenticated access.

When you update the user name and password, the changes are applied only to the search server. You must update the database server as well to ensure the login information is synchronized.

Procedure

  1. Log in to OpenPages as a user with administrative privileges.
  2. Click Open Administration menu Administration menu > System Configuration > Global Search.
  3. Click Disable to disable the global search component.
  4. Stop the global search service.
    For more information, see Stopping the global search services by using a script or Stopping the global search services.
  5. Change the database user name or password.

    For more information, see Changing password references in the IBM OpenPages Administrator's Guide.

  6. Change the login information to use for the database server and Apache Solr.
    For more information, see Setting login information for the search server.
  7. Start the global search services.

    For more information, see one of the following topics:

  8. Click Open Administration menu Administration menu > System Configuration > Global Search.
  9. Click Enable to enable the global search component.
  10. If required, set up SSL for the global search service.

    For more information, see Setting up a secure connection for the global search service in the IBM OpenPages Installation and Deployment Guide.

Enabling and disabling file attachment searching

From the global search administration page, you can toggle between enabling and disabling the file attachment search component for all search-enabled file types.

In a fresh installation, file attachment search is enabled by default. In an upgrade installation, file attachment global search is disabled.

Procedure

  1. Make sure that the openpages-storage location is accessible to the global search server before enabling file attachment search. For more information, see The global search properties file.
  2. Log in to OpenPages as a user with administrative privileges.
  3. Click Open Administration menu Administration menu > System Configuration > Global Search.
  4. Click Disable File Search to disable the file search component.
  5. Click Enable File Search to enable the file search component again.
  6. Click Check for Updates.
  7. When the check for updates is completed, click Update for the changes to take effect.

Enabling attachment file types for global search

From the File (SOXDocument) object type definition, you can specify which file types are enabled or disabled for file attachment global search.

Procedure

  1. Log in to OpenPages as a user with administrative privileges.
  2. Enable overall global search for file attachments. For more information, see Enabling and disabling file attachment searching.
  3. Enable global search for specific file types on the File (SOXDocument) object type. For more information, see Enabling and disabling global search for file types.
  4. Click Open Administration menu Administration menu > System Configuration > Global Search and click Check for Updates.
  5. When the check for updates is completed, click Update for the changes to take effect.

Enabling and disabling global search

You can enable or disable global search.

For example, if your organization stipulates that you update passwords periodically, you can disable the global search component, reset user names and encrypt passwords, then enable the global search component.

If you need to troubleshoot a problem with enabling and disabling global search, or if you prefer using a CLI, you can still use the command line to enable and disable global search. For more information, see How to automate Solr tasks?.

Procedure

  1. Log on to OpenPages as a user with administrative privileges.
  2. Click Open Administration menu Administration menu > System Configuration > Global Search and click Disable.
  3. Click Open Administration menu Administration menu > System Configuration > Global Search and click Enable.

Re-creating the index for global search

Applies to: On premises

If you upgraded or migrated from 8.3.x, re-create the index for global search.

If you need to troubleshoot a problem with re-creating the index for global search, or if you prefer to use a command-line interface, you can use the CLI to re-create the index. For more information, see How to automate Solr tasks?

Procedure

  1. Log in to OpenPages as a user with administrative privileges.
  2. Click Open Administration menu Administration menu > System Configuration > Global Search and click Disable.
  3. Click Drop to drop the search index.
    Wait for the drop process to complete.
  4. Click Create to re-create the search index.

Using OPBackup and OPRestore when global search is enabled

You must disable global search before you run OPBackup or OPRestore.

OPBackup is the IBM OpenPages backup utility that backs up the necessary product files and database content on the server where it is run. The OPBackup utility creates a backup file that can be used by the OpenPages restore utility (OPRestore).

Procedure

  1. Disable global search.
    1. Log in as an administrator.
    2. Click Administration > Global Search > Disable.
  2. Use OPBackup or OPRestore. For more information, see The OPBackup utility (Db2) or The OPBackup utility (Oracle).
  3. Enable global search.
    1. Log in as an administrator.
    2. Click Administration > Global Search > Enable.
    Attention: If you run the OPRestore utility, the search index becomes out of sync with the restored data in the OpenPages database. As a result, global search results might be inaccurate and incomplete. To prevent this issue, you must re-create the global search index. You can re-create the global search index before or after the database restore operation.
  4. Re-create the global search index.
    1. Log in as an administrator.
    2. Click Administration > Global Search > Disable.
    3. Click Administration > Global Search > Drop.
    4. Click Administration > Global Search > Create