Frequently Asked Questions

I issued a query, and it didn't match a document that I know exists. Why?
Why does my SERVER_NAME show up as an IP address?
Sometimes the Files to be filtered counter is greater than the Total # documents counter. How is that possible?
I have a large number of documents in my corpus and a powerful computer.
There are a lot of event log messages. Can I turn them off?
I get the event Very low disk space… even after freeing up disk space.
How much disk space should I allocate for Index Server data?
My computer is idle but the Files to be filtered counter is not zero. What is the reason?
Why are all my floating point numbers formatted with the same number of decimal places?
Why do unreadable files in Microsoft® FrontPage™ _vti directories show up in my query results?
How can I exclude certain directories from search results?
How can I index remote UNC shares?

I issued a query, and it didn't match a document that I know exists. Why?

• Different languages were used to filter the page and issue the query. The split of a page into words (the fundamental unit stored in the index) is a language-dependent process. When a query is issued from one language and the document was filtered in another, query results can be unpredictable. The locale used to filter a document is dependent on the filter. Some file formats, such as Microsoft Word, mark documents with a language; this mark is used during filtering. Other formats, such as plain text, contain no language specifier. Most filters default to the system locale for these files. The locale for the query is specified by use of the CiLocale variable. If CiLocale is not specified, the locale of the browser is used (if available) or the default locale of the server.
  
  
• The page has not yet been filtered. There is often a delay between the time a page is modified and the time it is indexed. You can use the Performance Monitor or an administrative query to determine the number of pending pages. The CiOutOfDate variable is set to TRUE if one or more files remain to be filtered.
  
  
• An error occurred during filtering of this document. There are a number of reasons why a document may not have been filtered. See the filtering page for a detailed discussion of filtering. You can check for errors either in the event log or by issuing the a query over the “unfiltered property,” using the administrative query for unfiltered files.
  
  
• The query was too complex. Certain classes of resource intensive queries are turned off when CiForceUseCi is set to TRUE. When results are missing for this reason, the CiQueryIncomplete variable is set to TRUE.
  
  
• The query took too much CPU time. An administrator can limit the amount of CPU time a single query can consume. When this limit is reached, the CiQueryTimedOut variable is set to TRUE.
  
  
• You do not have permission to read the page. A query result will not be returned for a page that you do not have permission to read. See Security for a detailed discussion of security as it relates to Index Server.

Why does my SERVER_NAME show up as an IP address?

• The browser being used does not set the Host: HTTP header. The SERVER_NAME CGI variable is set from the Host: HTTP header, but only if this is set by the browser. (Note that this header is not set by Internet Explorer 2.0.)
  
  
• The IIS parameter ReturnUrlUsingHostName is not set. Set the registry parameter at W3SVC\Parameters\ReturnURLUsingHostName to allow using the fully qualified domain name of the local host. See the IIS documentation about the ReturnURLUsingHostName registry parameter.

Sometimes the Files to be filtered counter is greater than the Total # documents counter. How is that possible?

• Some files have been modified more than once before being filtered. If a file is modified multiple times, there may be multiple entries for the same file. The Files to be filtered counter only specifies how big the change queue is.

I have a large number of documents in my corpus and a powerful computer.

• If there is sufficient RAM (more than 48MB) and the MaxFreshCountis 5000 or less, try increasing the MaxFreshCount to 10,000 or 15,000. If there is a lot of disk thrashing, adding more RAM might help.

There are a lot of event log messages. Can I turn them off?

• Some of the verbose events can be turned off. Please refer to the “EventLogFlags” section in the “Registry Parameters.”

I get the event Very low disk space.... even after freeing up disk space.

• If this event is logged during a MasterMerge, freeing up additional space will help. During a master merge, additional free disk space (up to 15% of the size of all the documents that are being indexed) may be required. After the master merge completes, disk space is usually freed up.

How much disk space should I allocate for Index Server data?

• The minimum disk space allocated should be at least 30% of the size of your corpus. If you increase the registry value of MaxCharacterization , then more space should be allocated. Temporarily during a master merge, Index Server may need up to 45% of the corpus size.

My computer is idle but the Files to be filtered counter is not zero. What is the reason?

• Some files failed to filter. If a file is in use by another user process when the CiDaemon process tries to filter its contents, the file is moved to a lower-priority queue and will be retried for filtering at a later time. The interval between the retries is controlled by the registry parameter FilterRetryInterval. This typically happens with applications such as Microsoft Word that keep the file open for exclusive access and do “fast saves.”

Why are all my floating point numbers formatted with the same number of decimal places?

• Index Server uses the settings specified in the Regional Settings application of Control Panel. There is no way in this version of Index Server to format individual floating point properties. Users from different locales will see a view of the data specific to their locale. U.S. users may see a period used as a decimal point, and French users would see a comma, for example. Likewise date, time, and currency values are formatted according to the parameters in Regional Settings. 

Why do unreadable files in Microsoft® FrontPage™ _vti directories show up in my query results?

• This is a limitation of scoping in Microsoft Index Server. It is not possible to exclude an unreadable root that is physically located below a readable root. A workaround is to append to the user's restriction. For example, FrontPage roots can be removed by setting the CiRestriction in the .idq file to: CiRestriction=(%UserRestriction%) &! #vpath *\_vti_*. 

How can I exclude certain directories from search results?

• Indexing and searching in Microsoft Index Server is based on virtual roots, and there is no explicit way of excluding certain physical directories from being indexed. However, in your .idq files you can specify files to be prevented from appearing in search results. For example, if the virtual root /Docs points to C:\Docs but you do not want results from c:\Docs\Private to appear in the result set, you can modify the CiRestriction parameter in your .idq file as follows:
  
  CiRestriction=%CiRestriction% AND NOT #path c:\docs\private*
  
  You can append more AND NOT #path path* clauses to the CiRestriction to exclude more directories. 

How can I index remote UNC shares?

• If you add a virtual root pointing to the remote UNC share, it will automatically be indexed by Index Server. Make sure that you specify the user ID (domain\user) and password correctly. Note the backslash (\) in the domain\user format of the user ID.