SharePoint Fast Search Docs at Last
November 16, 2009
Microsoft is supposed to roll out the Fast Search ESP system for SharePoint in the next few days. I found Cornelius J. van Dyk’s “Fast Search Docs for SharePoint 2010 Beta Released” and concluded that the Redmond giant is moving forward. You can download a range of documents from Mr. Van Dyk’s Web page. For me, the most interesting document was Planning and Architecture for Fast Search Server 2010 for SharePoint (Beta). (You will need the Microsoft XPS viewer to access this document. Also, it is not possible to export the XPS document to Word, although the text can be pasted into Wordpad. Formatting is lost, however.)
I read through the write up and found that no major changes were made to the basic plumbing on the Fast Search & Transfer SA system. The description of the system is straightforward but there is no hint about the complexity of the system configuration and tuning. There is a clustering diagram that provides one clue about the type of infrastructure the system may require.
The search system block diagram is not significantly different from the block diagram I included in my discussion of Fast ESP in my 2004 Enterprise Search Report. Like Autonomy and Endeca, making fundamental changes to established information retrieval systems is a difficult undertaking. (Autonomy, Endeca, and Fast Search are systems developed roughly at the same time in the 1990s. Each of these systems has been improved via internal modifications and “snap in” extensions. Each of the systems are sophisticated, complex software constructs composed of subsystems which interact continuously.) Here’s the Microsoft diagram from the Planning and Architecture Document referenced above. Microsoft owns the copyright to this document:
I will have to wait until more information becomes available about the forthcoming search system. Interesting times ahead for those working with SharePoint’s native search functions.
Stephen Arnold, November 16, 2009
I want to report to the US government’s Chief Financial Officers Council that I was not paid for this write up. I have a hunch that those who embrace this Fast Search system will have an opportunity to discuss money with your group. For that you will have paid, not me.
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