Advanced Indexing and Search for SEV9 on Outlook 2010

[Ron_Reyes]

Currently using Exchange 2010, SEV9, on Win7 and Outlook2010.  The Search function on Archive Explorer and Outlook2010 plug-in doesn't suit the business needs.  Aside from X1 (http://www.x1.com/), are there any other products which can index items on the vault, allow searching through SEV quicker?

[TonySterling]

Not really, however, there is some good news.  In EV 11 the search has been greatly improved and I think your users will realy like it.

EV 11 should be out pretty soon, hopefully Jan/Feb time frame.

[EV_Ajay]

Hi,

To search in Archive Explorer it uses EV index data and not from the other software indexing.

EV 11 has good option for searching and it also improved the search time.

[GabeV]

Hello Ron,

When you mention that the EV search 'doesn't suit the business needs', what do you mean? With Discovery Accelerator you can perform larger searches in Enterprise Vault indexes but this is a separate product:

Symantec Discovery Accelerator 9.0 – Installation Guide
http://www.symantec.com/docs/DOC2861

You should have this product in the Enterprise Vault installation media.

I hope this helps.

[JesusWept3]

Well remember that you'd need the Licensing for it, you can't just install configure and use it without the license, but agreed that Discovery Accelerator or now i guess Clearwell would be the kind of tool you'd need for a more advanced search.

But for end user searching, the newer search tools are a lot better as indicated by tony, but still really meant for individual searching, not entire enterprise wide searches, that is what DA is for

[Ron_Reyes]

Thank you for the responses.  They've been really helpful.  Are there whitepapers with screens shots of the search interfaces of SEV11?  SEV9 has been stable for us.  I'll have to justify the jump to the new version with cost/benefits.  Cheers

[JesusWept3]

Quick question Do you have a use case where the search wasn't good enough? Like I'm searching for text in all word documents against 20 users and it's hard to navigate the results etc??

[Ron_Reyes]

My staff have issues with looking through their own vaults, let alone trawling through shared mailboxes.  They can search unvaulted emails fine with the Outlook interface.  They would like the same functionality of Outlook on the vaulted items.  Beyond searching for names, dates, and subjects available on the mail tab, most of my staff give up.  Those who persist are hampered with the speed performance.

This is the reason why we leave the mail tabs intact, as staff find it difficult to search for emails using the SEV web interface.  We could greatly improve the performance of Exchange and Outlook if those tabs can be deleted automatically.  Staff just don't have any confidence in the search function.

Example 1:

Keyword searches are ok, only the relevant Boolean operator is AND. 

Example 2:

Can successfully located related emails - but sorting is limited, and sometimes the only way to identify emails is to open each of them.

Example 3:

A two keyword search via the web interface can take a few minutes to successfully locate one email.  Over the course of a week/month/year, the process takes up more time than it needs to.

[TonySterling]

What is the specs of the EV Server?

EV 10 there will be quite a few benefits, there is a ton of info here:  http://www.symantec.com/page.jsp?id=upgrade-ev

[Ron_Reyes]

Hi Tony

We're running it on an MS Server 2008 R2 VM.  We allocate RAM and drive space as required.  Would segregating the search function to a different improve the performance?  The web client is probably the slowest bottleneck in our experience.  SEV11 sounds promising if it'll improve on 9.

Thanks

[TonySterling · Accepted solution]

EV 10 uses a new Indexing Engine that will be able to utilize the 64x architecture and the more RAM your throw at it the better.

One thing to be mindful of, once EV 10 comes out you will be a full 2 versions behind and honestly that isn't a great place to be. 

I would recommend setting up an EV lab and installing EV 11 when it comes out and test out the new search feature.  Then you can show the internal PTB (Powers That Be) what it looks like and justify the business case to upgrade.

best,

[Prone2Typos]

I think you have gotten some very valuable feedback that I would agree with all of it. I think that it is important to reiterate that the search application is meant for a user search and not as an enterprise search. Returning several results or searching over hundreds of archives is outside of the scope of the search application.

I think some of your users concerns can be addressed in some training. I understand the lack of confidence and that only a small group are interested in continuing to try to use the native search.  First, if accessing via Outlook, clicking the "Browser Search" frequently lifts the veil and explains a lot of what you are searching for. You may want to just point your users to look at that when they want a better search interface. You can even get more Advanced with an Advanced search: https://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH49710

I think that one of the largest issues is that the default search defaults to an OR operator. and if a user changes the option for all fields as is seen in the screenshot (From EV5 or 6 I think) in the TechNote above. it changes the game.

In my experience... several search applications need some training to really effectively use them.

Your concern related to speed is an interesting one. I do agree that EV 10 has more horsepower that can be sent at it and having no idea of the size or use of your environment... it is hard to suggest anything. If users are trying to find a message in their mailbox... EV should not be so hammered so as to return a poor experience. If it is... you may have some tuning that is required or sizing concerns that need to be taken into consideration. Searches are performed off the indexing on disk and not SQL..so a fast disk with underutilized IO and resource availability to the indexing service is more important than SQL resources IMO.

In this thread I see nothing that you have stated that would not make EV9's search a usable interface for your users. It is differnt.. which requires training.. which can be a bear...but unless your box is slammed I would figure EV9 can do the job.

Again.. all that was said above is true. The future is away from EV9 and every later version has improved on the specific area that you are having issues with. It may be worth looking into as eventually you will have to go up to keep using this version and upgrades become more complicated the longer you wait.

I hope this helps.

If your concerns are satisfied ... please flag the appropriate post as having satisfied your concerns so those attempting to help can direct their attention to where it is most needed.

Regards.

J