CIFS Tutorial (Aspire 2)

Step 2: Launch Aspire and open the Content Source Management Page

Launch Aspire (if it's not already running). See:

• Launching Aspire

Browse to: http://localhost:50505. For details on using the Aspire Content Source Management page, please refer to UI Introduction.

Step 3: Add a new CIFS Content Source

To specify exactly what shared folder to crawl, we will need to create a new "Content Source".

To create a new content source:

1. From the Aspire 2 Home page, click on "Add Source" button.
2. Click on "CIFS Connector".

Step 3a: Specify Basic Information

In the "General" tab in the Add New Content Source window, specify basic information for the content source:

1. Enter a content source name in the "Name" field.

   This is any useful name which you decide is a good name for the source. It will be displayed in the content source page, in error messages, etc.

2. Click on the "Active?" checkbox to add a checkmark.

   Unchecking the "Active?" option allows you to configure content sources but not have them enabled. This is useful if the folder will be under maintenance and no crawls are wanted during that period of time.

3. Click on the "Schedule" drop-down list and select one of the following: Manually, Periodically, Daily, or Weekly.

   Aspire can automatically schedule content sources to be crawled on a set schedule, such as once a day, several times a week, or periodically (every N minutes or hours). For the purposes of this tutorial, you may want to select Manually and then set up a regular crawling schedule later.

4. After selecting a Schedule type, specify the details, if applicable:
   1. Manually: No additional options.
   2. Periodically: Specify the "Run every:" options by entering the number of "hours" and "minutes."
   3. Daily: Specify the "Start time:" by clicking on the hours and minutes drop-down lists and selecting options.
   4. Weekly: Specify the "Start time:" by clicking on the hours and minutes drop-down lists and selecting options, then clicking on the day checkboxes to specify days of the week to run the crawl.
   5. Advance: Enter a custom CRON Expression (e.g. 0 0 0 ? * *)

Step 3b: Specify the Connector Information

In the "Connector" tab, specify the connection information to crawl the File System folder.

1. Enter the smb folder URL you want to crawl.
2. Enter the user's domain.
3. Enter the username.
4. Enter the user's password.
5. Check the other options as needed:
   1. Index Containers?: index subfolders as items. If unchecked, only files will be indexed.
   2. Scan recursively?: Scan through subfolder's child nodes.
   3. Include/Exclude patterns: Enter regex patterns to include or exclude files/folders based on URL matches.

Step 3c: Specify Workflow Information

In the "Workflow" tab, specify the workflow steps for the jobs that come out of the crawl. Drag and drop rules to determine which steps should an item follow after being crawled. This rules could be where to publish the document or transformations needed on the data before sending it to a search engine. See Workflow for more information.

1. For the purpose of this tutorial, drag and drop the Publish To File rule found under the Publishers tab to the onPublish Workflow tree.
   1. Specify a Name and Description for the Publisher.
   2. Click Add.

After completing this steps click on the Save button and you'll be sent back to the Home Page.

Step 4: Initiate the Full Crawl

Now that the content source is set up, the crawl can be initiated.

1. Click on the crawling type option to set it as "Full" (is set as "Incremental" by default and the first time it'll work like a full crawl. After the first crawl, set it to "Incremental" to crawl for any changes done in the repository).
2. Click on the Start button.

During the Crawl

During the crawl, you can do the following:

• Click on the "Refresh" button on the Content Sources page to view the latest status of the crawl.

  The status will show RUNNING while the crawl is going, and CRAWLED when it is finished.

• Click on "Complete" to view the number of documents crawled so far, the number of documents submitted, and the number of documents with errors.

If there are errors, you will get a clickable "Error" flag that will take you to a detailed error message page.