Which Microsoft search product is for you?

When I first heard about all the flavors of Microsoft enterprise search, I couldn't keep them straight so thought it might help some other folks to know what products are available and why an organization might choose one flavor over another.

 

Microsoft enterprise search offerings

Microsoft currently offers three distinct enterprise search solutions:

• Microsoft Search Server 2008 Express (MSS Express)
• Microsoft Search Server 2008 (MSS)
• Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS)

All three products rely on Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (WSS) and must be installed on top of Windows Server 2003 SP 1 or Windows Server 2008.

 

Which one is for you?

Here's a summary of things you might want to consider when choosing a search solution.

• MSS Express
  Consider using the Express version if you're looking for an entry-level departmental solution where a single index and query server will meet your needs. MSS Express is a free stand-alone server product. It provides all the search features available in Microsoft Search Server with the exception that it can only scale to a single index and query server.
• MSS
  Consider using MSS if you need an entry-level search solution that supports multiple index and query servers. MSS is suitable for deployment in a large network.
• MOSS
  Consider using MOSS for your enterprise search needs if you're planning to deploy or have already deployed MOSS in your network. With the Infrastructure Update released on 7/15/08, MOSS now integrates all the search features available in MSS and provides the additional advantage of being tightly integrated with SharePoint productivity tools such as the Business Data Catalog and content management.

Details, details, details

If you're like me and need lots of data before you make decisions, the following table might help.

 

	Search Server Express 2008	Search Server 2008	Office SharePoint Server 2007
Cost	Free	180-day trial version available	Included
Solution type	Entry-level	Entry-level	Infrastructure
Target deployment	Departmental	Organizational	Organizational
Scalability	Single query and index server	Multiple query and index servers	Multiple query and index servers
Connects with current business and information systems	Ö	Ö	Ö
Uses SQL Server or SQL Server Express	Ö	Ö	Ö
Central administration dashboard	Ö	Ö	Ö
Search Center for end users	Ö

Comments

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Which Microsoft Search product is for you?

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  The SharePoint IT Pro Documentation Team recently published a blog post on the various Microsoft "enterprise" search technologies. The post did a nice job of clarifying the role of each of Microsoft's various search tools, save FAST (but more

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Search Server 2008 Express is usually referred to as "MSSX" not "MSS Express". If you are going to go for short names, go for the shortest !!

• Anonymous
  August 27, 2008
  thank you for the great article