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SharePoint 2007: Configure Proxy Server Settings for Search

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Introduction

A search services administrator can specify proxy server settings for sending HTTP requests to crawl content and, if the Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers is installed, to query federated sources. A proxy server is a computer that functions as an intermediary to forward a client request to another server and return results to the client. A proxy server can help enhance intranet security and help improve response times for client requests. For more information about the Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers, see Install the Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers (Office SharePoint Server 2007).

Note: You must be a farm administrator to configure proxy settings on the Manage Farm-Level Search Settings page.

Configuring Office SharePoint Server 2007 to use a Proxy Server

  1. Complete one of the following steps depending on the status of your installation.

    • If the Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers is installed:

      1. In Central Administration, on the Quick Launch, in the Shared Services Administration group, click a shared service.
      2. On the Shared Services Administration page, in the Search section, click Search administration.
      3. On the Search Administration page, in the Crawling section, click Proxy and Timeouts. The Manage Farm-Level Search Settings page appears.

    • If the Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers is not installed:

      1. Iin Central Administration, on the Application Management tab, in the Search section, click Manage search service.

      2. On the Manage Search Service page, in the Farm-Level Search Settings section, click Farm-level search settings. The Manage Farm-Level Search Settings page appears.

  2. In the Proxy Server Settings section, click Use the proxy server specified, and then do the following steps:

    • If you do not have the Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers installed, skip to the next step. Otherwise, to use the same proxy server settings when querying a federated source, select the Use these proxy settings for access to federated sites check box. For more information, see Understanding proxy settings for federated sources later in this article.

    • In the Address box, type either the NetBIOS name or the IP address of the proxy server.

    • In the Port box, type the port number to use for this proxy server.

    • To bypass this proxy server when crawling local addresses, select the Bypass proxy server for local (intranet) addresses check box.

    • To bypass the proxy server when crawling particular IP addresses, type the site host names or IP addresses in the Do not use proxy server for addresses beginning with box. Separate host names or IP addresses with semicolons (;).

Configuring Search to Ensure Content is not Crawled via a Proxy Server

  1. Complete one of the following steps depending on the status of your installation.

    • If the Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers is installed:

      1. In Central Administration, on the Quick Launch, in the Shared Services Administration group, click a shared service.
      2. On the Shared Services Administration page, in the Search section, click Search administration.
      3. On the Search Administration page, in the Crawling section, click Proxy and Timeouts. The Manage Farm-Level Search Settings page appears.

    • If the Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers is not installed:

      1. In Central Administration, on the Application Management tab, in the Search section, click Manage search service.

      2. On the Manage Search Service page, in the Farm-Level Search Settings section, click Farm-level search settings. The Manage Farm-Level Search Settings page appears.

  2. On the Manage Farm-Level Search Settings page, in the Proxy Server Settings section, click Do not connect by using a proxy server.

  3. Click OK.

Understanding Proxy Settings for Federated Sources

Note: This section applies only to Office SharePoint Server 2007 server farms with the Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers installed.

Office SharePoint Server 2007 has two ways to specify proxy server settings for querying federated sources. Before querying a federated source, Office SharePoint Server 2007 checks in the following order for proxy settings and uses the first settings it finds to connect to the federated source:

  1. The Manage Farm-Level Search Settings page. Proxy settings specified on this page apply to all federated locations.

    We recommend this method if your organization has only one proxy server for querying federated sources.

  2. The .NET web.config file of the SharePoint site that hosts the federated location. Each SharePoint site has one web.config file. All federated locations on that site use this file. Office SharePoint Server 2007 uses the settings in the web.config file as the default proxy settings for federated locations on that site.

    This method enables you to specify a proxy server for each SharePoint site that hosts federated locations. However, using web.config file settings for this purpose can be slow or unsuccessful.