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Configure people search (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint)

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Applies to: FAST Search Server 2010

To enable and configure people search for use with FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint, follow the instructions in this article.

People search in FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint is very similar to people search in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010. There is one important difference: FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint uses two separate Search Service Applications. The content source for people search is added to the FAST Search Query Search Service Application.

In this article:

Enable people search

Configure Web application and site collections

Add user profiles to the User Profile service application

Configure My Site settings

People search requires that the following service applications were created and that the services on which they depend were started.

  • FAST Search Query Search Service Application

  • User Profile

  • Managed Metadata

The User Profile service application is an important part of people search because it stores much of the information that appears in results for people search. For example, information in My Site sites and a lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP) store, such as Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) are stored by the User Profile service application.

For more information about the User Profile service application and how to manage it, refer to the SharePoint Server 2010 topic User Profile Service administration (SharePoint Server 2010).

In addition to the service applications, people search requires a Search Center site that is created by using the Enterprise Search Center template. Unlike the Basic Search Center, the FAST Search Center has a tab that is used to search for people.

Ensure service applications are running

This section explains how to verify the existence of the service applications that people search requires, helps you to create the service applications if they do not exist, and explains how to ensure that dependent services are started.

To verify that service applications exist

  1. Verify that the user account that is performing this procedure is a member of the Farm Administrators SharePoint group.

  2. On the Home page of the Central Administration Web site, in the Application Management section, click Manage service applications.

  3. On the Manage Service Applications page, verify that the following are listed in the Name column:

    • Managed Metadata Service

    • FAST Search Query Search Service Application (This service application is specific to FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint and has a unique name. Make sure that you know the name of the FAST Search Query Search Service Application.)

    • User Profile Service Application

  4. If the Managed Metadata Service or the User Profile Service Application does not exist, follow the steps in the To create a Managed Metadata or User Profile Service Application section in this article.

    If the FAST Search Query Search Service Application does not exist, you may not have completed the deployment of FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint. For more information, see Deployment for FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint for an overview of all the required steps and Create and set up the Query Search Service Application (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint) for specifics.

    If all the service applications exist, continue with To ensure that the Managed Metadata Service application is started.

To create a Managed Metadata or User Profile Service Application

  1. On the Home page of the Central Administration Web site, in the Quick Launch, click Configuration Wizards.

  2. On the Configuration Wizards page, click Launch the Farm Configuration Wizard.

  3. On the Help Make SharePoint Better page, if it appears, click one of the following options, and then click OK:

    • Yes, I am willing to participate (Recommended)

    • No, I don’t want to participate

  4. On the Configure your SharePoint farm page, select Yes, walk me through the configuration of my farm using this wizard, and then click Start the Wizard.

  5. On the Configure your SharePoint farm page, in the Service Account section, select Use an existing managed account.

  6. Select the check-boxes for the service applications that you need to create, and then click Next.

  7. On the Create Site Collection page, click Skip.

  8. On the Configure your SharePoint farm page, click Finish.

To ensure that the Managed Metadata Service application is started

  1. In the Application Management section, click Manage service applications.

  2. Ensure that the Status column for the Managed Metadata Service application shows Started. If the farm configuration wizard was not used to create this service application, the Managed Metadata Web Service might not be running. If this is the case, continue to step 3. Otherwise, skip to Configure Web application and site collections.

  3. On the Central Administration Home page, in the System Settings section, click Manage services on server.

  4. On the Services on Server page, in the Managed Metadata Web Service row, click the Start link in the Action column. (If the link in the Action column is Stop, the Managed Metadata Web Service is already running.)

Configure Web application and site collections

In a production environment, typically you create a separate Web application to host the site collection for My Site sites. For evaluation purposes, you can use the same Web application to host separate site collections for your SharePoint sites, FAST Search Center site, and My Site sites.

This section assumes that you will use the same Web application to host the site collections for SharePoint sites, the FAST Search Center site, and My Site sites. The server farm should already have at least two Web applications: one for the Central Administration Web site and one for SharePoint sites. This assumes that you used the procedures in Deploy a single server with SQL Server (SharePoint Server 2010) to install SharePoint Server 2010.

Ensure that a Web application was created for SharePoint sites, the FAST Search Center site, and My Site sites

  1. Verify that the user account that is performing this procedure is a member of the Farm Administrators SharePoint group.

  2. On the Home page of the Central Administration Web site, in the Application Management section, click Manage web applications.

  3. On the Web Applications Management page, all Web applications that have been created for this server farm are listed.

    The steps in Deploy a single server with SQL Server (SharePoint Server 2010) create a Web application that uses port 80. You can use that Web application to host the site collections for your SharePoint sites, FAST Search Center site, and My Site sites.

    Tip

    If you performed a Standalone installation of SharePoint Server 2010, a Web application named SharePoint – 80 is automatically created on port 80 and a site collection is created in that Web application by using the Team Site template. This Web application could have also been created after a Server Farm installation if a site collection was created by using the Farm Configuration Wizard.

  4. If a Web application does not exist for your SharePoint sites and My Site sites, go to step 5. Otherwise, skip to Ensure service applications are associated with Web application.

  5. On the Web applications Management page, on the ribbon, in the Contribute group, click New.

  6. In the Create New Web Application dialog box, select Create a new IIS web site and optionally type a name for the site in the Name box.

  7. In the Port box, type the port number that you want this Web application to use.

  8. Specify any other settings, and then click OK.

  9. On the Application Created page, click OK.

Ensure that service applications are associated with a Web application

  1. On the Web Applications Management page, in the Name column, click the row that contains the Web application that you want to ensure is associated with the required service applications. Typically, this Web application is named SharePoint – 80.

    Note

    You must ensure that the Web applications for your SharePoint sites, FAST Search Center site, and My Site sites are associated with the following service applications:

    • Managed Metadata Service

    • User Profile

    • FAST Search Query Search Service Application

  2. On the ribbon, in the Manage group, click Service Connections.

  3. In the Configure Service Application Associations dialog box, ensure that the following check boxes are selected: Managed Metadata Service, User Profile Service Application, <the name of your FAST Search Query Search Service Application>.

  4. Click OK.

Add user profiles to the User Profile service application

Before you can get meaningful people search results, you must add user profiles to the User Profile service application. There are two ways to do this:

  • Add user profiles manually

  • Synchronize with a directory service or external data source, such as AD DS, third party LDAP, or the Business Data Connectivity service

Important

For a test environment, we recommend that you do not synchronize the profile store to a directory service or other external data source that is in a production environment. Instead, make a copy of the directory service with which to synchronize the User Profile service application.

View a list of user profiles

  1. On the Manage Service Applications page, click the row that contains the User Profile service application, and then on the ribbon, click Manage.

  2. On the Manage Profile Service page, in the People section, click Manage User Profiles.

  3. On the Manage User Profiles page, in the Find profiles box, type the name of the domain to which the users are a member, and then click Find.

    For example, if your users are members of the Contoso.com domain, type Contoso in the Find profiles box. Do not type the fully qualified domain name.

  4. Click Find.

Configure My Site settings

My Site settings are configured, by default, when the Farm Configuration Wizard is used to create the User Profile service application. Perform the following steps if you want to change the default settings.

  1. On the Manage Service Applications page, click the row that contains the User Profile service application.

  2. In the Operations group of the ribbon, click Manage.

  3. On the Manage Profile Service page, in the My Site Settings section, click Setup My Sites.

  4. In the Preferred Search Center section, in the Preferred Search Center box, ensure that the path of the FAST Search Center site is correct.

  5. In the Search scope for finding people list, ensure that People is selected.

  6. In the Search scope for finding documents list, select the search scope that you want to use for finding documents.

    We recommend that you select the All Sites scope.

  7. In the My Site Host section, in the My Site Host location box, ensure that the path to your My Site host is correct.

  8. In the Personal Site Location section, in the Location box, type the location at which to create personal sites.

    By default, the path is my/personal.

  9. In the Site Naming Format section, select the format you want to use to name new personal sites.

    Note that User name (do not resolve conflicts) is selected by default.

  10. In the Language Options section, optionally choose whether to allow users to choose the language of their personal site and whether the user profile will be edited using the language of their personal site.

  11. In the Read Permission Level section, optionally enter one or more accounts that will be granted the Read permission level in the personal site when it is created.

    By default, all authenticated users are granted this permission.

  12. In the My site E-mail Notifications section, optionally specify a different name that will appear in all e-mail notifications sent from all My Site sites.

    By default, the sender’s name is My Site.

  13. Click OK.

Add information to My Site sites

A My Site stores its information in the User Profile service application. Therefore, the more information you add to a My Site site, the more interesting people search results will be. For example, we recommend that you provide information about user’s expertise and interest in My Site sites to see how they appear on search results pages.

To add information to My Site sites, log on as a user for whom a user profile has been created in the User Profile service application and go to the URL of your My Site. To do this, in a Web browser, go to http://hostname/my/. If your My Site has not been created, one will be automatically created for you.