Microsoft Sharepoint Products and Technologies Resource Kit eBook

164 Part III: Planning and Deployment
Finally, you should remember that if ranking documents in the result set is
important, you should build your index/source group/content source/search
scope topology in such a way that most queries query only one index file at a
time. Ranking is performed on a per-index file basis, and there is no method supported
to group results from multiple index files and have the result set reranked
as a single unit. Another solution is to make sure that your index files are statistically
equivalent with the same approximate size and number of documents.
■ Backup and restore. Smaller content indexes also provide more flexibility
when backing up and restoring.
Note SharePoint Portal Server does not allow spaces in content index
names. Spaces are supported in source group names. Also, note that
Non_Portal_Content and Portal_Content exist by default.
Planning Search Scopes
Search scopes should be planned with the end user in mind. By this, we mean that
the Scopes should reflect the most natural way that people will want to search for
information. A good search-scope matrix will allow educated users the ability to
tightly define the portion of the overall index they want to search, giving them a
more lean, yet still meaningful result set. A best practice is to ask representatives
from each interested party, department, division, or team to help you create a
search-scope matrix that will enhance the users’ experience in the portal site by
allowing them to search for targeted information.
You’ll also need to consider using a hierarchical approach to your scope
matrix. For example, let’s suppose you have a research department with three
teams: Chemicals, Data Modeling, and Quality. Each team produces documents of
importance to the larger enterprise. In such a scenario, you might find yourself creating
four search scopes: chemicals, data modeling, quality, and research. The fourth
scope, research, would encompass the documents from all three teams. By using a
hierarchical approach, you can give the portal site user flexibility in defining the
portion of the overall index that needs to be searched.
In many cases, building the scope matrix will be more art than technology,
meaning that the search-scope matrix will be built over time in response to constructive
feedback. In some environments, you might have to place a small icon near the
Search Web Part that will take the user to a Web page that outlines the various search
scopes in the matrix and the information that will be searched via each scope.
If you’ll be using multiple portal sites, you can create a consistent search-scope
experience across all the portal sites by propagating each scope to the other portal