Managing the search indexes

GFI MailArchiver creates search indexes for each archive store you configure. Each search index automatically indexes new email content archived in the corresponding archive store, to keep the search index updated and enable the users to perform precise and fast searches.

This section will show you how to configure the frequency with which you want GFI MailArchiver to index new archived emails into the search indexes. You will also learn how to force a full search index rebuild, in cases where you might suspect that the search index is no longer valid.

To configure how often you want GFI MailArchiver to index new emails archived in an archive store, follow these steps:

1. Load the GFI MailArchiver configuration as shown in the ‘Introduction to the Configuration’ section earlier in this chapter.

2. Click on the GFI MailArchiver > Configuration > Search Index Management node, in the left navigation pane.

Screenshot 87 - Search Index Management

3. In the Search Index Management page, you can view a list of all the current search indexes associated with the archive stores present in the Archive Stores page and Archive Stores Management page.

NOTE: The search indexes associated with the archive stores listed in the Archive Stores page have a status of Online. On the other hand, the search indexes associated with the archive stores listed in the Archive Stores Management page have a status of Standby, since these search indexes are associated with archive stores that are not yet active and therefore there are no emails in them to index.

Screenshot 88 - Search index update frequency

4. Under Indexing Schedule click on one of the following options to select the frequency with which you want GFI MailArchiver to index new archived emails.

Index new archived emails immediately – GFI MailArchiver will index the new email content as soon as it stores it in the archive store. This option guarantees the most up-to-date search index, thus users will be able to search for and find the latest archived emails. Depending on the amount of emails archived, this option could create a significant performance hit due to the updating frequency.

Index new archived emails every – With this option you can select to update the search index with the latest archived emails at a constant interval, such as every half an hour, every hour, every two hours. We recommend using this option since it strikes the right balance between update frequency and performance hit.

Index new archived emails every day at – If you select this option, you can specify a time using the hour and minutes list, at which time GFI MailArchiver will update the search indexes with all the new archived emails stored since the last search index update. With this option, you can get GFI MailArchiver to index new email during low traffic time. The downside of this option is that the users will not be able to find the emails that GFI MailArchiver archived during the last 24 hours through search, since the search index does not include details about them yet.

NOTE: Irrespective of the update frequency you select, the users will always be able to view the new archived emails through the browse feature.

5. Click Save Settings.

Rebuilding a search index

If you suspect that a search index is no longer returning the correct search results or that somehow it was corrupted, you can use the configuration to rebuild the search index.

NOTE: Keep in mind that to rebuild a search index, GFI MailArchiver might take several hours, depending on the amount of emails stored in the respective archive store, during which time users will not be able to find emails in that archive store through the search feature. In addition, rebuilding a search index will of course affect performance on the server, since this is a processor and hard disk intensive operation. Therefore, we suggest that if you want to rebuild an index it is best if you do so during a low activity period, such as after office hours.

To rebuild a search index, follow these steps:

1. Load the GFI MailArchiver configuration as shown in the ‘Introduction to the Configuration’ section earlier in this chapter.

2. Click on the GFI MailArchiver > Configuration > Search Index Management node, in the left navigation pane.

3. Click the Rebuild Index link to the right of the search index you want to rebuild.

4. Click Save Settings.