Catch my Point

SharePoint Crawler converts links to lower cases before indexing, this is OK if you are not indexing Complex URLs. But this could be a problem if you index pages with query string parameters and if parameters are case sensitive.

Example:if you have a Content Query Webpart (http://www.andrewconnell.com/blog/archive/2008/02/18/Subclassing-the-Content-Query-Web-Part-Adding-Dynamic-Filtering.aspx)  or Data view webpart with filters (passed by Querystring).

In above example "Division" is case sensitive, SharePoint Crawler will not be able to index this webpage as CQWP will throw exception when it access same page with http://liware/sites/publishing/widgets/pages/default.aspx?filter1field=division&filter1value=europe url.

The above image is from Andrew Connell Blog (http://www.andrewconnell.com/blog/archive/2008/02/18/Subclassing-the-Content-Query-Web-Part-Adding-Dynamic-Filtering.aspx)

By default configuration SharePoint doesn't index pages with Complex URL's (Query Strings).  In most cases (intranet sites) this is acceptable but for Internet websites we would like MOSS to index all our dynamic pages also.

1. Go to Shared Services Provider and Select "Search Settings"
2. Select "Crawl Rules" and Create a New Crawl RuleEnter path of your SharePoint Site. If you have only one site with complex url's then it is recommened to enter path of that site.Make sure you select "Crawl complex URLs (URLs that contain a question mark (?))" and "Crawl SharePoint content as Http pages." If you don't select "Crawl SharePoint content as Http pages", SharePoint will not index Complex URL's (even if "Crawl complex URLs (URLs that contain a question mark (?))"  is checked )

Drawbacks when "Crawl SharePoint content as Http pages" is checked

1. Item level permissions are not stored;  that means users might see results even though they don't have permissions to link/item/page.
2. Crawler indexes all  application pages (_layouts folder ). Make sure you have a crawl rule (like *://*/_layouts/* ) to exclude all _layouts pages.
3. Crawler treats the SharePoint Site as a regular Web Site and follows only the links it indexed (just like any other external Search Engine ). If you create a new page and publish it but didn't link it anywhere in your site this page will not be indexed.
4. No metadata will be indexed.

I often get " The search request was unable to connect to the Search Service." on my development environment. Though Office SharePoint Server Search and Windows SharePoint Services Search windows services are running fine. Fix

1. Restart "Office SharePoint Server Search" and "Windows SharePoint Services Search" Windows Services
2. do IISRESET

This problem can also occur in new environments where these services are not configured properly

1. Go to Operations tab in Central Administration
2. Select "Services on Server" from Topology and Services
3. Select your Indexing/application Server from the server menu and make sure "Office SharePoint Server Search" and "Windows SharePoint Services Search" services are started.

Update (July 22nd 08) More Error messages

• Your search cannot be completed because of a service error. Try your search again or contact your administrator for more information.
• Error HRESULT E_FAIL has been returned from a call to a COM component.

Fix

• Check Event Logs for Error Messages
• Make sure your Search Databases are up and accessible to MOSS Search Service.