selecting a search engine for a library web site

[Laura Guy]

hi.

its been over a year since i messed with the index server business --
not that its a BIG excuse -- but i dont quite recall the security 
considerations other than (if memory serves me) the indexer ran as
the I_USR account and required that I_USR have write access to some
scripting directories.

in fact, i dug up an old FAQ page:

"Note that the html doc root, cgi-bin, and EWS install home directory
need to be readable and writable by the user id that your web 
server software runs as".

"Also, you may have to configure your web server software to allow
read/write access to all of the EWS related directories as well".

this disturbed me greatly.  that, along with the fact that the
MS index server was even EASIER to run (im a librarian not a systems
administrator) i made the choice to go with it rather than excite.

laura guy
dpls

guy at dpls.dacc.wisc.edu
http://dpls.dacc.wisc.edu


> Ernest Perez wrote:
>  
> > Don't know if you mean for a single server or for a group of
> > servers. If the former, EXCITE is a freebie (in unsupported mode)
> > and decently serviceable. We use it for state intranet Web server
> > search, and are satisfied with it.  It is Unix OS.
> 
> I would add that it also runs under NT.  I'm running it under UNIX on 
> our public web and under NT on our intranet.
> 
> I found it relatively easy to set up and use, customizable enough 
> that search results are indentifiable as having been run against 
> just our site rather than the web at large, the price is certainly 
> right, and our ISP was willing to install, if not actually support it 
> on the public web space we have with them.
> 
> Take a look if you're so inclined.  
> http://www.hampton.lib.nh.us/referenc/
> 
> I haven't noticed any security issues with it, but that's not really 
> my area of expertise.  Perhaps Laura Guy could expand a bit on that 
> area? (She brought it up in passing earlier in this thread).
> 
> 
> 
> Bobb Menk, Internet Librarian, Lane Memorial Library
> Hampton, NH 03842  603-926-3368
> bmenk at hampton.lib.nh.us
>