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Installing Search Server Express Over Windows Sharepoint Services 3.0 with Slipstream

Installing Search Server Express Over Windows Sharepoint Services 3.0 with Slipstream

Why Search Server Express(SSE) instead of Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) search?

SSE provides a number of benefits over the built in WSS search. You are basically getting the paid enterprise search from MOSS without the licensing fees. It gives you the ability to search multiple scopes/site, have a central search site location, improved crawling, and many other features.

Installation: Download Search Server 2008 Express here. It is important to make sure that Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 with SP1 or higher is installed (at the time of this blog SP2 is available). If you have a clean version of WSS 3.0 with SP1 or SP2 then downloading SSE and following Microsoft’s directions will probably be pretty successful for you. However, if a hotfix has been applied to WSS or something else has complicated the install on your server then it is likely that you will run into issues. One of the more common error messages received is:

CHECK ONLINE TO SEE IF SOLUTIONS ARE AVAILABLE FROM THE MICROSOFT WEBSITES. IF SOLUTIONS ARE FOUND, WINDOWS WILL AUTOMATICALLY DISPLAY A WEBSITE THAT LISTS STEPS YOU CAN TAKE. YOU MUST INSTALL OFFICE SHAREPOINT SERVER 2007 - PLEASE READ MICROSOFT KNOWLEDGE BASE ARTICLE: 962935 WITH THE MOST RECENT SERVICE PACK. OFFICE SHAREPOINT SERVER 2007 - PLEASE READ MICROSOFT KNOWLEDGE BASE ARTICLE: 962935 WITHOUT SERVICE PACKS HAS A KNOWN COMPATIBILITY ISSUE WITH THIS VERSION OF WINDOWS

This error message seems crazy, because we are using WSS 3.0 (free version) with no intention of installing MOSS (licensed version), but as I said before Search Server Express has a lot of the capabilities of MOSS, and because of this Search Server Express needs some of the Service Pack files from MOSS.

Correcting the problem with a slipstream install:

The solution to that error message is to put the files that SSE needs from MOSS into the updates folder. In order to accomplish this, follow these steps (note that some of the command line commands might be slightly different as I have my commands specific to the x86 files rather than x64):

  1. Verify that you have WSS 3.0 with SP2 installed. Additionally it is important that you have already set up a WSS site. If you have not then your default homepage will be a SSE page rather than the WSS team site that most people prefer as the main page.
  2. Download MOSS SP2 and SSE (if you don’t already have it). It will make the next few steps easier if you put them in the same directory. I put them both in C:\
  3. Open a command window and navigate to the folder in which you saved the two previous files.
  4. Issue the following commands:
    1. SearchServerExpress.exe /extract:c:\SSEslipstream This command will put all of the information from the exe in a folder in your c:\ drive called slipstream
    2. officeserver2007sp2-kb953334-x86-fullfile-en-us.exe /extract:c:\SSEslipstream\updates This command will place the needed files from the MOSS SP2 in the updates folder. This is the folder that is used by Microsoft to automatically install updates when installing base software.

  5. Verify that the extract worked correctly. If everything went well then you will have the following files in your WSSslipstream folder:

    And more importantly the updates folder should look something like this:

  6. Open up WSSslipstream and run setup.exe and you should see the following screen

  7. Select Run the Search Server Preparation Tool. On the next screen select next. If that runs through to completion you should be back at the main screen
  8. Now choose Install Search Server
  9. On the next screen you need to choose the type of installation you will need to do. This is dependent on your farm. If you did a basic installation of WSS 3.0 you will only have one choice. If your configuration database is on a separate server then choose Web Front End. If everything is located on one server then choose Complete.

  10. Go to File Location tab and choose the directory that you want your index files to be saved to.
  11. Click Install Now, and the install should go smoothly, and you will just have to do the needed configuration to add the SSE page to your existing WSS site.

I hope this helps you integrate the very useful SSE search onto WSS successfully. Feel free to comment or contact me with any questions.

Comments

Imran
# Imran
Hi,
I have done with that and now FBA site is working with SSE.Thanks John for your co-operation.


Regards
Imran Paracha
John Sullivan
# John Sullivan
Imran,

I am not familiar with this particular issue, but would recommend checking the crawl settings in central admin. If that doesn't work I hope that google can generate some good information for other people with similar problems, as that is always a good first approach.

-John
Imran
# Imran
Hi,
First of all thanks your coordination.
Today i came across an other issue when i have implemented FBA(authentication from database) in my team site where login page is also custom.It stop the search working.Indexing and crawling are not working i think but don't know how to fix.Please suggest me some solution to work with FBA internment.

Regards Imran Paracha
John Sullivan
# John Sullivan
Imran,
I am glad to hear that you got everything worked out! Best of luck and I hope it works well for you and your team.

-John
Imran
# Imran
Thanks John.
You have helped me a lot.I have configured SSE with SQL Server Express 2005.Now I can avail Moss like search.



Regards
Imran
# Imran
Hi,
I do not have much experience in wss development,i have to perform moss like search for an intranet site(Team site) with form base authentication.Please guide which installation of wss is best for this requirement.

Regards
Imran Paracha
Imran
# Imran
Hi,
I have installed sqlserver express2005.
I have installed wss3.0 sp2 with Advance Option(Web Front End)
Please guide me how to fix the issue:
Search Server has detected that the minimum database server version requirement is not met. The computer that hosts the database server role must have Microsoft SQL Server 2000 with SP3a or later or Microsoft SQL Server 2005 SP2 or later
John Sullivan
# John Sullivan
@Imran,
In this example it was done over a Basic Installation, however I have also done it over an Advanded Installation. It really depends on what your WSS requirements and farm setup are going to be.

There will be some configuration in Cetnral Admin in order to set up the index frequency and what drivers are being indexed.

What version of SQL Server did you install for WSS 3.0? What type of install did you do on WSS 3.0 and have you already verified the functionality of SharePoint before installing SSE?

Thanks,
John
Imran
# Imran
Hi i am configuring search server.I have installed server using above guide.But when i am going to configure search server with wss3.0 on window server 2008 r2 i came across an error:Search Server has detected that the minimum database server version requirement is not met. The computer that hosts the database server role must have Microsoft SQL Server 2000 with SP3a or later or Microsoft SQL Server 2005 SP2 or later.How to solve the issue.

Regards Imran Paracha
Imran
# Imran
Hi,
After installing using the above guide what necessary configurations are done in central administration site.

Regards Imran Paracha
Imran
# Imran
Hi,
This is really helpful post.i just want to know which type of wss 3.0 installation is already done ie.Basic installation or Advanced installation before search server express server installation.


Regards Imran paracha
John Sullivan
# John Sullivan
@Bernd
You have probably solved this issue already, but this seems like a permissions issue. Are you sure that the users you set up have the correct permission to access the db Server?
Bernd
# Bernd
Hi,
after installing Search Server 2008 following this guide the central administration takes very long to load and after configuring the users it tells me that the database cannot be reached. Any ideas?

regs
Bernd
John Sullivan
# John Sullivan
@Joshua:

If you are only looking for the search capabilities then installing SSE directly would be easier, but without WSS you miss out on a lot of great capabilities that SharePoint has to offer:
Collaboration: Project and Team sites, with outlook task and email notification
Business Processes: Structured workflow and business automation
Content Management: Document Management, public facing website, and records management
Web 2.0: Best practices wikis, blogs, and personal sites,
Business Intelligence: KPIs, dashboards, and browser based spreadsheets.

The goal of installing SSE over WSS is to get a higher quality search (that will index network drives) integrated on an already great free platform.
Joshua
# Joshua
I dont think you actually need to have WSS installed before installing Searchserver. It will work if you did, but as you say in the blog, applying updates is quite difficult.

I would suggestion anyone not already down the WSS hole, just install SSE and be done with it.

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