Microsoft FrontPage 2000 Server Extensions Resource Kit

Advanced Administrative Tasks

The Server Extensions and Index Servers

The Microsoft® FrontPage® Server Extensions use a built-in WAIS (Wide Area Information Server) search engine to build a full-text index for FrontPage-based webs that include a Search Form component. If you have the Microsoft® Index Server (Indexing Services) installed, the FrontPage Server Extensions use it by default instead of the built-in WAIS search engine to build indexes for Webs.

The Server Extensions and WAIS

When the FrontPage Server Extensions use the WAIS engine, a full-text index is created in the _vti_txt directory under the Web's top-level directory. The index is updated whenever a page is saved or whenever the Web is recalculated. New content is automatically added to the index as pages are saved. However, deleted content is not removed from the index until the Web is recalculated, using the Recalculate Hyperlinks command.

The Server Extensions and Microsoft Index Server

Index Server is a content-indexing and search component included with Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) 3.0 and later. When the FrontPage Server Extensions are installed with IIS 3.0 and later, the FrontPage search form uses the document index and search component of Index Server.

For a full discussion of Index Server features, such as creating custom searches, and for information about installing Index Server, setting up the search catalog, associating it with a virtual server, and setting administration options, see the Index Server documentation.