Online Administration and Statistics

Accessing the Online Administration

To access the online management, browse to the Alkaline server using the port on which Alkaline is running with no parameters. You will be redirected to the /admin path. For example, the Vestris Alkaline Management console can be found at http://search.vestris.com/admin/ . You can test it with username alkaline-manage and the manage password.

The administrative section is password protected. A valid username and password can either be the Alkaline root or alkaline-manage . Alkaline users and passwords are described in Chapter 3: Alkaline Server Configuration .

It is also possible to login with the username vestris and the full certificate unlock key as the password which is available to the server administrator and Vestris Inc. only. All other locations, except server statistics, such as adding, removing and reindexing URLs require a real password and will not accept the certificate unlock key.

Server Parameters

Server statistics are available by selecting the Server Parameters tab in the menu.

Main Page

The Main Page contains links to the various sections of the Alkaline management section, web site and documentation.

Performance Counters

The Performance Counters runtime information includes the server version, system information, runtime dates and times, search thread count, search requests and the requests per minute rate. Note that this information may vary depending on the platform or version of Alkaline.

Global Configuration

The Global Configuration section includes the options from the global.cnf configuration file. The Loaded : Yes value shows whether a global.cnf configuration file was found and properly loaded.

Server Configurations

The Server Configurations menu contains the currently loaded configurations. Each page offers a basic search form, an option to reload the index for this particular section and the entire list of options set in the asearch.cnf file, including virtual configurations. In addition, this page contains the statistics of the search cache, including the latest search terms.

Server Operations

Such operations include restarting the server, adding or deleting urls.

Note

Some of these options might not be available depending on the platform or version of Alkaline

Restart Server

Use this command to restart the index/search server. This will force the reload of the indexes and of all configurations - equivalent to a full interrupt/restart of Alkaline. The availability of this command may vary on different operating systems. Either the root or the alkaline-restart username with a valid password must be supplied for this operation.

Shutdown Server

Use this command to shutdown the index/search server. This will terminate Alkaline. The availability of this command may vary on different operating systems. Either the root or the alkaline-restart username with a valid password must be supplied for this operation.

Refresh Template

Alkaline stores search templates in memory for a better server availability. Select one of the currently cached templates from the list and use this command to reload it. Either the root or the alkaline-manage username with a valid password must be supplied for this operation.

Add / Reindex an Url

Add/reindex an url to the selected configuration. This operation adds a new url and immediately schedules it for reindexing (should be reindexed almost instantly). If the url is already present, it will simply be reindexed. The url will appear in the index only and will not depend on the configuration. Its links will not be followed by the indexing daemon. To keep track on urls that users add to the search engine, use the log files. Either the root or the alkaline-add password must be provided for this operation.

Delete an Url

Remove an url from the selected configuration.

Note

If the url has been cached, it might take some time before it disappears from search results.

To keep track on URLs that users remove from the search engine, use the log files. If the url is linked from some other document, the indexing daemon might find it again and successfully reindex it. Either the root or the alkaline-add password must be provided for this operation.