Google Search Appliance Configuring GSA Unification - Manual (Page 5)

Google Search Appliance: Configuring GSA Unification 5
One search appliance in the configuration is designated the primary search appliance or primary node.
The other search appliances are designated the secondary search appliances or secondary nodes. Unified
environments are typically set up so that end users’ search queries are directed to the primary search
appliance. The primary search appliance searches its own index and issues a query to the indexes on
the secondary search appliances. The secondary nodes return their results to the primary search
appliance. The primary search appliance aggregates the search results from itself and the secondary
search appliances, then serves the results to the user. The user does not need to repeat the search on
each search appliance in the configuration.
Limitations
You cannot combine a unified environment with the distributed crawling and serving or GSA
n
mirroring
features. However, you can set up mirroring for a unified environment (see “Setting up Mirroring in a
Unified Environment” on page 21).
When GSA unification is configured, personal content from the Cloud Connect > Google Apps Content
feature can be integrated into search results only on the primary node in the unified configuration.
How Search and Serve Work
In a unified environment, the search and serve processes work seamlessly from the end users’
standpoint. Users submit queries and receive results on the same familiar Google Search Appliance
search pages. You control which documents are searched by configuring collections and composite
collections within the unified environment. For more information, see “Using Collections to Direct User
Searches” on page 7.
The following graphic shows three search appliances in a unified environment:
• Search Appliance A indexes sales and marketing documents. It is the primary search appliance in
the configuration.
• Search Appliance B indexes technical support documents. It is a secondary search appliance.