Optimizing Full-Text Retrieval (FTR) Performance (SmartPlant Foundation) - Full-Text Retrieval (FTR) - Installation & Upgrade

Full-Text Retrieval (FTR) Installation

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Installation & Upgrade

This section lists ways to optimize performance when using Full-Text Retrieval (FTR).

  • Because of the processing demands of FTR indexing, do not set up the FTR Main Server and the SmartPlant Foundation server on the same computer. For better performance, set up the FTR Main Server on a separate computer containing SmartPlant Foundation vaults. When a file is transferred to one of these vaults, FTR indexes the file. In this configuration, FTR and SmartPlant Foundation processing is performed on separate computers, improving performance.

    The following is a suggested configuration:

    • Software server: SmartPlant Foundation (server)

    • File server (client): FTR Server, SmartPlant Foundation client

    • Database server: Database software

      For more information about how to set up the FTR Main Server on a separate computer from the SmartPlant Foundation server, see Full-Text Retrieval (FTR) Installation and Setup.

      The File Server (client) needs to have a large disk drive for file storage (400 MB plus more than 99 GB additional space for collections). It also needs to have at least one processor (400 MHz) and approximately 128 MB of RAM. The Web service must be running at all times on the File Server (client) for this configuration to work properly.

  • Using a Stopword file on a collection can improve FTR search performance. This is because a Stopword file reduces the number of words in a collection. Therefore, during an FTR search, there are fewer words for the search algorithm to filter through and this returns the results of the search quicker.

    Using a Stopword file on a collection will increase the time it takes to index the collection. This is because extra time is needed to filter out the stopwords during the indexing process.

    FTR uses a default Stopword file collection, SSstopfile.xml, for collections. You can edit the Stopword files delivered with the software for your own needs.

    The stopwords are provided in the Stop properties option in Administration > FTR > Server Configuration.

  • Although FTR allows remote collections to exist on other machines, it is suggested that the number of remote collections be kept at a minimum. When there are multiple remote collections, FTR searches will decrease performance because the searches will have to access collections over the network.

  • Invalid rows can accumulate over time in FTR collections, thus impacting FTR performance. To remove any invalid rows in a collection, use the ftrclnup utility. For more information, see Cleaning up Collections.