Server load for creating search index? [SOLVED]

waltergr

2007-06-08, 09:43 #1

Member since Jun 2007 · 39 posts
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Subject: Server load for creating search index? [SOLVED]

I have a few questions about the search index:

o The Search page () says, "Information about a page's content is added and updated when a page is viewed by a user. Each page includes an invisible image which calls the index update process if needed." How is it determined if an index update is needed?
o What's the server load for updating the index?
o Some shared hosting companies have policies on running cron jobs, and techniques like this may be interpreted as attempting to circumvent their policies. Is there a way to do index updates via cron rather than via a hidden image?

Thanks,

Walter

P.S. I'll add the answers into the DokuWiki documentation wiki...

My e-mail address: waltergr@aol.com

This post was edited on 2007-06-08, 13:45 by waltergr.

chi (Moderator) 2007-06-08, 13:31 #2

Member since Jun 2006 · 662 posts · Location: Munich Germany
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Quote by waltergr:
o The Search page (http://wiki.splitbrain.org/wiki:search) says, "Information about a page's content is added and updated when a page is viewed by a user. Each page includes an invisible image which calls the index update process if needed." How is it determined if an index update is needed?

By determining if the timestamp of the viewed page is newer than the one of the corresponding file that keeps the metadata for the index. For in depth details have a look at http://dev.splitbrain.org/reference/dokuwiki/ -> lib/exe/indexer.php.

Quote by waltergr:
o What's the server load for updating the index?

You can call lib/exe/indexer.php directly, providing a page id via the url and measure it yourself.

Quote by waltergr:
o Some shared hosting companies have policies on running cron jobs, and techniques like this may be interpreted as attempting to circumvent their policies. Is there a way to do index updates via cron rather than via a hidden image?

You can use the <dokuwiki>/bin/indexer.php commandline script along with cron jobs. To disable the automatic background indexing you only have to remove the tpl_indexerWebBug() call from the main.php file of your template.

Please add [SOLVED] to the initial thread subject if you feel your question has been answered.

waltergr

2007-06-08, 13:45 #3

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Great, thanks. Will add this information to the wiki.

My e-mail address: waltergr@aol.com

andi (Administrator) 2007-06-08, 22:37 #4

Member since May 2006 · 697 posts · Location: Berlin Germany
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In reply to post #2

Quote by waltergr:
o Some shared hosting companies have policies on running cron jobs, and techniques like this may be interpreted as attempting to circumvent their policies. Is there a way to do index updates via cron rather than via a hidden image?

Huh? Running cron instead of circumventing the the cron nonavailability? Doesn't make any sense to me.

Quote by chi:
You can use the <dokuwiki>/bin/indexer.php commandline script along with cron jobs. To disable the automatic background indexing you only have to remove the tpl_indexerWebBug() call from the main.php file of your template.

Don't do that. DokuWiki uses the webbug for all kind of things that need to be done by an automated background job (eg. sitemap generation). Removing the webbug voids your warranty ;-)

Read this if you don't get any useful answers.

waltergr

2007-06-09, 06:12 #5

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Huh? Running cron instead of circumventing the the cron nonavailability?

Not cron nonavailability - policies about running cron jobs. For example, cron jobs may be run at most once an hour, the job must be "niced", the nice value must be 10 or greater. My hosting company's policies are available at .

I can't find the page that said kicking off cron-like actions when a user accesses a web page is a violation of the policy. It may have been another hosting company's policies I was reading.

My e-mail address: waltergr@aol.com

This post was edited on 2007-06-09, 12:52 by waltergr.