Content Sources> Connectors > Add Connector

Use the Content Sources > Connectors > Add Connector page to add connectors to an existing connector manager.

You can add a new connector of any connector type that you installed in the connector manager. This help page provides information on the following topics:

• Before Starting these Tasks
• Viewing Connector Configuration Information
• Adding a Connector
• Specifying Namespaces
• Editing Advanced Properties
• Setting the Traversal Rate
• Setting the Retry Delay
• Disabling or Enabling Traversal
• Setting the Connector Schedule
• Deleting Connectors
• For More Information

Before Starting these Tasks

Before starting these tasks, run the connector installer on a computer on your network and register a connector manager and connector type on the search appliance. For information on deploying connector managers and installing connector types, see the documentation for your content management system, which is linked to the connector landing page. The search appliance help system does not discuss connector manager installation and deployment.

Before you configure a connector, set up credential groups by using the Search > Secure Search > Universal Login page.

Viewing Connector Configuration Information

When you start configuring the connector, you see these fields on the Admin Console:

• Connector Manager - Predefined, non-editable field determined by the connector manager you selected to host this connector.
• Connector Name - Enter a name of no more than 64 alphanumeric characters. All alphabetical characters must be lower-case. Connector names may include underscores (_) and hyphens (-), but they cannot begin with a hyphen. Each connector added to a particular connector manager or Google Search Appliance must have a unique name.
• Type - Select the type of connector from the drop-down list. The list includes all connector types installed on the connector manager.
• Get Configuration Form - Click to display the connector-specific options on the page. For information about these options, see the configuration documentation for your particular connector type, which is linked to the connector landing page.

Adding a Connector

Use these instructions to add a connector.

To add a connector:

1. On the Admin Console, click Content Sources > Connectors.
2. Select a connector manager from the drop-down list.
3. Click Add.
4. Type in a connector name.
5. Select a connector type from the drop-down list.
6. Click Get Configuration Form.
7. Select a Global Namespace from the drop-down list. See Global Namespace for more information.
8. Select a Local Namespace from the drop-down list. See Local Namespace for more information.
9. Specify a traversal rate in the Documents Per Minute field. The default is 500 documents per minute. See Setting the Traversal Rate for more information.
10. Set the connector schedule. See Setting the Connector Schedule for more information.

Specifying Namespaces

When the search appliance indexes usernames and groups in fed ACLs (access control lists) from multiple repositories, it needs to keep the ACLs in separate namespaces, ensuring that access to secure content is maintained unambiguously.

The search appliance is able to model multiple namespaces by using the following namespace hierarchy:

• Global Namespace
  • Local Namespace

Global Namespace

The global namespace is used for global usernames and groups for fed ACLs. It is always a credential group name. You must specify the global namespace for ACLs to be processed correctly.

Because the global namespace is a credential group, you must set up the credential group before configuring the connector. For more information on setting up the credential group, click Admin Console Help > Search > Secure Search > Universal Login.

Local Namespace

The local namespace is used for local usernames and groups for fed ACLs. It models the namespacing within the content repository with which the connector is interfacing.

Editing Advanced Properties

This page enables you to change any advanced properties of a connector type while configuring a connector instance of that type. When you show the advanced properties file for a connector type, text containing the entire advanced properties file for the selected connector type appears in an edit window. Comments in the advanced properties provide editing instructions.

Editing advanced properties is available for connector manager 2.8.2 and later. This feature is not available for earlier versions.

To edit the advanced properties of the connector:

1. On the Admin Console, click Content Sources > Connectors.
2. Under Advanced properties, click the Show/Hide link. The advanced properties file appears in an edit window.
3. Make desired changes to the file.
4. Click Save.

Setting the Traversal Rate

Traversal is the process by which the connector retrieves documents from the content management system. The connector typically issues queries to the repository to retrieve document data to feed to the Google Search Appliance for indexing. The traversal rate is average number of documents per minute that you want the connector to traverse in the document repository. The higher the number you enter, the more resources the connector will take up. The default value is 1000 documents per minute.

Setting the Retry Delay

When a connector manager completes traversing a repository, it pauses before the traversal begins. If your connectors run on connector manager 2.0 or later, you can use the retry delay setting to change length of the pause.

The retry delay interval is expressed in minutes. The default value is five minutes. The maximum value is approximately 35791 minutes.

If you enter any negative number, the value is set to -1. Traversal runs once, then stops, instead of running continuously.

To change the interval, type in a new value and click Save.

Disabling or Enabling Traversal

If your connectors run on connector manager 2.0 or later, you can use the Disable Traversal check box to prevent the connector from traversing the repository.

• To disable traversal, check the checkbox and click Save.
• To enable traveral when a connector is disabled, clear the checkbox and click Save.

Setting the Connector Schedule

Use the Connector Schedule field to define the time period during which the connector traverses the repository. By default, the connector is set to run for 24 hours, from 12 am to 12 am of the following day. Note that a traversal schedule that begins and ends at the same time runs continuously. A crawl schedule for web or file system content that begins and ends at the same time never crawls the content.

If you want to spread the connector run time over multiple time periods, click Add Line to Schedule and define another time period.

To delete a scheduled time period, select the Delete check box. When you click Save, the time period is deleted from the traversal schedule.

After you configure the new connector, click Save.

Deleting Connectors

To delete a connector, click the Delete link corresponding to the connector you want to delete. Do not reuse the name of the deleted connector. Instead, assign unique names to any new connectors.

For More Information

For more information on adding and scheduling connectors, see the connector administration guide and the configuration documentation for your connector type in the connector documentation set.