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Index > User Alerts

Use the Index > User Alerts page to perform the following tasks:

Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant search results based on a user's topic of interest. Alerts only work with public, non-secure results.

When you enable alerts, a My Alerts link appears on the search page for a front end, provided that Show Alerts Link is displayed for the front end. Users create and manage their alerts using the Manage Your Alerts page, which they can visit from the search page by clicking the My Alerts link.

When you disable alerts using the Index > User Alerts page, the My Alerts link does not appear on the search page and the search appliance does not send alerts emails to users. Disabling alerts for a search appliance also disables them for any front end where they are enabled.

Before Starting this Task

Before enabling alerts for a search appliance, you must complete the tasks listed in the following table.

Task Description
Configure an authentication mechanism. To allow the search appliance to authenticate the user to access the My Alerts feature. For information about configuring authentication mechanisms, see "Authentication" in "Managing Search for Controlled-Access Content," which is linked to the public Google Search Appliance documentation page.
If LDAP is used as the authentication mechanism, My Alerts automatically retrieves users' emails from their LDAP entries' "mail" attribute when they log in. See LDAP Entries with mail Attribute.
Specify rules for document dates To specify rules, use the Index > Document Dates page.
Ensure that document dates are working To verify that document dates rules are working, perform a search and ensure that dates are associated with each result.
Identify or create the front end where you want to show alerts To create a front end, use the Search > Search Features > Front Ends page in the Admin Console.

LDAP Entries with mail Attribute

For alerts to be received by users, LDAP entries must contain a "mail" attributes for users. The search appliance uses the mail attribute to fetch a user's email address. For example:

            dn: cn=sal,ou=People,dc=test,dc=com 
            labeledURI: http://www.test.com 
            givenName: sal 
            sn: sal 
            telephoneNumber: x10215 
            displayName: sal 
            objectClass: top 
            objectClass: person 
            objectClass: organizationalPerson 
            objectClass: inetOrgPerson 
            uid: sal 
            homePhone: 555-555-5555 
            cn: sal 
            description: useraccount 
            mail: user1@test.com 
          userPassword:: e1NIQX1XNnBohghghsfFDFRTOWc9

Relationship of Alerts with Front Ends and Collections

Each alert runs a search query against a specific front end and collection. If you enter https//<appliance>/ealerts into your browser, the alert uses default_collection and default_frontend for the query. If you follow the alerts link from the search results page, then the alert uses the same front end and collection as the results page. If you delete a front end, then all alerts associated with that front end are deleted.

Enabling Alerts

To enable alerts for a search appliance:

  1. Click Index > User Alerts.
  2. Click Enable.
  3. To include a standard email header in all alert emails sent from the search appliance, enter the header text in the Email header box.
  4. To include a standard email footer in all alert emails sent from the search appliance, enter the footer text in the Email footer box.
  5. Click Save.

Disabling Alerts

To disable alerts for a search appliance:

  1. Click Index > User Alerts.
  2. Click Disable.

Related Tasks

After you enable alerts for a search appliance, you must complete the task listed in the following table.

Task Description
Display the My Alerts link on the search page for a specific front end

Select Show Alerts Link in the Global Attributes section of the Page Layout Helper on the Search > Search Features > Front Ends > Output Format page in the Admin Console.

Add the necessary XSLT code to the XSLT stylesheet, as described in "Customizing the User Interface" in "Creating the Search Experience," available from the Google Search Appliance help center.

For More Information

For detailed information about administering alerts, see "Providing Alerts for End Users" in "Creating the Search Experience: Best Practices," which is linked to the Google Search Appliance help center.

 
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