[HLUG] Aduna Autofocus Meta Search software

[Julian Robbins]

Andrew Hodgson wrote:
> Julian,
> 
> How does this access the files on your server, and how does it ensure that the relevant people can see the relevant files, and not for example files that they should not have access to ordinarily?
> 
> Andrew.

Via smb shares, or of a Windows server if you have one. Access is a bit 
more tricky, I guess the easiest way is to use a guest account with 
limited access, as I dont think its configurable for individual user 
access.

http://www.aduna-software.com/products/autofocus_server/overview.view

Interestingly, they is also a desktop software from Aduna that as well 
as being able to access the server you have setup allows much more 
visualisation of keywords search terms and how they inter-relate and 
usually IMAP email searching in amongst the results. The server software 
also can index and present search results from websites too. Our 
www.q-par.com site is also a source for content on our server.

I was also impressed by Aduna's attitude to the software. Its all using 
OSS software , but they only make money from services or customisations. 
They dont have a premier version that costs more ... You get the full 
version for free

Julian

> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: herefordshire-bounces at mailman.lug.org.uk [mailto:herefordshire-bounces at mailman.lug.org.uk] On Behalf Of Julian Robbins
> Sent: 26 August 2007 10:23
> To: Herefordshire Linux Users Group.
> Subject: Re: [HLUG] Aduna Autofocus Meta Search software
> 
> Julian Robbins wrote:
> 
> Re the Autofocus software below.
> 
> I'm still pleased with the operation, interface and usability of this 
> code now its been more thoroughly tested at work.
> 
> The only problem has been the speed, understandably. I think i need more 
> than the 2GB of ram i have. Getting the 175,000 files its indexed on our 
> server needs a lot of ram, and its maxing out at more 90% usage.
> 
> So at the moment, its working well, apart from the time it takes to 
> search the index for the largest profile with this 175,000 files. With 
> only 10000 files its extremely fast.
> 
> Mind you for a 300000 files Google Mini search box, its £6900 which 
> includes two years support and the hardware, so if you've server space 
> and lots of RAM, its still well worth it.
> 
> Not too bad to set up either, once you've got Apache and Tomcat setup. 
> The trick is not to use the tomcat from the Ubuntu Repos but to use the 
> notes on the Ubuntu forum showing how to setup Tomcat 6. Then its plain 
> sailing ....
> 
> I'll tell more at a forthcoming LUG meeting, assuming we're still up for 
> our presentation to the Green part and the FoE too in September ..
> 
> Whats going on with this by the way. can we get a list of members who 
> i'd like be involved ? Please reply to this email if you're interested ..
> 
> Julian
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> Hi
>>
>> A Real Linux posting now!!
>>
>> I have been intending on putting together a web based meta search 
>> facility of all our company information, files, database and emails, to 
>> make a huge searchable repository of information, a bit like Google but 
>> just inside the company I work for.
>>
>> Although Beagle, Tracker, Strigi and Recoll,
>>
>> http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/blogs/desktop_search_beagle_part_1
>>
>> have many plaudits as desktop search tools that are actually useful 
>> every day - they lack a means to allow this to be easily rolled out in a 
>> company. Instead I wanted a single server that could serve searches via 
>> a std web browser.
>>
>> After lots of looking I came across a PHP script for Beagle, called 
>> 'Peagle'. This was ok, but wasn't being actively developed, and would 
>> have needed work to get it right.
>>
>> After quite a bit of searching I accidentally stumbled upon something 
>> called Aduna Autofocus. They are a Dutch company offering exactly what I 
>> was looking for . www.aduna-software.com
>>
>> The software is all based on Open Source technologies (Spectacle, 
>> Sesame), and runs on Java and Apache Tomcat. After a few irritations, I 
>> got Tomcat installed, and the .war file slotted into the Tomcat 
>> webserver fine.
>>
>> The Autofocus server is setup via a GUI, with decent manuals to help 
>> you. The web search interface is clean, and really well thought out - as 
>> it has a couple of clever techniques to help you drill down through the 
>> data that is returned, via a list of suggestions, and filters based, on 
>> file type, Author, date, size, type of source etc.
>>
>> I wont bore you with the details, but so far, I am extremely impressed 
>> with the software. Aduna too have their ideals very much in FOSS, and 
>> make money from support and developing custom solutions rather than 
>> offering a premiun product at a high cost that is not under a Open 
>> Source Licence.
>>
>> So, if you want to get a Google search appliance for your company but 
>> cant afford it, you may want to try this instead. Its not perfect but is 
>> mature, works well coupled with other Open Source technologies should 
>> you want to develop it further.
>>
>> All I need is more RAM to test it with !!!
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>> Julian
>>
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> 
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