Plan search topology (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint)

Applies to: FAST Search Server 2010

This section helps you plan the Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint topology, including the integration with the Microsoft SharePoint Server farm.

In this section:

• Topology Overview

• Deployment Options

• Plan search service applications (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint)

• Plan FAST Search Server farm topology (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint)

• Performance and capacity management (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint)

• Performance and capacity test results (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint)

• Performance and capacity recommendations (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint)

• System requirements (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint)

• Security considerations for the server farm (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint)

Topology Overview

The following figure shows the FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint system as part of an overall Microsoft SharePoint Server deployment.

FAST Search Server in an overall SharePoint Server farm topology

FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint provides enterprise search infrastructure for the SharePoint Server farm infrastructure. The search solution is hosted on two farm topologies:

• SharePoint Server farm   The parent SharePoint farm that hosts the query interfaces and content collection (crawling) interfaces for the search solution.

• FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint farm   The server farm infrastructure that provides the back-end indexing and query matching capabilities, and the administration of these features.

  For further details on this farm topology, see Plan FAST Search Server farm topology (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint).

  Important

  In order to provide search services, the FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint farm must be connected to a parent SharePoint Server farm. For more information, see Plan search service applications (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint).

The FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint farm must have access to a SQL Server host that is used to store configuration information. Note that FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint will not store any data related to the indexed content in the database. It is therefore recommended that you use a SQL Server database server already available in the parent SharePoint farm for this purpose.

Deployment Options

When you install FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint you must select between standalone deployment and multiple server installation. The main differences are indicated below.

Standalone deployment

A standalone deployment is useful when you want:

• A small-scale deployment with minimal administrative overhead

• A development or test environment

• A deployment for product evaluation

It is possible to change a standalone deployment into a multiple server deployment at a later stage.

Multiple server deployment

A multiple server deployment is recommended for most production environments, except small deployments without any fault-tolerance requirements.

When performing a multiple server deployment, you first install FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint on all servers to be used in the deployment. After that you deploy the different components to the servers based on your selected topology. For more information, see Configure a stand-alone deployment or a multiple server deployment (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint).

See Also

Concepts

Plan for crawling and federation (FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint)