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This article will explain how to configure the federated results webpart in the Ontolica Search Center.

Doing so will allow you to link in results from external search engines, such as web search engines in order to supplement your result pages with additional results.

When you perform searches in the default MOSS search center, you will notice a set of results displayed to the right middle zone.  These are the federated results from the external search provider; by default its Bing search provider.  Federated Search gives the ability to connect to external search providers from your search centers.

Federated Search component was natively not available within SharePoint 2007. It was first made it available only with the Search Server 2008 and Search Server 2008 express.  Later this new Enterprise Search Component ‘Federated Search’ was included in the Infrastructure update for Microsoft Office Servers (KB951297). This update was released on 15th of July 2008 and more information on this update can be found here.

Ontolica does not include Federated Results webpart by default.  But it can be easily configurable on any of the Ontolica Search Centers.

Figure: Default Ontolica Search Center

The simple way is to add and configure the Federated Results webpart directly into the Ontolica Search Center.  It is also possible to export the existing webpart from the MOSS search center and import into the Ontolica Search Center.

• Go to Ontolica Search Center (Results Page) and choose Site Actions ->Edit Page.
• In the Edit mode, click on ‘Add a Web Part’ under any of the zones where you would like to see the federated results.

• Add Web Parts webpage dialog pops up, expand the All Web Parts. Under Search select Federated Results web part and click Ok.

• Once the webpart is added, Select ‘edit’ for Federated Results webpart and click ‘Modify Shared Web Part’.
• Under Location properties you can see the list of available federated locations. Internet Search Results (Live Search) is the default selected location.

• Click Ok and exit from edit mode or publish your results page.
• The Federated Results webpart uses the Search Center’s look and feel and it is customizable.

Federated Locations

Federated Locations are the locations that are not indexed but you can query.  SharePoint 2007 allows users to create Federated Locations/Federated Search Connector for external search providers that use the OpenSearch 1.0/1.1 standard.  These connectors are stored as FLD files (Federated Location Definition).  This article on TechNet explains managing federated locations.  Some of the pre-configured Federated Location Definition files (samples) can be downloaded from here.

Loading Existing Federated Location.

• Go to SharedSearchService->Search Administration->Federated Locations
• Click on Import Location and follow the wizard (In this example I am importing YahooImages.FLD).

• Once the Federated location file is imported, I will add the Federated Locations Webpart into Ontolica Image Results page (Images tab).
• Select the newly added location from the Location Properties of the webpart.
• Using Top Federated Results web part allows you to configure multiple locations.

This is a simple way to configure Moss Federated Results webpart in Ontolica and allow your users to get the results from multiple sources at once.