rebuikld

Integrating Search Interface

to SAS® Content 3.6
Copyright Notice
The correct bibliographic citation for this manual is as follows: SAS Institute Inc., Integrating Search Interface
to SAS® Content 3.6, Cary, NC: SAS Institute Inc., 2016.
Integrating Search Interface to SAS® Content 3.6
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 Table of Contents
Chapter 1 — Introduction ........................................................................................ 1
Architecture ................................................................................................... 1
Data Feeds and Indexing ............................................................................................... 2
Installation and Prerequisites ........................................................................ 2
Post-Installation Configuration to Enable SSL (Optional) ................................................... 3
Integration with SAS Information Retrieval Studio ........................................ 3
Integration with Apache Lucene ..................................................................... 4
Apache Lucene Index .................................................................................................... 4
Verify the Installation .................................................................................... 5
Verify the Integration with SAS Information Retrieval Studio ........................ 5
Verify the SAS Information Retrieval Studio Server Installation .................... 5
Chapter 2 — Configuration Options ....................................................................... 7
Step 1 - Verify the Registration Information in Metadata ............................... 7
Step 2 - Verify the Configuration of SAS Information Retrieval Studio ........... 9
Rebuild the Search Index ............................................................................... 9
Disable the CSRF Filter ................................................................................. 10
Add Sites to the CSRF Whitelist .................................................................... 10
Whitelisting Methods .................................................................................................. 11

Chapter 3 — Logging............................................................................................. 12
Log Settings and Location ............................................................................ 12
Appendix — Troubleshooting (FAQ) .................................................................... 13
1. I see no results when I submit a query string in Visual Analytics Hub. What can
I do? ............................................................................................................... 13
2. How can I enable the Administration Console for SAS Information Retrieval Studio? .. 13
3. How can I verify that SAS Information Retrieval Studio has been configured
correctly? ......................................................................................................... 14
4. How can I verify the host and port of SAS Information Retrieval Studio? .................. 15
5. Some of the required fields are missing from the IR Studio schema, so its contents
are not searchable. How can I add the missing fields? ........................................... 16
6. I have a ‘Connection refused’ message in my log file. What should I do? .................. 16
7. I am receiving email messages that report errors. What do they mean? .................. 16
8. What configuration changes are required for an external reverse proxy
environment? ................................................................................................... 17
9. How can I recover lost data for the Indexing Server after an indexing failure? .......... 18
10. Search does not work with SSL. What steps can I take in this situation? .................. 18
11. How can I change the frequency of indexing? ....................................................... 18
12. What is the frequency of email notifications? ........................................................ 19
13. Is IPv6 supported? ............................................................................................ 19
14. How can I enable/disable the daily full feed? ........................................................ 19
15. How can I change the default setting for the maximum number of records
returned? ......................................................................................................... 19

Technical Support.................................................................................................. 20

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 Integrating Search Interface to SAS Content 3.6

Chapter 1 — Introduction
Search Interface to SAS Content is a web application that enables users to search the contents of SAS
deployments. It is a user-interface component of the search facility that is installed on the middle tier
of SAS Solutions. The search facility indexes and searches SAS content that is registered in metadata
and in the Content Server. It returns only the results that are available to the requesting user, based
on user account permissions.
Search Interface to SAS Content relies on a second component, an indexing provider that creates a
content index. Two index providers are supported:
 SAS Information Retrieval Studio (enabled by default in IPv4 environments)
 Apache Lucene
One of these providers is enabled during product installation.
Once the index has been built, Search Interface to SAS Content queries it in response to search criteria
supplied by SAS Solution users.
A Search Interface to SAS Content plug-in is available in the Configuration Management plug-ins of
the SAS Management Console to enable the administrator to perform configuration tasks.

Architecture
Search Interface to SAS Content is a component of the Platform Content Services within the SAS Web
Infrastructure Platform. The Content Services provide common management of and access to
different data types, often stored in multiple repositories. All of the services in the SAS Platform
Content Services category contain methods that can interact with any content object type. The Search
Service and the Index Data Service work together to provide the search functionality. The following
diagram provides a high-level description of the architecture, focused on security requirements:

Note that the three “tiers” of the architecture can be running on a single machine, or on separate
machines. The Metadata Server is part of the Server Tier, while the Content Server is part of the
Middle Tier.

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1. An end-user who has logged into a SAS user interface (such as the SAS Visual Analytics
Hub, client software running on the user’s PC) initiates a search. The client sends a query
request to the SAS Search Service web application, which is configured on a separate server
for the Middle Tier components. A connection is made to the SAS Search Service running in
the application server using port 7980 by default, or an external port.
2. The SAS Search Service makes a connection to the Information Retrieval Studio Query
Server on port 10731, and sends the search request.
3. Information Retrieval Studio searches its index for the query string. The index is stored in
the following directory on the machine where your SAS solution server is running:
<SASConfig>/LevN/Applications/SASInformationRetrievalStudioforSAS/work/
index.
4. Information Retrieval Studio sends an authorization request to the Search Service
Authorization Provider running in the Middle Tier. The query-server-db file is used to
find the authorization provider. The value of the searchsas.auth.provider.url
parameter determines the REST endpoint to call for authorizing search results. For more
information, see “Step 1 - Verify the Registration Information in Metadata” on page 7.
5. The Authorization Service Provider returns a filtered list of authorized objects.
6. The Information Retrieval Studio Query Server returns search results to the SAS Search
Service.
7. The SAS Search Service returns the results to the user interface (in this example, the Hub).

The diagram shows a configuration with Information Retrieval Studio as the index server, but this
service could also be provided by Apache Lucene.

Data Feeds and Indexing

Search Interface to SAS Content collects data from a variety of back-end systems, including the
Metadata Server and the Object Type Service. It passes this information along to the Index Data
Service. The data that is returned by the Index Data Service is accumulated for all types and is
periodically pushed (“fed”) to the index server.
When the Index Data Service starts up for the first time, it takes all records from the Metadata Server
and Content Server and adds them to the index. Then at a set interval (the default is every 15
minutes), it collects only new objects or objects with modifications since the previous feed and adds
them to the index, registering them in metadata.
The frequency of indexing and the option to automatically push all of the available records to the
index once each day are controlled by settings that you can change. The full data feed is disabled by
default. For more information, see “How can I change the frequency of indexing?” on page 18 and
“How can I enable/disable the daily full feed?” on page 19.

Installation and Prerequisites

Search Interface to SAS Content is installed by default with SAS Visual Analytics 7.2 and higher, as
well as with other solutions that provide the SAS Visual Analytics Administration and Reporting
component. You can configure it using the SAS Deployment Wizard. However, we recommend that
you accept the default values during the initial configuration and make customizations after the
initial deployment if required.

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 Integrating Search Interface to SAS Content 3.6

During the installation, you are prompted to configure a SAS internal account for the Search
Interface to SAS Content user. The default Search Interface to SAS Content User is
sassearch@saspw, which is required to enable access to content in SAS Information Retrieval
Studio. This default user is one of the internal user accounts that are required by SAS Foundation and
are authenticated on the SAS Metadata Server. For more information about these user accounts, see
the SAS® Visual Analytics Installation and Configuration Guide.
Search Interface to SAS Content provides search results exclusively for the Search Interface to SAS
Content User. The results are then authorized as a separate step for the individual user accounts that
are logged in and performing searches.
SAS Information Retrieval Studio 1.53 requires Python version 2.6 through 2.7.x (not 3.0 or higher) for
deployment. This third-party software is included in the Pre-Installation Checklist that accompanies
your SAS Deployment Plan. It must be installed on the target machine before you can install SAS
Information Retrieval Studio on the SAS Visual Analytics middle tier. You are prompted to specify
the Python installation location during SAS Visual Analytics installation.
For more information about Python requirements and a link where you can download the software,
go to http://support.sas.com/resources/thirdpartysupport/v94/othersw.html.

Post-Installation Configuration to Enable SSL (Optional)

After you have used the SAS Deployment Wizard to install and configure SAS Visual Analytics, an
extra set of steps may be required. The use of SSL for secure communications among SAS Visual
Analytics components is supported, but is optional. To implement certificates, you must add the path
to SAS Foundation to configure SAS Information Retrieval Studio.
On Linux, in addition to the path to SAS Foundation, you must add the path to the SAS
Authentication Server certificate file.
The steps to add these paths are documented in the SAS Visual Analytics Installation and
Configuration Guide.

Integration with SAS Information Retrieval Studio

SAS Information Retrieval Studio is enabled as the indexing provider by default. Typically, it is used
as an integrated component of SAS Visual Analytics. SAS Information Retrieval Studio combines
several technologies to provide a comprehensive solution for data collection, indexing, and searching.
The version of SAS Information Retrieval Studio that is included with SAS Visual Analytics has been
adapted for use with that solution and does not expose the full functionality. As a result, there is a 2-
GB limit on the size of the search-content index due to the 32-bit integer size. After the index grows to
exceed 2 GB, the processes can consume a large amount of memory.
By contrast, the version of SAS Information Retrieval Studio that is included with the SAS Text
Analytics suite of products can handle larger volumes of content by means of distributed deployment
and index segmentation. To perform large-scale searches, use one of the SAS Text Analytics solutions.
You can control the amount of data that is fed into the index by deploying search filters. The size of
the index is about the same size as the documents being indexed. For example, if a 2-GB data set
contains approximately 200,000 documents and the average document size is 10 KB, the index
reaches the maximum size that Search Interface to SAS Content supports.
 On Windows, SAS Information Retrieval Studio runs as a local service (for example,
SAS [Config-Lev1] Information Retrieval Studio).

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Chapter 1—Introduction

 On UNIX, the IRStudio.sh script runs in the SAS configuration directory under
/Applications/SASInformationRetrievalStudioforSAS.
You can use the following commands to operate the server on UNIX:
IRStudio.sh start | stop | status | restart
Generated log files are in the /logs subdirectory.
When the SAS middle-tier search facility is first initialized, all available content is fully indexed.
Subsequently, incremental changes to SAS content are regularly indexed. If a failure in generating or
loading the index occurs, an email message is automatically sent to the address that is designated for
administrative messages for your SAS deployment.
Refer to “Chapter 2 — Configuration” for the procedure to enable the index server of SAS
Information Retrieval Studio to receive SAS contents.

Integration with Apache Lucene

If SAS Information Retrieval Studio is not available in the package, or if you want to use a different
index server, you can instead configure Apache Lucene for the integration. Apache Lucene is
required in IPv6 environments (where SAS Information Retrieval Studio is not supported).
Take the following steps to configure Apache Lucene:
1. Launch SAS Management Console and log in with administrator credentials.
2. Click the Plug-ins tab.
3. Navigate to SAS Management ConsoleApplication Management and select
Configuration Manager.
4. Right-click Search Interface to SAS Content 3.6, and select Properties. Then click the
Advanced tab in the Properties dialog.
5. Verify that the property searchsas.irstudio.is_available is set to false.
Setting this property to “false” enables indexing by Apache Lucene.
Also check the default value of searchsas.lucene.index.default.dir to determine where
index data will be stored. Change it if required.
To verify that content is being indexed, navigate to your equivalent of the following subdirectory of
the SAS configuration directory:
Web\Applications\SearchInterfacetoSASContent\Index/Default\
If the folder is empty, content is not being indexed.

Apache Lucene Index

If Apache Lucene is enabled as the indexing server, you can use the SAS Management Console to find
the location of the Lucene Index. The value is stored in the Advanced Properties.
Check the value of the following property to determine the location of the index:
searchsas.lucene.index.default.dir.
Typically, it is at your equivalent of the following subdirectory of the SAS configuration directory:
...\Web\Applications\SearchInterfacetoSASContent\Index\Default\

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 Integrating Search Interface to SAS Content 3.6

Verify the Installation

You can verify that Search Interface to SAS Content has been installed properly by running a simple
test of the API. When Search Interface to SAS Content has been installed and configured, access the
following URL:
http://host.com:port/SASSearchService/rest
Log in using valid credentials defined in the SAS Metadata Server.
The response returned is a list of resources exposed by the service. Typically, the response is
displayed in the browser and, depending on browser behavior, the XML response might be
downloaded as a file. If required, open the file in a text editor to verify that a list of links to resources
is returned.
Validation of your installation can also be performed by running a successful search in SAS Visual
Analytics Hub.

Verify the Integration with SAS Information Retrieval Studio

Two conditions must be met in order for the integration between Search Interface to SAS Content and
SAS Information Retrieval Studio to provide results in response to a search query:
A. SAS Information Retrieval Studio is configured. Typically, it is configured automatically by
Search Interface to SAS Content when the indexing process runs for the first time.
B. The index of SAS Information Retrieval Studio must be populated with data from Search
Interface to SAS Content. The data is fed into the index at scheduled intervals by the web
application.
You can verify the configuration in the Administration Console of SAS Information Retrieval Studio.
Be aware that the Administration Console is disabled by default for improved security. If it is not
accessible, verify that the host server is running and that the Administration Console is enabled. You
can enable it by taking the steps described in the following topic in the Appendix: “How can I enable
the Administration Console for SAS Information Retrieval Studio?” on page 13.
Test the integration by accessing the following URL, including the appropriate host and port:
http://<hostname>:<port>/SASSearchService/rest/content/search?query=*
Note: You might be required to provide user credentials and log in.

Verify the SAS Information Retrieval Studio Server Installation

To verify that the SAS Information Retrieval Studio is installed correctly, access the Administration
Console and check the server status.
Note that the Administration Console of SAS Information Retrieval Studio is disabled by default for
improved security. You can enable it by taking the steps described in “How can I enable the
Administration Console for SAS Information Retrieval Studio?” on page 13 in the Appendix.
Use the following URL with the appropriate host and port to call up the Administration Console:
http://<hostname>:<port>/
The default port for the SAS Information Retrieval Studio Administration Console is 10651. For
example, type a URL like http://windows-vm-005:10651/
When you have successfully accessed the Administration Console, verify whether the following
servers are listed as running:

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Chapter 1—Introduction

 Proxy Server
 Pipeline Server
 Indexing Server
 Query Server
These servers are required to enable the Search applications to work. If any of them are missing from
the administration page, you might have a licensing issue. Contact SAS Technical Support if you
suspect a licensing issue.
If a server is not listed as running, start it by clicking the Start button on the top right side of the
server Details page. Then wait for a minute or so to make sure it does not stop again. Troubleshooting
has occasionally turned up a problem with this manual step.
If all of these servers are listed and are running, SAS Information Retrieval Studio has been
successfully installed.

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 Integrating Search Interface to SAS Content 3.6

Chapter 2 — Configuration Options

Search Interface to SAS Content 3.6 supports feeding SAS contents to the Indexing Server of SAS
Information Retrieval Studio 1.53. It applies user authentication and enables authorized users to
search the SAS data. Users can view results based on their roles.
Configuration is automated through the SAS Deployment Wizard. If any component is not working
properly following installation and deployment, take the steps below to verify the configuration.

Step 1 - Verify the Registration Information in Metadata

Make sure that both Search Interface to SAS Content and SAS Information Retrieval Studio are
installed and running. Also verify that the correct information is used by Search Interface to SAS
Content 3.6 to connect to SAS Information Retrieval Studio 1.53.
Take the following steps for verification:
1. Launch SAS Management Console and log in with administrator credentials.
2. Click the Plug-ins tab.
3. Navigate to SAS Management ConsoleApplication Management and select
Configuration Manager.

4. Right-click Search Interface to SAS Content 3.6 and select Properties. Then click the
Advanced tab in the Properties dialog box.

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Chapter 2 – Configuration Options

5. Verify that the following properties have the correct values. These properties were
configured during the installation and configuration of SAS Information Retrieval Studio:
 searchsas.irstudio.server.host: the hostname of the server where SAS Information
Retrieval Studio servers are running.
 searchsas.irstudio.server.port: the port number of the server where SAS Information
Retrieval Studio is running. The default (10651) should not be changed.
 searchsas.irstudio.query.server.port: the port number of the server where the query
server of SAS Information Retrieval Studio is running.
 searchsas.irstudio.proxy.server.port: the port number of the server where the proxy
server of SAS Information Retrieval Studio is listening.
 searchsas.auth.provider.url: constructs the URL that is used to enable communications
among SAS components. Search Interface to SAS Content uses this URL to contact the
authorization service provider, which filters the query results that are returned based
on user permissions.
If a load balancer or firewall is running in between client machines and the SAS Web
Server, or if a proxy server is being used to mask URLs, you might need to change the
default value on the External Connection tab in this Properties dialog box. By default,
the Use internal connection information check box is selected. Clear that check box,
and then enter the connection information for the proxy in situations where the proxy
server must route connections.
Note: If you are unsure of the correct values, see the installation documentation for SAS Visual Analytics. For
more information about configuration options in a proxy server or firewall environment, see
“Specifying Connection Properties” in the SAS(R) 9.4 Intelligence Platform: Middle-Tier
Administration Guide.

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 Integrating Search Interface to SAS Content 3.6

The following internal property should not be changed:

 searchsas.irstudio.index.path: Search Interface to SAS Content uses this path to initialize SAS
Information Retrieval Studio index path.

Step 2 - Verify the Configuration of SAS Information Retrieval Studio

Search Interface to SAS Content 3.6 must configure SAS Information Retrieval Studio to support user
authorization and to feed SAS contents into the index. The configuration is performed automatically
when the content is pushed to the index for the first time.
To verify the configuration, open the Administration Console of Information Retrieval Studio and
open the Indexing Server. The Configuration section should show the fields populated for the
information to be indexed.
If the Information Retrieval Studio Administration Console is not running, refer to Question 2 on
page 13 in the “Appendix – Troubleshooting (FAQ)” below.

Rebuild the Search Index

Typical usage of Search Interface to SAS Content does not require you to interact with the Index
Server; all such interactions are performed by the Search Service and are transparent to you.
However, if a failure occurs that affects the search index, you can manually delete and rebuild the
index.
Note: The search index forms the basis for all searches using SAS Information Retrieval Studio or
Apache Lucene.
To delete the index and rebuild it, take the following steps:
1. Open the Administration Console of SAS Information Retrieval Studio.
2. Click the Indexing Server option in the left pane.

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Chapter 2 – Configuration Options

3. Stop the indexing server.

4. Click the Delete Index button. You are asked to confirm the Delete operation.
5. Restart the indexing server.
6. Restart all SAS Web Application Server instances.
Search Interface to SAS Content will then index all data. The process can take 2 or 3 hours.

Disable the CSRF Filter

CSRF filtering prevents Cross-Site Request Forgery attacks. This filtering is provided because SAS
Web Infrastructure Platform applications, including Search Interface to SAS Content, might otherwise
be vulnerable to CSRF attacks.
With CSRF protection enabled, requests that do not originate from sites that belong to a whitelist are
rejected. By default, the implications of this change are that the SAS installation is secure against
browser-based CSRF attacks. In addition, applications that are external to the SAS installation cannot
link to SAS web applications. If you link to a SAS application from a company intranet or a portal
page that is not hosted in the SAS installation, you encounter Access denied messages when you
click those links.
The Search Service property named “sas.web.csrf.referers.performCheck” determines
whether the CSRF filter is deployed. The default value for this property is true, which indicates that
CSRF checking is performed. You can set the value to false to disable the CSRF filter. When it is
disabled, no checking is performed, regardless of the value of any other setting.
To change the value of the performCheck property, take the following steps:
1. Open the SAS Management Console and go to Application Management  Configuration
Manager.
2. Right-click Search Interface to SAS Content, and click Properties.
3. Click the Advanced tab.
4. Disable the CSRF filter by setting the value of the
“sas.web.csrf.referers.performCheck” property to false.
5. Click OK.
6. To enable the changes to take effect, restart all SAS Web Application Server instances.
This property is applied globally and is also available on the SAS Application Infrastructure
Advanced properties tab. Individual SAS applications inherit SAS Application Infrastructure settings.
If this property is locked within the Configuration Manager of the SAS Management Console, its
value is not overridden when you change it in Search Interface to SAS Content.

Add Sites to the CSRF Whitelist

SAS Support recognizes many legitimate cases where it is necessary to link to SAS web applications.
For such cases, it is much safer to add an individual site that contains a link to a SAS web application
to the SAS CSRF whitelist than it is to disable CSRF filtering.
Take the following steps to add a site to the whitelist:
1. Open the SAS Management Console and go to Application Management  Configuration
Manager.

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 Integrating Search Interface to SAS Content 3.6

2. Open the properties for SAS Application Infrastructure.

3. On the Advanced tab, add a property named sas.web.csrf.referers.knownHosts.
Specify the value as a comma-delimited list of whitelisted sites.
For example, to add ‘my-intranet.example.com’ and ‘test.my-intranet.
example.com’ to the whitelist, set the value of the property to the following:
http://my-intranet.example.com/,http://test.my-intranet.example.com/
4. Restart all SAS Web Application Server instances.
Notes: Including a trailing slash at the end of each value is important because omitting the slash
means that sites can use a prefix attack to bypass the protections.
Be sure to include port numbers in the value if the whitelisted site uses ports other than the standard
80 or 443 for HTTP and HTTPS, respectively.
You can also restrict an allowed entry to an application on the whitelisted site. To restrict the
whitelist entry to an application, include the path to the application in the value that you add to the
knownHosts property. For example, use the following syntax:
http://my-intranet.example.com/my-application-path/

Whitelisting Methods
In addition to whitelisting sites, you can also whitelist certain HTTP methods. For example, you can
choose to allow GET requests from any site. However, the result of this configuration is that SAS
applications that use GET requests to invoke certain actions are now susceptible to CSRF attacks.
If you decide to whitelist certain methods, you can instead set the
sas.web.csrf.referers.skipMethods property in the Advanced properties for the SAS
Application Infrastructure. This value should be a comma-delimited list of HTTP methods (for
example, GET,OPTIONS,TRACE) that are to be skipped.
To enable CSRF checking and enforcement, set the sas.web.csrf.referers.performCheck
property to true in the Advanced properties for SAS Application Infrastructure.
After changing any of the properties that are discussed above, you must restart the SAS Web
Application Server in order for the changes to take effect.
You also have the option to set CSRF properties on individual web applications in your SAS
installation by using Configuration Manager. After you make any changes in Configuration Manager,
you must restart all of the web application servers in your SAS middle tier in order for the settings to
take effect.

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Chapter 3--Logging

Chapter 3 — Logging
Log Settings and Location
Logging for Search Interface to SAS Content is enabled by default. Also by default, the log4j root level
is set to error, which can be changed to warn or info as required. The configuration file for Search
Interface to SAS Content logs can be found at this location:
SAS-Configuration-Directory/LevN/Web/Common/LogConfig/SASSearchService-
log4j.xml
Logs are generated at this location:
SAS-Configuration-Directory/LevN/Web/Logs
For “LevN,” substitute the location of the configuration file for the selected environment.
To change the default logging level from error to warn or info, take the following steps:
1. Use your preferred text editor to modify the following file:
SAS-Configuration-Directory/LevN/Web/Common/LogConfig/
SASSearchService-log4j.xml
2. Restart all SAS Web Application Server instances for the changes to take effect.

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 Integrating Search Interface to SAS Content 3.6

Appendix — Troubleshooting (FAQ)

1. I see no results when I submit a query string in Visual Analytics Hub. What can
I do?
First, verify that Search Interface to SAS Content and SAS Information Retrieval Studio have been
correctly installed and configured. Chapter 1 contains more information.
If both components are installed and configured, the issue could be the query string, which may not
have any matching record for the user (keeping the authorization constraints in mind). Try using ‘*’
as the query string, which should return some results.
Another possibility is that a load balancer or firewall is preventing communications between client
machines and the Middle-Tier components of your SAS solution software. The “authorization
provider URL” property constructs the URL that is used to enable communications among SAS
components. Search Interface to SAS Content uses this URL to contact the authorization server to
authenticate the user who is performing the search before displaying results. If you suspect that your
load balancer or firewall is causing this issue, or if a proxy server is being used to mask URLs in your
network, you might need to change the default value of the searchsas.auth.provider.url property to
an external URL. For more information, see “What configuration changes are required for an external
reverse proxy environment?” on page 17.

2. How can I enable the Administration Console for SAS Information Retrieval
Studio?
The SAS Information Retrieval Studio Administration Console is disabled by default so that the
settings cannot be changed by an anonymous user.
You may need to enable the interface if SAS Information Retrieval Studio is running abnormally. You
can use the administration interface to check server status and start/stop services.
To enable the SAS Information Retrieval Studio Administration Console, take the following steps:
1. On the machine that is hosting SAS Information Retrieval Studio, which is typically the SAS
Application Server machine that hosts the SAS Visual Analytics server tier, make a backup
copy of the following file:
SAS-Configuration-Directory/LevN/Applications
/SASInformationRetrievalStudioforSAS/work/information-retrieval-
studio.conf.
2. Use your preferred text editor to open information-retrieval-studio.conf.
3. Add the following line to the bottom of the file:
enable-web-admin-interface=true
4. Save the file and close it.
5. Restart the SAS Information Retrieval service:
SAS-Configuration-Directory/LevN/Applications
/SASInformationRetrievalStudioforSAS/IRStudio.sh restart
6. Access the SAS Information Retrieval Studio Administration Console:
http://host-name:port/

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Appendix – Troubleshooting (FAQ)

For the host name, substitute the host name of the machine that is hosting SAS Information Retrieval
Studio. The default port is 10651.
To disable the SAS Information Retrieval Studio Administration Console, take the following steps:
1. Use your preferred text editor to open the following file:
SAS-Information-Retrieval-Studio-config-directory/work
/information-retrieval-studio.conf
2. Remove the following line:
enable-web-admin-interface=true
3. Save the file and close it.
4. Restart the SAS Information Retrieval service.

3. How can I verify that SAS Information Retrieval Studio has been configured
correctly?
First, verify that SAS Information Retrieval Studio is installed correctly and that the search
application has been installed correctly. Use the REST URL for search, which also silently configures
the SAS Information Retrieval Studio for Search. The REST APIs can be accessed by using the context
URL for the Search service: http://host:port/SASSearchService/rest
Next, open the Administration Console of SAS Information Retrieval Studio, and then open the
Indexing Server. Verify the Information Retrieval Studio configuration by checking the following
elements in the Configuration section of the Indexing Server:
 title
 description
 link
 sastype
 sasmetatype
 sasowner
 sasid
 keywords
 promptlabels

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 Integrating Search Interface to SAS Content 3.6

These elements must all be present in the Configuration section of the target setup. This ensures that
the configuration of SAS Information Retrieval Studio has been invoked by Search Interface to SAS
Content. Note that the page may include more field names than are shown above.

4. How can I verify the host and port of SAS Information Retrieval Studio?
The host and port number that SAS Information Retrieval Studio is using can be taken from the
properties of the metadata software component of Search Interface to SAS Content.
Take the following steps:
1. Launch SAS Management Console and log in with administrator credentials.
2. Click the Plug-ins tab.
3. Navigate to SAS Management Console Application Management and select Configuration
Manager.
4. Right-click Search Interface to SAS Content 3.6 and select Properties. Then click the
Advanced tab in the Properties dialog box.

searchsas.irstudio.server.host: The hostname of the server where SAS Information Retrieval Studio
servers are running.
searchsas.irstudio.server.port: The port number of the server where the SAS Information Retrieval
Studio Administration Console is running.
searchsas.irstudio.proxy.server.port: The port number where the feed is pushed in SAS Information
Retrieval Studio.
searchsas.irstudio.query.server.port: The port number where queries to the Index are sent.

15
Appendix – Troubleshooting (FAQ)

5. Some of the required fields are missing from the IR Studio schema, so its
contents are not searchable. How can I add the missing fields?
If fields are missing from the configuration of the Information Retrieval Studio Indexing Server, the
contents of those fields would neither be indexed nor available in responses. In this scenario, it is
important to reconfigure the Indexing Server to make the missing fields available for searching.
Take the following steps to reconfigure the schema:
1. Stop all SAS Web Application Server instances.
2. Stop the Information Retrieval Studio server.
3. Go to the following location relative to the configuration directory:
LevN\Applications\SASInformationRetrievalStudioforSAS\work
4. Open the file pipeline-server.db and replace the text ‘BIRD’ with ‘BIRD1’.
5. Indexed content is located in the ‘index’ folder inside the current directory of Information
Retrieval Studio (the ‘work’ directory). Manually delete all of the files in this folder.
6. Save the file, and restart the Information Retrieval Studio server.
7. Start the Search Interface to SAS Content Web Application Server.
After these steps are completed, but before content is pushed to the index server, Information
Retrieval Studio is reconfigured with the latest information available through the Index Data Service
schema API.

6. I have a ‘Connection refused’ message in my log file. What should I do?

If queries are failing, check your log file for an error message similar to the following:
Please check that the host/port are correct and the Server is running
Message = Connection refused: status = SOCKET_PROTOCOL_ERROR
As the message indicates, either the host and port that are required to push the feed to SAS
Information Retrieval Studio are not correctly configured, or the proxy server for SAS Information
Retrieval Studio is down.
Refer to the diagram in “Architecture” on page 1. Step 2 is the relevant depiction of this data flow: In
that step, the SAS Search Service makes a connection to the Information Retrieval Studio Query
Server on port 10731 by default to send the search request. If you provided an incorrect port during
the installation, correct it. You can verify the port that was configured by checking the metadata.
Or check the server status and start the server if necessary.

7. I am receiving email messages that report errors. What do they mean?

The email notifications that you receive from Search Interface to SAS Content typically report that
“Search Interface to SAS Content encountered error while feeding the index to index server.” The
following email messages describe errors that you might see while running Search Interface to SAS
Content and identify reasons for feed errors:
7 a) Error Message: com.sas.svcs.search.client.IndexServiceException:
com.sas.svcs.search.client.SearchServiceException: IR Studio query
Server not reachable.

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 Integrating Search Interface to SAS Content 3.6

You received this email message because Search Interface to SAS Content failed to connect
to Information Retrieval Studio. Make sure Information Retrieval Studio is up and
running. (Refer to Questions 2 and 3 above.) Also verify that the correct values for the
Information Retrieval Studio host and port are being used. (Refer to Question 4 above.)
7 b) Error Message: com.sas.svcs.search.client.IndexServiceException:
Exception encountered related to Index Path of Lucene.
You are receiving this email message because Search Interface to SAS Content could not
access the Apache Lucene index directory. Verify that
searchsas.lucene.index.default.dir has a valid directory path. (Refer to
Question 4 above and the image of the SAS Management Console.) You should also verify
that the SAS install user has write access to the specified directory.
7 c) Error Message: com.sas.svcs.search.client.IndexServiceException: An
error occurred while retrieving data from Index Data Service.
If you receive this email message, make sure that the Web Infrastructure Platform Data
Server is running. If it is not running, start it, and also restart all Web application server
instances. If the Web Infrastructure Platform Data Server is already running, check the
SASSearchService log file for the exact cause of the failure.
7 d) Error Message: Search Interface to SAS Content encountered error while
feeding the content to the Indexing Server.
This email message reports that the Search Interface to SAS Content “encountered [a]
problem while retrieving content” for a specified list of data types. The message further
instructs you to check web application server logs. The affected host is listed to help you
parse log content.
The cause of this type of error can vary. It can be caused by an internal fault in the object
type, or by corrupt data handling by the object type owner. When you check the web
application server log, check for exceptions. The log information should indicate which
team is responsible for troubleshooting the problem, based on the object types that are
affected.
By default, the web application server logs are located in the following directory:
Config/LevN/Web/Logs/SASServerN/SASSearchService.log
You might also need a hot fix to resolve this issue. If your environment included a recent
migration, some data object types can be unknown to the Metadata Server when indexing
runs. The Indexing Service tries to find the lookup support service for those objects, and
when it fails, it throws the exception.
If you believe that this description fits your situation, contact SAS Technical Support.

8. What configuration changes are required for an external reverse proxy

environment?
If an external reverse proxy is used, ensure that the JVM parameter is set for the SAS Web
Application Server as described below:

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Appendix – Troubleshooting (FAQ)

 For Windows, add

wrapper.java.additional.XX=-Dsas.retry.internal.url=true
to the following file:
config\LevN\Web\WebAppServer\SASServer1_1\conf\wrapper.conf
 For Linux (for x64), add
-Dsas.retry.internal.url=true
to the following file:
config/LevN/Web/WebAppServer/SASServer1_1/bin/setenv.sh
In an external reverse proxy environment, be sure to follow the steps provided in the Middle Tier
Administration Guide. See the section titled “Configuring the Middle Tier to Use an Existing Customer
Reverse Proxy.” You can find this guide at the following location:
http://support.sas.com/documentation/cdl/en/bimtag/68217/HTML/default/viewer.htm

9. How can I recover lost data for the Indexing Server after an indexing failure?
Search Interface to SAS Content does not lose data after an indexing failure. After the cause of the
indexing failure has been found and corrected, all missing index fields will be populated
automatically. Typical usage of Search Interface to SAS Content does not require you to interact with
the Index Server; all such interactions are performed by the Search Service and are transparent to
you. However, if a failure occurs that affects the search index, you can manually delete and rebuild
the index. Any problem that involves corrupted Information Retrieval Studio indexes requires you to
re-index all SAS data. Take the following steps:
1. Stop all SAS Web Application Server instances.
2. Stop Information Retrieval Studio. You can use the Administration Console to perform this
step. For more information about the Administration Console, see How can I enable the
Administration Console for SAS Information Retrieval Studio? on page 13.
3. Delete the Information Retrieval Studio index. You can use the Administration Console to
perform this step.
4. Start all SAS Web Application Server instances.
5. Start Information Retrieval Studio.
Search Interface to SAS Content will then index all data. The process can take two to three hours.

10. Search does not work with SSL. What steps can I take in this situation?
SAS Information Retrieval Studio requires manual configuration to work in an environment where
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption is used. Ensure that it has been configured properly. For
details, refer to the section titled “Post-Deployment Step for SAS Information Retrieval Studio” in
SAS Visual Analytics Installation and Configuration Guide, available at
http://support.sas.com/documentation/solutions/va/73/en/vaicg.pdf

11. How can I change the frequency of indexing?

The scheduler by default uses an interval of 15 minutes for default indexing tasks (of all types) and an
interval of 2 minutes for indexing tasks.
If you want to increase the frequency of indexing to make newly created or modified objects
immediately available in the search results, or if you want to reduce the frequency of indexing to
avoid unnecessary processing, take the following steps:

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 Integrating Search Interface to SAS Content 3.6

1. Open the SAS Management Console and go to Application Management  Configuration

Manager.
2. Right-click the software component with the name “Search Interface to SAS Content X.X”
and click Properties.
3. Click the Advanced tab.
4. The interval for the default indexing task can be customized by changing the value of the
searchsas.feeder.scheduler.interval.minutes property.
5. The interval for the notified indexing task can be customized by changing the value of the
searchsas.feeder.scheduler.notified.types.interval.minutes property.
6. Click OK to save the changes.
The changes that you make are reflected immediately. Restarting the Web Application Server is not
required.

12. What is the frequency of email notifications?

Email notifications are now sent on the following intervals:
 24 hours: In cases where a single object or some specific types of objects failed to index, email
notifications are sent once in 24 hours.
 04 hours: If indexing cannot be performed on any object of any type, an email notification is
sent once every 4 hours. (The reason for this condition could be that the Index Data Service is
down, or Information Retrieval Studio is down.)
 01 hours: If an unexpected exception occurs (most likely an internal exception), email
notifications are sent hourly.

13. Is IPv6 supported?

Information Retrieval Studio does not support deployments on IPv6-only servers. As a result, the
Search service is not available on IPv6-only servers. The service works on IPv4-only servers, and it
also works on servers that support IPv4 and IPv6.
Configure Apache Lucene in an IPv6 environment to enable Search Service to SAS Contents. For
more information, see “Integration with Apache Lucene” on page 4.

14. How can I enable/disable the daily full feed?

The full data feed that occurs at midnight actually runs between 00:01 hours and 00:15 hours if the
default scheduler interval is 15 minutes. It pushes all the available records to the index. However, by
default, the full feed is disabled.
Enable the full data feed to run daily at midnight by setting the property named
“searchsas.index.fullfeed.daily.enabled” to true. If it is enabled, you can set the value to
‘false’ to disable it.

15. How can I change the default setting for the maximum number of records
returned?
Your search results are subject to a default setting that limits the number of records that can be
returned from a single query. If your search results include a message indicating that “the matching
record count has exceeded a threshold of N records,” you have experienced this limit.

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Appendix – Troubleshooting (FAQ)

If you have a very large database and do not want to see this message every time you do a search,
you can change the maximum number of records that are returned from a search.
This limit is imposed in order to ensure optimal search performance. Each object that is returned
from a query must be authorized for the user account that is performing the search. This series of
checks and authorizations can easily become a bottleneck when searching a large number of database
objects.
To change the maximum number of records that are returned per search, take the following steps:
1. Open the SAS Management Console and go to Application Management  Configuration
Manager.
2. Right-click the software component with the name “Search Interface to SAS Content X.X”
and click Properties.
3. Click the Advanced tab.
4. The number of records returned in a search can be customized by changing value of the
searchsas.max.auth.records.count property. It is set to 20000 by default.
5. Click OK to save the changes.

Technical Support
If you need assistance with the software, we ask that only SAS support personnel call our Technical
Support Division.
 For U.S. and Canadian customers, support is provided from our corporate headquarters in
Cary, North Carolina. You may call (919) 677-8008, Monday through Friday.
 Customers outside of the U.S. can obtain local-language technical support through the local
office in their countries. Customers in these locations should contact their local office for
specific support hours. See
http://support.sas.com/techsup/contact/index.html for contact information for
local offices.
Before you call, we recommend exploring the SAS Support Web site at
http://support.sas.com/techsup/
This site offers access to the SAS Knowledge Base, as well as discussion forums, Technical Support
contact options, and other support materials that may answer your questions.

20
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