File Connector Deployment Overview

The following procedure outlines the steps needed to bring content from file shares into the Coveo unified index using the File connector. The steps indicate the order in which you must perform configuration tasks.

1. Validate that your environment meets the requirements (see File Connector Requirements).

2. Determine how you will organize your File connector sources and collections within the Coveo unified index (see Planning Your File Connector Collections and Sources).

3. Select or create one or more necessary crawling accounts for the file share.

   The File connector needs an account with which it can crawl the complete content (see Setting up a File System Crawling Account).

4. Optionally, configure the File connector to index Microsoft Exchange mail archives.

   The File connector needs specific configuration to be able to open PST files and efficiently index their content (see Mail Archive Indexing with the File Connector).

   Note: When Coveo runs on a 64-bit server and none of your File connector sources are configured to index Microsoft Exchange mail archives, change the default File connector process type from 32-bit to 64-bit to take advantage of the improved 64-bit performance (see Selecting a 32-bit or 64-bit Process for a Connector).

5. In the Coveo Administration Tool, for each planned source:

   1. Optionally, configure the user identity.

      By default the File connector crawls the file share with the CES service identity (see About the CES Service Logon Account). It is generally better to rather select or create a file share account with appropriate permissions to be used by the connector to crawl the file share (see Setting up a File System Crawling Account). You will then assign this crawling account to a user identity in the domain\username form (see Adding a User Identity), and assign the user identity to the source (see Configuring and Indexing a File Connector Source).

   2. Configure and index the File connector source.

      The File connector must know details about the file shares to be able to index their content (see Configuring and Indexing a File Connector Source).

6. In the Interface Editor, ensure that the collections containing the new File connector sources are included in the scope of the appropriate search interfaces (see Configuring the Scope of a .NET Search Interface).

7. Verify that the target content is available from the appropriate search interfaces.

8. Optionally, modify hidden source parameters

   Once your File connector source is up and running, if you encounter specific issues, consider modifying some hidden source parameters to resolve the issues (see Troubleshooting File Connector Issues and Modifying Hidden File Connector Source Parameters).