To the SharePoint

Which Microsoft search product is for you?

When I first heard about all the flavors of Microsoft enterprise search, I couldn't keep them straight so thought it might help some other folks to know what products are available and why an organization might choose one flavor over another.

Microsoft enterprise search offerings

Microsoft currently offers three distinct enterprise search solutions:

• Microsoft Search Server 2008 Express (MSS Express)
• Microsoft Search Server 2008 (MSS)
• Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS)

All three products rely on Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (WSS) and must be installed on top of Windows Server 2003 SP 1 or Windows Server 2008.

Which one is for you?

Here's a summary of things you might want to consider when choosing a search solution.

• MSS Express
  Consider using the Express version if you're looking for an entry-level departmental solution where a single index and query server will meet your needs. MSS Express is a free stand-alone server product. It provides all the search features available in Microsoft Search Server with the exception that it can only scale to a single index and query server.
• MSS
  Consider using MSS if you need an entry-level search solution that supports multiple index and query servers. MSS is suitable for deployment in a large network.
• MOSS
  Consider using MOSS for your enterprise search needs if you're planning to deploy or have already deployed MOSS in your network. With the Infrastructure Update released on 7/15/08, MOSS now integrates all the search features available in MSS and provides the additional advantage of being tightly integrated with SharePoint productivity tools such as the Business Data Catalog and content management.

Details, details, details

If you're like me and need lots of data before you make decisions, the following table might help.

For the Microsoft authoritative source on search products and feature comparisons, see www.microsoft.com/enterprisesearch.

Are they really THAT different?

Nope! All three products share a common feature set and administration dashboard. Using the same user interface for all three search products makes it possible for an administrator to upgrade from one to product to another without a learning curve. Although deployment differs based on the search product you are using, most search configuration and operations tasks are performed in exactly the same way in all three products.

Learn more about search

The SharePoint UA team has published content on TechNet to support all three flavors of enterprise search products as follows:

• Search Server 2008 node
  This node includes topics for both MSS Express and MSS. All topics apply to both versions unless otherwise noted.
• Office SharePoint Server 2007 node
  This node integrates the Plan Search and Administering Enterprise Search topics for MOSS with the rest of the MOSS documentation.

Your feedback matters

If you have any feedback on the search content, please let us know. We update topics on a regular basis and will take your feedback into consideration. Many thanks.

Kathy Narvaez, Writer
SharePoint Server UA team