Google Mini Is a Mighty Search Tool
Edward N. Albro
The Mini is a slim, server-size appliance that brings the speed and relevance of Google's search engine to your company's network.
When Google's search engine finds the exact Web page you're looking for, it's tempting to think, "If only I could have this experience searching my company's network." For $1995--and some moderate setup hassles--you can, with the Google Mini.
I tested the latest version of the Mini (the first one was introduced in January 2005), a thin, server-size search appliance, on our network here at PC World, and found its indexing speedy and its searches nearly instantaneous. Its relevance was just what I would expect from a Google search tool--spot-on in most cases.
Google recommends that you seek help from your IS department when installing the Mini; I needed that, plus help from Google itself, to get the Mini to index both our Web site and an internal file server. Google employs an unusual format for referring to network servers that had even our IS experts scratching their heads. Eventually I had to call Google's tech support.
Once you've installed the Mini on your network, you access it through a series of administrative pages using your Web browser. You tell it what parts of your network or Web site you want it to crawl, and you can specify what paths you don't want it to follow. The $1995 version of the Mini will index 50,000 files; A $2995 version will index 100,000 files. You can also include a search box on your Web site for visitors to use when searching your site.
The default layout of the search page looks exactly like a Google search page, but you can customize its appearance as much as you like. You can narrow your search to a certain kind of file (the Mini will index 220 different file types, but it doesn't tackle even common e-mail formats).
The Google Mini can be a hassle to set up, but if you know a bit about networking, it will let you do much more sophisticated searching.
Google Mini
Powerful search appliance has some setup hassles, but delivers fast, relevant results. Price when reviewed: $1995 Current prices (if available)
www.google.com/enterprise/mini