MC+A

The Problem

Header requests is the default method for how the Google Search Appliance (GSA) performs authorization on a document level (also known as late binding) for web based content (See The Header Requester).  There are numerous advantages and disadvantages.  One of the minuses, is that it relies on the content source to adhere to HTTP protocols.

We’ve experienced numerous content systems that don’t fully support the correct HTTP response for this to work.  In many cases of Lotus Domino or Microsoft SharePoint, a friendly message is return or their is an embedded header.  This causes the to misinterpret the response from the server and think the user has access to the document.

The common method pre 6.4 was to implement a SAML interface and develop custom code to handle the logic for the variety of content sources.  Google released several Open Source projects to jump start your efforts.  Most notably they are:

• Google Value Security Framework
• Google SAML Bridge for Windows

The Solution: Header Request Deny Rules

Those tended to be difficult for our clients to implement and another piece of infrastructure to deploy and manage.  In version 6.4, Google has added additional rule validation on the appliance.  You now can check the most common sets on the appliance with simple configuration:

Screen shot of the Header Request Deny Rule Form

This virtually eliminates many of the customizations that we’ve made for the wrong response.  How Neat!!!

New Version Released For 6.4

Google released a patch for the latest search appliance release.

Release notes can be found here.

MC+A support customers will be contacted to schedule the update.

MC+A will be attending the 2010 Chicago Small Business Expo. Come and stop by our booth (K7) to see how MC+A can help your small business stay connected to your information.

We will be on site discussing Google Apps and its benefits to your business.

For more information, including links to directions and registration check out our event page.

Google has released a patch update to the 6.2 software version. The following list contains a list of the fixes. Compare this list to any issues you having outstanding.

2399366

Sometimes documents with the same date are not sorted by relevance when sorting by date.

2386544

Sometimes sort by date does not sort documents that are chronologically close in the correct order.

2371696

Documents with dates that are in the future are not sorted properly when sorting by ascending dates.

1894928

Error on GSA when configuring Google Apps: “Cannot enable Google Apps Integration.”

2311340

GSA Admin API fails to authenticate requests if timezone is not set to US/Pacific.

1837591

Some Word documents can not be converted resulting in a crawling error.

2300088

GSA cannot convert some documents that contain embedded docs.

2327144

Some internal indexing processes are not properly terminated.

2435021

Stalled connections are not properly detected in replication setup.

2551148

System logs are not properly rotated which can fill disks.

1971858

Search Latency graph is broken under ‘Status and Reports>Serving Status’.

1408031

Encoded non-ascii filenames become garbled if saved with Internet Explorer.

2287126

SupportCall via proxy server fails with Error establishing TCP connection to supportcall.google.com:443: (111, ‘Connection refused’).

2534465

Permanent Redirect URLs with extensions that require Conversion(.doc, .pdf, .xls, etc) are not followed if at redirect time the content-length response is different than 0.

2517840

The Crawl Queue URLs in 6.2 are shown as encoded.

2633250

In federation the primary node tries to authorize urls that have already been authorized by secondary nodes.

2335370

Results with same snippet and title do not get filtered in the search results when using the ‘filter=p’ search parameter.

2487684

The lang_zh-tw language filter fails to show search results beyond the first page.

2358978

RK parameter is not working properly.

2728200

In 6.2.0.G.44-P6 Admin Console is only available in English.

I have had some issue utilizing the Google Admin Toolkit’s python scripts.  Looks like there is some changes to the login and cookie exchange on the new version of the appliance.  There was an old version of a script called db_sync that is no longer posted on there. 

Here it is again and an example of the syntax.

c:\python26\python db_sync.py –hostname 10.10.10.29 –username backup –password Replacewithyourpassword –source db_product

where:

• 10.10.10.29 is the host name or the ip of the server
• backup is the name of the user that will be logging in.
• Replacewithyourpassword is the password (in this case, backup’s password)
• db_product is a db_connector

You can download the zip file here: db_sync

A couple weeks ago Google unveiled what they are calling a “Go Google Cloud calculator” It can be founded at www.gonegoogle.com. The site will help you make a strong business case for switching to Google Apps. While you there you can create a custom URL to share, a presentation PDF, and even a poster to help foster discussion around the business impact of switching to Google Apps. It is worth checking out.

Google has just released 6.4 on the enterprise support site and has updated code.google.com’s documentation.  We have yet to install and verify.  But some of the big changes so far:

JavaScript Crawling

The search appliance now can detect links and content generated dynamically.  I wonder if this will help the forms authentication wizard?

Serve Time Authentication

You will no longer need to enable or disable security manager and legacy auth.

Administrative Improvements

There are various administrative improvements and organization.

The documentation is here.

This past weekend MC+A participated in the 2010 MS Walk on the Chicago Lakefront. It was a great event for a great cause and our team was happy to be part of the movement. Our sponsored team, Cizmar Fundraisers, raised over $2,000.

The Finish Line

The course was around 3 miles. It turned out to be a great day despite some iffy clouds threating to rain on the event.

The Team

Our team. Cizmar Fundraisers raised over $2,000.

The money raised by the MS Walk 2010 supports programs, services and vital research into the cause(s) of and cure for Multiple Sclerosis. Find out what the Greater Illinois Chapter of the MS Society is doing to support the cause.

Special Thanks

Archaia Entertainment LLC
Kunoichi Incorporated LLC
Dave Gallerizzo, Figleaf Software
Chris Cleveland, Dieselpoint

See you next year!

Google introduced Asynchronous Tracking as an “alternate way to track” websites. To recap the benefits of using the new asynchronous ga.js snippet over the older ga.js are:

• Faster tracking code load times via improved code execution
• Improvements in data collection accuracy
• Elimination of tracking errors caused by the ga.js snippet not being fully loaded

A recent Google Analytics script test preformed by Position 2 reveal quantifiable speed increases when using the asynchronous.

Analytics Tracking Code Test Key Findings

Position 2 observed the following results from their test:

1. A 17% speed increase in page load using the asynchronous ga.js over the traditional ga.js code
2. Page placement has little effect on the asynchronous ga.js load time conpared to the traditional ga.js
3. Top of the page placement no longer slows the page load. This is important when tracking clicks is and possible while page is loading content.

Full Position 2 Report

People living with MS overcome challenges everyday to do things we all take for granted, walking, going to the store, and on. It is important to us at MC+A to support the mission of the National MS Society through fundraising and raising awareness, supporting research for a cure.

MC+A is proud to be sponsoring a Walk team “Cizmar Fundraisers” for the 2010 MS Walk on Chicago’s Lakefront on May 2nd. We will be posting updates about the team’s progress. If you are interested in supporting the team please donate online.