SS35 Installation Instructions

1. Install StrangeSearch

Unzip strangesearch-3.5.zip to the directory of your choice.  To uninstall, simply delete this folder.

2. Generate ValidMachineMap

The ValidMachineMap is a file that contains entries for every computer that StrangeSearch will ever index. 

In the data directory, there is a utility called MapMaker.exe.  Run it first with the command line "mapmaker -init" to create a new ValidMachineMap.dat file.  Then add ip addresses with "mapmaker -ip <ipaddr>" and "mapmaker -range <ipaddr> <ipaddr>".  For instance, if you were indexing an internal network with computers on the 192.168.0.# subnet, you could use: "mapmaker -range 192.168.0.1 192.168.0.255". 

At this point, you need to gather information about those computers -- namely Computer Names and Domain Names.  MapMaker will do this as well.  Run "mapmaker -scan #" where # is the number of threads.  Scanning computer names can be a lengthy process, so you can launch up to 16 threads to retrieve names of the computers in the ValidMachineMap.  This depends largely on the number of computers you have in the file.  If you are only indexing 10 computers, you only need 1 or 2 threads.  If you are indexing thousands of computers, then you may want to launch 16 threads.  When this process is completed, you have created a ValidMachineMap and StrangeSearch has an initial pool of computers to draw from.

Normally, the "IP Map Maint Service" will take care of scanning for computer names, but to get an initial list of them use the mapmaker scanning utility. 

3. Index computers

At this point, you can begin indexing computers.  If the indexer is not already running, press "Start Indexing Service."  To watch the progress of the Indexer, select it from the left window of StrangeSearch.  Once several computers are indexed, you can begin testing your installation.

4. Configure Web Server

To use StrangeSearch, you need a main web page and a cgi-bin directory.  Configure your web server so there is a directory called "/cgi-bin" that has "search.exe" in it, and a directory for your own web pages.  Load the default "index.html" into that directory. 

IIS Web Administrators: If you use IIS or another web server where you can specify what user programs are accessed under, search.exe needs to be run as the current user -- the same user that is running StrangeSearch.  In the "Anonymous Access" tab of search.exe Properties, make sure the current username and password are set and not the default IIS user (IUSR_COMPUTERNAME).  Uncheck "Allow IIS to control password" for this page.   

6. Test Search Capabilities

First launch StrangeSearch (StrangeSearch must ALWAYS be running when searching is performed).  Then go to the default index.html and try to search.  If you get an error, please consult the Search Error page.

7. Configure .HTML files

Edit the HTML files (index.html and data/SearchTemplate.html) to your own personal appearance tastes.  We request that you leave a link to StrangeSearch.net on the main page.

8. Day-to-Day StrangeSearch

Please read the documentation about the maintenance and further running of StrangeSearch once it is configured.