Mindbreeze recently announced the Winter 2018 release of Mindbreeze InSpire which brings a number of new features and enhancements to Mindbreeze customers. One notable addition is the GSA Transformer Service which enables Mindbreeze to receive Google Search Appliance (GSA) queries and provide a GSA-formatted XML response. Add this to the list of GSA-friendly features already in place, and Mindbreeze continues to lead the way as an easy-to-implement GSA replacement. Read on to discover the top six ways to simplify your GSA migration with Mindbreeze.

GSA Transformer Service

The newly released GSA Transformer Service enables a Mindbreeze client service (roughly comparable to a GSA front end) to accept GSA-formatted search requests. The GSA transformer service supports the following GSA search parameters:

• start
• num
• getfields
• requiredfields
• query operators
• filter
• paging

When calling the GSA Transfomer Service, Mindbreeze provides an XML response that is compatible with Google Search Appliance implementations. The Mindbreeze XML conforms to the GSA DTD and includes configured metadata, snippets, Dynamic Navigation (configured as Filters in Mindbreeze), and Spelling Suggestions (e.g. “Did you mean”). This new option means that GSA customers can migrate to Mindbreeze without having to re-implement their custom search pages, which reduces the implementation effort.

GSA Feed Adapter Service

The Mindbreeze GSA Feed Adapter service allows Mindbreeze to accept GSA-formatted XML feeds as a means of indexing content. Feeds can be sent in both metadata-and-URL and content feed formats. Feeds are submitted to the Mindbreeze appliance as a POST request to a specific port in much the same way as they were within the GSA. Feed content can also be mapped into collections as part of the GSA Feed Adapter configuration. Collections in Mindbreeze are simply additional metadata which can be added to content for the purposes of filtering or segmentation. The GSA Feed Adapter contains a built-in configuration option for copying collection definitions from the GSA and assigning fed content to these collections. The Mindbreeze GSA Feed Adapter service means that customers with feed-based GSA indexing customizations can keep using their existing integrations.

GSA Vocabulary Mode for Synonyms

Mindbreeze includes a number of query expansion features to support synonyms, replacements, and custom dictionaries. For customers already using GSA synonym files, Mindbreeze provides the option to use a GSA-formatted vocabulary definition. If you have a large number of such files, an entire directory can be configured with all the query expansion files downloaded from your GSA. Like the GSA, query expansion can be configured globally for the entire search appliance. This is the simplest option and a good choice if your query expansion rules are fairly universal. Mindbreeze customers also have the option to configure query expansion (e.g. synonyms) for specific data sources thereby opening the door to support more granular and use-case specific sets of terms.

Support for googleon/googleoff Tags

For many customers, there may be portions of web page content that you want to exclude from indexing. To address this, Google suggested the use of googleon/googleoff tags. By embedding googleon/googleoff tags in HTML documents, you can disable the indexing of a portion of a web page. As part of the Mindbreeze web crawler configuration, customers may opt to enforce the use of googleon/googleoff tags. This reduces rework necessary to restrict the scope of indexed web content during a GSA-to-Mindbreeze migration. Fishbowl leveraged this option when integrating this website with Mindbreeze.

GSA Configuration Migration

Customers can expedite their implementation with the help of automated configuration mapping available from Mindbreeze. Their free service creates a Mindbreeze configuration file based on your existing GSA configuration. Typically between 60% and 80% of GSA settings can be migrated programmatically between the two search appliances and the rest can be addressed during implementation.

GSA-to-Mindbreeze Jumpstart for Websites

Fishbowl Solutions has been working with the Google Search Appliance since 2010 and has deep technical expertise around both the GSA and Mindbreeze. In order to simplify the transition, we’ve created the GSA-to-Mindbreeze Jumpstart for Websites. This three-day program is intended for customers migrating to Mindbreeze from the Google Search Appliance in order to provide website search capabilities. The Jumpstart is facilitated by one of Fishbowl’s Certified Implementation Experts and takes a collaborative approach to installing and configuring your appliance while training your team to manage it going forward. A training and scoping workbook is provided, and additional workshop days can be added to accommodate more complex implementations.

To learn more about how GSA features carry over to Mindbreeze, check out our previous post, How to Configure the Top 4 GSA Features in Mindbreeze – Plus 6 New Favorites. In the past eight years, we’ve helped numerous customers implement and maintain their GSAs. Despite the disruption caused by the GSA’s end of life, we’re excited about the many possibilities Mindbreeze has to offer. As a Mindbreeze partner, we provide resale, support, and implementation services. If you have questions or would like to know more, please contact us.