Add alternative search with the Lucene API module

The Search Lucene API module is an alternative search module which can be used on your Drupal site. It's powered by a stripped down version of the Zend Lucene Search which is a PHP port of Apache Lucene. Because it's all PHP do don't have to worry about running the search on a separate server or setup other applications to run the search.

To install Search Lucene API go to http://drupal.org/project/luceneapi and download the module. Unzip the module into "sites/all/modules".

The module also requires a stripped down version of the Zend Lucene Search which you'll have to download separately.

On the module project page you'll see a direct link under the installation heading.

Unzip the lib directory that’s in the file and place it in "sites/all/module/luceneapi/lib".

Once the module and files are in place to go Administer >> Site building >> Modules and enable all 3 modules.

Building the index

For the actual search to work you’ll have to build the index. This index is separate to the core Drupal search, it’s stored in the files directory so if you are having problems with indexing make sure your files directory is setup.

Luckily you can run the indexing as a batch job which mean you don’t have to run cron 20 times to index the site. Go to Administer >> Site configuration >> Search Lucene Content. Click on the Index statistics tab.

To index click on the Index remaining nodes button.

The time it’ll take to index solely depends on the amount of nodes you have on your site.

Setup Faceted search

One of the features that Search lucene API gives you is the faceted search block.

To get faceted search working requires a few steps.

First, go to Administer >> Site configuration >> Search Lucene Content and click on the Facets tab (If you can't find the tab make sure you have enabled the Search Lucene Facets module).

Then select which facets you want to be visible within the block.

Second, we must set the right permissions for the block to be visible to users. Go to the permissions page and tick use advanced search for anonymous and authenticated users.
Also make sure you have the search content permission assigned to a role.

Last but not least, you must enable the Search Lucene Facets: Search Lucene block. To do this go to Administer >> Site building >> Blocks and add the block to the left side or which ever region you want.

As you can see within about 30 minutes you can have an alternative search setup for your Drupal site. If you have any questions just leave a comment.

Also check out the project page for other Related Projects, which will take your search to the next level.