--- title: "Additional resources" date: "2025-05-08T05:08:02+00:00" summary: "Explore advanced SearchStax features for Drupal multi-site, unified search, and data ingestion. Learn to optimize search performance, manage configurations, and enhance user experience across environments." image: type: "page" url: "/acquia-cloud-platform/additional-resources" id: "26006c7e-419f-4bfc-b951-bcf0f72ab76b" --- Table of contents will be added Managing Search app for multi-site or Site Factory -------------------------------------------------- For multi-site or Site Factory use cases, consider sharing Search apps among multiple Drupal sites to reduce Search App management overhead. The strategy for deploying search pages influences the outcome, as there are trade-offs between using [Drupal Views](/node/68486#drupal-views) and SearchStax [UI Kits](/acquia-cloud-platform/search-experience-development#ui-kits "Search experience development"). Both approaches depend on indexing the `site_hash` from the Drupal database for each site. In both cases, when a user searches on site A, the `site_hash` filter automatically restricts Solr results to documents indexed from site A, even though all sites use the same Search app. The details for each approach are as follows: ### UI Kits Ideal use case For websites aimed at enhancing the end user's search experience and business performance, consider adding additional search features and tuning search relevancy for each site. Implementation method 1. Index the field for `site_hash` from the Drupal database. 2. Use SearchStax JavaScript components to deploy and style a search page on each site. 3. Create a search profile for each website with a [Data Filter](https://www.searchstax.com/docs/searchstudio/searchstax-studio-global-filters/) to include only results where the `site_hash` field matches the corresponding website's hash value. 4. Update the search input component to specify which `model` or search profile to use for returning relevancy. Benefits * Additional features, such as faceting, spell check, and related searches, can be easily enabled and added to the search pages. * It is possible to tune advanced relevancy configurations for each website separately through a search profile without additional code changes. * All search pages interact directly with SearchStax APIs, reducing extra load on Drupal servers. * You can leverage SearchStax features that do not further contribute to the Monthly Search Request quota usage of your Search Plan, such as SearchStax Auto-Suggest or SearchStax Facets. Drawbacks * Pages require additional development effort to add and style JavaScript and to specify the Search Profile to call in Search API requests. ### Drupal Views Ideal use case For websites with common and simple search requirements and no foreseeable business need to enhance the user's search experience. Implementation method 1. Index the field for `site_hash` from the Drupal database. 2. Add a filter in your Drupal View for `site_hash`. Benefits * Capability to continue using existing Drupal Views. Drawbacks * Arguments cannot be passed to specify a particular Search Profile, or model, within a Search App, meaning relevancy cannot be defined differently across sites. * There is an inability to leverage SearchStax Search Page features such as spell check, related searches, and popular searches. * Queries from the search input or facets continues to generate additional queries to fully return expected results to the end user. Search app for a unified search experience ------------------------------------------ Similar to sharing Search apps across sites in a [multisite or Site Factory use case](#search-app-for-multisite-or-site-factory), multiple sites can be connected to index their content into a single Search App to create a unified search experience. This setup enables end users to find content from multiple sites with ease. This can be implemented by following this process: 1. Create a unique identifier for each site. 2. Index the unique identifier across all sites involved in the search experience. 3. Use the unique identifier field to create a facet. 4. Assign a label such as Website or Content Source to the facet. 5. Enable users to filter results based on each site's unique identity. Note This implementation employs SearchStax Facets, which are available only when utilizing a UI Kit or invoking the Search API through a custom UI. Drupal Views overrides this capability. Switching from Drupal Auto-Complete to SearchStax Auto-Suggest -------------------------------------------------------------- Improving users' ability to easily find content can be achieved by implementing an Auto-Suggest or Auto-Complete feature. The following is a comparison between the Drupal Autocomplete module and the [SearchStax Auto-Suggest](https://www.searchstax.com/docs/searchstudio/searchstax-studio-auto-suggest/) feature. ### Drupal Auto-Complete Implementation method 1. Use a Drupal View for your search pages. 2. Install and configure the Drupal Auto-Complete module. Benefits * Does not require a warm-up period. Drawbacks * Does not provide feedback from actual user searches and surfaces search suggestions solely based on indexed content. * The Drupal Autocomplete interacts with the Search API and is considered a search request. Each character keystroke entered by the end user may trigger an additional search query against the Search API, potentially impacting the Monthly Search Requests limit of your search plan. ### SearchStax Auto-Suggest Implementation method 1. Use a UI Kit for your site’s search page. 2. Access the Search App your site connects to in the SearchStax dashboard. 3. Click the **Optimizations** dropdown in the left-hand navigation and select the **Auto-Suggest** tab. 4. Click **Enable Auto-Suggest**. 5. Select **Data-Driven**, **Dictionary-Driven**, or **Data+Dictionary-Driven** to determine how Auto-Suggest generates suggestions. 6. Upload a dictionary if you select the Dictionary-Driven or Data+Dictionary-Driven option. Benefits * Provides autonomous and continuous improvement to suggestions based on user searches over time, with a flexible interface for manually adding additional suggestions. * Suggestions do not contribute to the Monthly Search Requests limit of your search plan. Drawbacks * The Data-Driven suggestion method requires search analytics data to warm up. You can configure the SearchStax Auto-Suggest feature and bypass the warm-up period by downloading the title field for all indexed content from the Drupal database. Convert this data into a .TXT file and upload it in the SearchStax dashboard. File limits are 10MB, with a maximum of 35,000 entries in the dictionary per Search App. Note The **Data-Driven** and **Data+Dictionary-Driven** suggestion methods are available only in the Premier and Premier Plus search plans, which include Search Analytics tracking. Ingesting data from non-Drupal data sources ------------------------------------------- ### Ingest API To include content from outside Drupal sites in search results, post documents to the Search app using the Ingest API. For sample commands and details on supported file types, visit [this page](https://www.searchstax.com/docs/searchstudio/searchstax-studio-ingest-api/). ### Web Crawler For content outside Drupal, if you prefer not to develop a programmatic process to push data into a Search App, use the SearchStax Web Crawler to pull data. For more information, visit the [Web Crawler user guide](https://www.searchstax.com/docs/searchstudio/crawler/). Note Web Crawler is only available for the Premier Plus search plan. ### Single pages as promotions Single pages external to Drupal can be promoted to appear as a top result when specific keywords or phrases are searched. For more information about external promotions, visit [this page](https://www.searchstax.com/docs/hc/promotions-indexed-vs-external/). Note Promotions are only available for the Premier and Premier Plus search plans. Enabling Hit Highlighting ------------------------- Enable **Hit Highlighting** in the **Results Fields** section after making necessary configuration changes in Drupal. For detailed instructions, visit [this page](https://www.searchstax.com/docs/searchstudio/searchstax-studio-navigation-menu/). Clearing index -------------- If multiple local environments are connected to a Search App and you encounter issues with removing documents from another environment, clear the index by following the steps provided on [this page](https://www.searchstax.com/docs/hc/clear-a-site-search-index/). Identifying high search plan consumption ---------------------------------------- Understanding the consumption of your search plan’s monthly request count is essential. Users in the account receive email alerts when usage reaches 60%, 80%, or 100% of the monthly quota. When the quota exceeds, searches generate `Limit Exceeded` errors. Causes of unexpectedly high search volume: * ### Drupal Views with Additional Modules versus UI Kits: Drupal Modules, such as the Facet Module or Autocomplete Module, may trigger separate search requests to the Search API before delivering the result to the end user, potentially causing multiple search requests for a single query. SearchStax UI Kits allow the inclusion of facets within the same Search API request. Additionally, the queries for suggestions from the SearchStax Auto-Suggest feature do not count towards your search plan's monthly request quota. * ### Custom UIs with Sliders for Filters: Implement sliders for filters with consideration of your search plan consumption. A slider that calls the Search API with each user motion of the filter, without delay, can result in many more requests than anticipated. Search plan consumption is refreshed daily in the dashboard. You can view usage for the account or an individual app by accessing the **Account** dropdown and selecting the **Billing & Payments** tab. Note Search Analytics captures the true searches made by users, rather than all Search API requests initiated by search pages, Drupal code, or other connected systems. Therefore, comparing search plan consumption in the **Billing & Payments** section to the Search Analytics history for the current month shows different numbers.  User management --------------- User management enables the invitation of users and assignment of role-based access. Default search plans include only the universal Admin role. For Premier and Premier Plus search plans, additional user roles can be assigned. For more information about these roles, visit [this page](https://www.searchstax.com/docs/searchstudio/searchstax-studio-managing-users/). Managing SearchStax configuration across application environments ----------------------------------------------------------------- Use the following steps to connect your Drupal sites to different SearchStax endpoints based on the Acquia environment, such as dev, test, and prod. This process uses secure config overrides in the `nobackup` directory as described on [this page](/acquia-cloud-platform/storing-private-information-file-system "Storing private information in the file system"). Note This approach should _not_ be followed if your application is hosted on Acquia Cloud Classic Infrastructure, which includes Site Factory. If your application already uses the [Configuration Split module](https://www.drupal.org/project/config_split) to manage configuration across environments, you must store SearchStax application data in the configuration directory of each environment. 1. Store keys in the `nobackup` directory: 1. Access each environment using SSH and create `/mnt/gfs/./nobackup/api_keys.php`. 2. Insert the following code and replace ``, ``, and `` with the values from your SearchStax application: .searchstax.com///update'); putenv('SEARCHSTAX_UPDATE_TOKEN=your_token_here'); 3. Replace with an actual endpoint, for example: `https://searchcloud-us-east-1.searchstax.com/12345/mysitedev-6789/update`. 4. Use the correct token for each environment. The `nobackup` path is `/mnt/gfs/./nobackup/api_keys.php`. 2. Load keys in the `settings.php` file by adding the following to your `settings.php` or `settings-include` file: $api_keys_file = "/mnt/gfs/./nobackup/api_keys.php"; if (file_exists($api_keys_file)) { require_once $api_keys_file; } Ensure that you update these lines based on your site name and environment. For example, if your site name is _upperbasement_ and you are working in the stage environment, then replace `$api_keys_file = "/mnt/gfs/./nobackup/api_keys.php";` with `$api_keys_file = "/mnt/gfs/upperbasement.stage/nobackup/api_keys.php";`. 3. Override the SearchStax config by adding the following to your `settings.php` file: $config['search_api.server.searchstax']['backend_config']['connector_config']['update_endpoint'] = getenv('SEARCHSTAX_UPDATE_ENDPOINT'); $config['search_api.server.searchstax']['backend_config']['connector_config']['update_token'] = getenv('SEARCHSTAX_UPDATE_TOKEN'); Ensure that you update these lines based on your server name. For example, if your server name is _Upper Basement Server_, then replace `$config['search_api.server.searchstax']` with `$config['search_api.server.upper_basement_server']`. Note * The Drupal UI may not display the overridden values, but they are applied. * Never commit API keys to your repository. Keep them in the `nobackup` directory or a similar secure location. * Repeat this process for each environment, such as development, testing, and production. Routing searches through Site Search ------------------------------------ Specify in the Drupal module settings to route searches through Site Search. Route all searches through Site Search to leverage its features. If you use additional modules in a Drupal View, review which features to use or override. For example, if you use the Drupal Facet module, you must deselect the Faceting box to exclude Faceting. The following table outlines different settings and explains their usage: Setting Usage Parse Mode and Searched Fields The algorithm defined in the Drupal View overrides all defined search fields. Highlighting Settings Drupal performs highlighting, not search. Spellcheck Settings Drupal Spell Check continues to operate. Sorting Sorting remains controlled by Sorting Criteria within the Drupal View configuration.