Search Configuration

Alation Cloud Service Applies to Alation Cloud Service instances of Alation

Note

Alation Cloud Service customers can request server configuration changes through Alation Support.

Search Configuration is a section in Admin Settings where Server Admins tune runtime search-ranking settings. Server Admins can preview the effect on search results before saving a change. Changes take effect immediately and require no reindexing or service restart.

Contact Alation Support to enable Search Configuration for your instance.

In this topic:

Access Search Configuration

  1. Sign in to Alation as a Server Admin and click the Admin Settings icon in the upper-right corner of the main toolbar.

  2. Under Customization, click Search Configuration to open the page.

Search Settings

The Search Configuration page lists the following settings. Each setting displays a caption with its default value and, for numeric settings, its supported range.

Setting

Default

Range

Description

Endorsement boost factor

2

0–10

Boost factor applied to documents with endorsement flags.

Deprecation penalty factor

0.5

0–10

Penalty factor applied to documents with deprecation flags.

Supportive field boost

2.4

0–10

Boost factor applied when the query matches supporting metadata, such as descriptions, comments, and custom fields, instead of the primary name or title.

Prefix match boost

0.4

0–10

Boost factor applied when the query matches the start of a document’s name or title.

Search with literals

Off

N/A

Enable searching with query strings that contain periods, for example hr.payroll, instead of treating the period as a word separator.

Integrated AND with combined operator fields

Off

N/A

Use an alternative query builder that avoids native OR matching for combined operator fields.

To change a setting, enter a new numeric value or set it to Enabled or Disabled. The Verify & Save Changes button becomes active as soon as you change a value.

Preview and Save Changes

You must verify a change against a live search query before Alation saves it.

  1. Change one or more settings on the Search Configuration page.

  2. Click Verify & Save Changes to open the verification dialog.

  3. Enter a search query and click Run. Alation runs the query with your pending changes applied and displays the top 10 results.

  4. Review the results, then choose one of the following:

    • Click Keep tweaking to close the dialog and adjust more settings before verifying again.

    • Click Discard to abandon your pending changes.

    • Click Save changes to proceed. This button is available only after a successful preview run.

  5. In the confirmation dialog, review the warning that the change affects search behavior for all users. Click Save Configuration to apply the change, or click Cancel to keep the previous values.

Important

A verification run applies only to the exact set of pending changes it checked. If you change a value after running a preview, run the preview again before saving.

Reset to Factory Defaults

  1. On the Search Configuration page, click Factory reset.

  2. In the confirmation dialog, click Reset all flags to stage every setting at its default value, or click Cancel to keep your current values.

Staged defaults still require verification and saving, as described in Preview and Save Changes, before they take effect.