Add or Edit an OpenText Content Server Source

An OpenText Content Server (OTCS) source allows administrators and content managers to retrieve and make searchable the content of a local OpenText Content Server via the Coveo On-Premises Crawling Module (see Coveo On-Premises Crawling Module).

As a member of one of these groups, you can add the content of an OpenText Content Server to a Coveo Cloud organization. This content can be shared, private, or secured (see Content Security).

Source Features Summary

Add or Edit an OTCS Source

1. Ensure the Coveo On-Premises Crawling Module is installed on a server that has access to the server of which you want to retrieve the content (see Crawling Module Deployment Overview).

2. Log in to the Coveo Cloud V2 administration console with an administrator account (see Logging in to Coveo Cloud V2).

3. Access the Add/Edit an OpenText Content Server Source panel:

   • To add a source, in the main menu, under Content, click Sources > Add Source button > OpenText Content Server.

     OR

   • To edit a source, in the main menu, under Content, click Sources > source row > Edit in the Action bar.

4. In the Add/Edit an OpenText Content Server Source panel, in the Configuration tab, if you have not already installed the Coveo On-Premises Crawling Module on a server that has access to the server of which you want to retrieve the content, click Download Crawling Module to do so.

5. Enter appropriate values for the available parameters:

   • Source name

     A descriptive name for your source under 255 characters (not already in use for another source in this organization).

     You cannot change the source name once it is created.

   • Web service URL

     The URL of the OpenText Content Server Web Service used to communicate with the server.

     https://OTCS.corp.MyCompany.com/cws/

   • Content server URL

     The OpenText Content Server URL.

     https://OTCS.corp.MyCompany.com/OTCS/

   • Character optical recognition (OCR)

     Check this box if you want Coveo Cloud to extract text from image files and/or PDF files containing images (see Enable Optical Character Recognition). OCR-extracted text is processed as item data, meaning that it is fully searchable and will appear in the item Quick View (see Search Result Quick View).

     Since the OCR feature is available at an extra charge, you must first contact Coveo Sales to add this feature to your organization license. You can then enable it for your source.

   • Index

     When adding a source, if you have more than one logical (non-Elasticsearch) index in your organization, select the index in which the retrieved content will be stored (see Leverage Multiple Coveo Indexes). If your organization only has one index, this drop-down menu is not visible and you have no decision to make.

     • To add a source storing content in an index different than default, you need the View access level on the Logical Index domain (see Privilege Management and Logical Indexes Domain).

     • Once the source is added, you cannot switch to a different index.

   • Content security

     Select who should be able to access the OTCS content through a Coveo Cloud search (see Content Security). Your options are:

     • Private: Only the source creator will be able to find the source content in the search interface. They must however authenticate to the search interface with the identity with which they created the source.

     • Shared: Everyone will be able to find the source content in the search interface.

     • Secured: Only users authenticated in the search interface will see the source items for which they have read permission.

6. In the Authentication section, enter the Server username and Server password of a dedicated account that has access to the content you want to make searchable.

7. In the Content to Include section:

   1. In the Starting point ID box, enter the ID of the item or folder (node) whose content you want to index. If you do not provide a starting point ID, [Default Root Node ID] will be used.

   2. Deselect the Retrieve full node data box if you do not want to retrieve the full node data. Although retrieving this data reduces performances, Coveo recommends it, as it makes additional, potentially useful metadata available for search.

   3. Check the Include OpenText User object type box if you want to index OTCS user profiles.

   4. Check the Only include files modified after box if you want to restrict the indexing process to recently modified files, and then select a date. Only items modified after this date will be made searchable.

8. In the Refresh section:

   1. In the Database connection string box, optionally provide an OTCS database connection string to allow Coveo Cloud to index the content that has been added, changed, or removed. If you choose not to, only created and modified documents will be taken into account during the source refresh operation, whereas deleted, purged, and restored documents will be ignored. Providing a database connection string is recommended. Typical database connection strings are formatted as follows: Driver={[driver-name]};Server=[your-server-name];Database=[your-database-name];Uid=@uid;Pwd=@pwd. However, the connection string syntax differs from one database type to another, so review Connection Strings documentation to write your own. See also Viewing the Available Drivers for an ODBC Source for a list of available database drivers.

      • If you provide a connection string, you must also enable auditing of Delete, Purge, and Restore events in your OpenText Content Server settings to allow the Coveo On-Premises Crawling Module to detect and retrieve the corresponding content.
      • For increased security, do not to enter your password in the connection string and use @pwd instead. Then, check the Use other credentials than those of the server box, and enter your password in the appropriate box so that Coveo encrypts it before storing it.

   2. Should your database require different crawling account credentials than those of your server, check the Use other credentials than those of the server box, and then enter the database credentials.

      When you or another user will edit this source in the future, the Database password will be empty to avoid showing your password. To continue using this password, leave the box empty.

9. In the Access tab, determine whether each group and API key can view or edit the source configuration (see Understanding Resource Access):

   1. In the Access Level column, select View or Edit for each available group.

   2. On the left-hand side of the tab, if available, click Groups or API Keys to switch lists.

      If you remove the Edit access level from all the groups of which you are a member, you will not be able to edit the source again after saving. Only administrators and members of other groups that have Edit access on this resource will be able to do so. To keep your ability to edit this resource, you must grant the Edit access level to at least one of your groups.

10. Optionally, consider editing or adding mappings between OTCS item (node) metadata and fields in your Coveo Cloud organization (see Manage Source Mappings).

    You can only manage mapping rules once you build the source (see Refresh, Rescan, or Rebuild Sources).

11. Complete your source addition or edition:

    • Click Add Source/Save when you want to save your source configuration changes without starting a build/rebuild, such as when you know you want to do other changes soon.

      On the Sources page, you must click Start initial build or Start required rebuild in the source Status column to add the source content or make your changes effective, respectively.

      OR

    • Click Add and Build Source/Save and Rebuild Source when you are done editing the source and want to make changes effective.

      Back on the Sources page, you can review the progress of your OTCS source addition or modification (see Manage Sources).

    Once the source is built or rebuilt, you can review its content in the Content Browser (see Content Browser - Page).

What’s Next?

Review the default update schedule and optionally change it to better fit your needs (see Edit a Source Schedule).