Troubleshoot SQL Server Full Text Search Errors with GthrLog

By: Edgewood Solutions | Read Comments | Print Edgewood Solutions is a technology company focused on Microsoft SQL Server and founder of MSSQLTips.com. Related Tips: More

Problem
Providing Full-Text Search functionality for an application using SQL Server 2000 can be tricky enough even without errors in the population process. There are a number of ways to evaluate and diagnose errors that occur. One way is to look in the Windows Event Logs, but if you've seen information recorded in the logs, you've probably closed Event Viewer with more questions than answers. Although the information in these entries are general, you can find out specific information about what happened by using CScript and the gthrlog.vbs file.

Solution
As you can see, the Gatherer Log files contain specific information on the crawl process, including which records were not found during the crawl process. These files are located in the [SQL DataFile installation location]:\MSSQL\FTData\SQLServer\GatherLogs\ folder. Here is an example of an Event Log entry indicating there was an issue during the crawl process:

The entry in the Event Log indicates which file contains the information for the particular MSSearch crawl in question. The only way of reading the file is by using the gthrlog.vbs file, which is located in C:\Program Files\Common Files\System\MSSearch\Bin. To investigate the information, open a command prompt, call the CScript function, specify the gthrlog.vbs file, and the location of the file you wish to read (you must include the quotes as shown below):

Next Steps

• Include the GthrLog Utility in your repertoire of evaluating Full-Text Search errors
• Read more about implementing Full-Text search:
  • Building Search Applications for the Web Using Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Full-Text Search
  • 10 Ways to Optimize SQL Server Full-text Indexing
• Read more information on Using the GthrLog.vbs Utility
• Get more tips on Full-Text Search on MSSQLTIPS.com

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