Upgrading from Everything 1.5 Alpha to Everything Server for local network

[CliffyBoy]

Hi,

Im currently using ES 1.5A on 1 local networked pc (PC-A) and I would like to have 2 other local pcs share the main search index (PC-B and PC-C). I've read the Everything Server page and it seems a little complicated to get started.

-For my situation, can i turn my main instance of ES into the server version or do I have to uninstall it and reindex with the server version?

-I currently have PC-A indexed with 6 local drives, 3 remote network location drives, and 2 local shared drives using Folder Indexes (\\PC-B with 2 local drives, \\PC-C with 1 local drive). Is there a best practices way to have all these drives indexed and shared efficiently by ES?

-Under Options/Folders I have \\PC-B and \\PC-C. The settings checked for each is:
---index subfolders
---attempt to monitor changes Buffer 64kb
---Rescan on full buffer
---Fast rescan
---Rescan every 4hrs

Is 64kb best to handle the changes for all these drives or should I modify the buffer up or down? I find that while ES says it will only monitor for changes the rescan of the drives always takes a long time (30min) even if there hasnt been any changes.

Please advise - Thanks

[void]

-For my situation, can i turn my main instance of ES into the server version or do I have to uninstall it and reindex with the server version?

The Everything Server is just a plugin for the normal Everything 1.5 install.
Install the plugin, enable the server and you are good to go.
No reindex required.

-I currently have PC-A indexed with 6 local drives, 3 remote network location drives, and 2 local shared drives using Folder Indexes (\\PC-B with 2 local drives, \\PC-C with 1 local drive). Is there a best practices way to have all these drives indexed and shared efficiently by ES?

The Everything is the most efficient if you just index and share all files.
On the Server, In Everything, under Tools -> Options -> Everything Server.
Enable Everything Server.
Add a user account
Leave the name blank.

-Under Options/Folders I have \\PC-B and \\PC-C. The settings checked for each is:
---index subfolders
---attempt to monitor changes Buffer 64kb
---Rescan on full buffer
---Fast rescan
---Rescan every 4hrs

This is different to the Everything Server.
The Everything Server is not required if you are just indexing the network folder.

Those settings are fine.
ONLY USE fast rescan if the share is on an NTFS volume on the server.
fast rescan will not work for other volume types.

Is 64kb best to handle the changes for all these drives

64KB is the maximum for network shares.
It's also more than enough for Everything to read all changes to the folder.

the rescan of the drives always takes a long time (30min) even if there hasnt been any changes.

It will depend on how large the share is, network speeds and OS.

For Windows Server over 10gb, Everything will scan 1million files per minute.