Sphinx Search

[Jase2]

Anyone answer my previous question ?

[ivanp]

Originally Posted by Jase2

Anyone answer my previous question ?

We are using Sphinx to replace slow vBulletin internal & fulltext search.

[TechGuy]

Has any progress been made on getting the advanced search options working?

[Jase2]

So, it replaces the default vBulletin search ?

[Deriel]

Originally Posted by Jase2

So, it replaces the default vBulletin search ?

Yes, exactly.

Somewhere, above 1 million posts, the vB search and the Fulltext search became both too slow, too server intensive. Solution: Sphinx.

[Jah-Hools]

Originally Posted by Spinball

I echo what you guys say. Sphinx saved our board without getting at least one more server - maybe two. Disappointing that integrating it isn't high on the vB team's priority list.

Wotcher Spinbal,

A quick question if I may.

I see you are using Google Custom search on your site..

So are you using Sphinx just for the VB Forum search?

Are most members using Google Custom as the default search? And only some using the VB search?

Thanks M8,

See - at 2 million posts search speed isnt a problem for me (so far) - what IS a problem is the forum members deep, deep unhappiness with the way the VB search works.. Google is the best way to search my forum (it handles 2 character content way better) so I am about to pull the trigger on Google Custom Business edition.. I wanted to make a last check to see if Sphinx would do the job better.. But all I can glean from these posts is 'use sphinx if VB search is slow' I don't see any raves about improved user functionality.. Does Sphinx simply improve speed for big forums and reduce the extra machines in a cluster of servers?

Its search functionality I am after.. Does Sphinx add functionality to the forum users experience - or just add speed?

Many thanks..

[kmike]

Yes, Sphinx produces much more relevant search results than the default vB search engines, either builtin or MySQL fulltext. It takes into account keyword proximity when calculating relevance.
I'm not sure though how it compares to Google.

[Deriel]

I think that Sphinx works better than Google CSE. You have total control over Sphinx but not over the content indexed by Google nor the time that Google takes to index new posts.

[Jase2]

Can you still use Sphinx for a pretty small forum? I'm not a big fan of the default hehe.

[Spinball]

Originally Posted by Jah-Hools

Wotcher Spinbal,

A quick question if I may.

I see you are using Google Custom search on your site..

So are you using Sphinx just for the VB Forum search?

Are most members using Google Custom as the default search? And only some using the VB search?

Thanks M8,

See - at 2 million posts search speed isnt a problem for me (so far) - what IS a problem is the forum members deep, deep unhappiness with the way the VB search works.. Google is the best way to search my forum (it handles 2 character content way better) so I am about to pull the trigger on Google Custom Business edition.. I wanted to make a last check to see if Sphinx would do the job better.. But all I can glean from these posts is 'use sphinx if VB search is slow' I don't see any raves about improved user functionality.. Does Sphinx simply improve speed for big forums and reduce the extra machines in a cluster of servers?

Its search functionality I am after.. Does Sphinx add functionality to the forum users experience - or just add speed?

Many thanks..

I don't have details of how many people use the Google search or how. But it's a useful alternative to the Sphinx search. We can only use Sphinx for the vB forums search. I don't have the time to look at learning how Sphinx works unfortunately.