Coveo - Installation - SiteCore 9.2

ØCoveo an enterprise software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform that meshes unified search, analytics, and machine learning to unlock insights contained within big data for businesses, with integrated plug-ins for Salesforce.com, Sitecore, Google Apps for Work, Atlassian, JIRA, Office 365, YouTube, Lithium, Jive, Dropbox, and more.

ØAPIs also allows for custom integration with other applications.

Understanding the Architecture of Coveo for Sitecore

The Building Blocks

From a conceptual point of view, Coveo for Sitecore is made of the following building blocks.

Block 1 - Coveo Search Provider

Ø This module is deployed as a Sitecore package (ZIP file). The Coveo Search Provider acts as a bridge between Sitecore and the Coveo Cloud platform.

Ø  It is responsible for handling queries originating from within Sitecore and for synchronizing your Coveo Cloud indexes with your Sitecore search indexes.

Block 2 - Coveo Cloud Platform

This module is the service responsible for creating, managing, and maintaining your Coveo index. The Coveo Cloud platform also handles all search queries in the background.

Among other things, it contains:

Ø A Push API, which is used to index your Sitecore items.

Ø A Sitecore security provider, which handles Sitecore security permissions and allows you to find only what you are allowed to see when you perform a query.

Event Workflow

Depending on the type of action that you trigger in Coveo for Sitecore, a different sequence of events occur under the cover. Here are explained the most common scenarios.

Scenario 1 - Rebuilding Your Search Indexes

Rebuilding your search indexes causes these events to occur:

1. The Sitecore application from where you launched the rebuild (Sitecore Desktop or Content Editor) tells the Search Provider to rebuild the chosen search index (e.g. Coveo_master_index).

2. The Coveo Search Provider tells the Coveo Cloud platform to create everything necessary on the Coveo side to begin indexing Sitecore items. This includes:

a) one Coveo field for each one of the Sitecore fields selected in the Fields section of the Coveo Indexing Manager (see Understanding the Indexing Manager - Fields).

b) a field mapping for each Coveo field to map it to the corresponding Sitecore field.

c) a source of type Sitecore (e.g. Coveo_master_index - ).

d) if the Sitecore security permissions are indexed, an Expanded Sitecore Security Provider (e.g. Expanded Sitecore Security Provider for ). The Sitecore Security Provider expands security permissions found on Sitecore items.

3.If the Sitecore permissions are indexed. The Coveo Search Provider begins to fetch the users and roles (known as identities) from Sitecore.

4.If the Sitecore permissions are indexed. The Coveo Search Provider pushes those identities to the Push API.

5. The Coveo Search Provider begins to fetch Sitecore items from the database corresponding to the chosen search index (e.g. master).

6. The Coveo Search Provider pushes those Sitecore items to the Push API.

7. The Push API indexes those Sitecore items, including their selected fields and their security permissions, if applicable.

Scenario 2 - Performing a Query from a Coveo Search Page

Performing a query from a Coveo Search Page causes these events to occur:

1. The Coveo Search Page sends the query to the Coveo for Sitecore REST Endpoint Proxy (typically located at http:///coveo/rest)

2. The REST Endpoint Proxy forwards the query to the Coveo Cloud platform Search Endpoint.

3. Coveo executes the query and returns only the results that the user is allowed to see.

4. The Coveo Cloud platform returns search results to the REST Endpoint Proxy in a JSON format.

5. The REST Endpoint Proxy returns the search results to the Coveo Search Page (i.e., the Coveo for Sitecore search interface).

Installing Coveo for Sitecore 

Step 1:

Go to

https://docs.coveo.com/en/2274/coveo-for-sitecore-v5/releases-and-downloads

Step 2:

ØExtract the package

Step 3:

ØUpload the package

Step 4:

ØActivate Coveo

Step 5:

Follow the instructions shown on screen to log into the Coveo Cloud platform using your preferred identity provider.

ØIf you already have access to one or several Coveo Cloud organizations, a screen with the Select your organization section similar to the following will appear:

ØIf you do not have access to a Coveo Cloud organization, a screen with the Select your organization section similar to the following will appear: 

Further details for each option are provided below.

ØSecurity:

         Allows selecting whether to index Sitecore permissions on the documents. When permissions are not indexed, all indexed documents are available to anonymous users. If your site contains secure content, it is recommended to index the permissions.

ØBody indexing: 

          Allows selecting whether the rendered HTML should be indexed.

ØFarm configuration: 

         Allows specifying a farm name in order to refer to resources such as sources and security providers with coherent names.

Ø Sitecore credentials: 

        Allows specifying the Sitecore account (domain\username) responsible for crawling the items and expanding permissions (see Sitecore Credential Usage in Coveo for Sitecore).

Step 6:

Step 7:

Restart both the Sitecore client and server.

Note:

ØWhen a Coveo Cloud trial organization has been idle for some time, it is paused automatically. If you have selected an existing organization that has been idle for a while, the following dialog box will be displayed:

ØYou can click the Reactivate button in the dialog box to resume using your organization.

ØYou can also reactivate your organization through the Coveo Cloud Administration Console, in the left panel, in the Status section.