Google Desktop Search can be installed on any PC, but the built-in web server will only allow localhost connections. But even this can be changed. I've found that DNKA will act as proxy and allow external connections to the server! The program is very flexible, allowing user control (anonymous or logged use), IP allow/deny, and Logging. And what's more, it allows the user to define a drive list to index, including mapped network drives. This is so much easier than manually changing the registry.
There's a couple of disadvantages though. First, the server will only run in the context of the user who installed it. So this user must be always logged on the server. Or create a scheduled task that runs on startup, without the need of a user to login. Simply create a batch file, google.bat for example, with the following lines:
"C:\Program Files\Google\Google Desktop Search\GoogleDesktop.exe" /startup
"C:\Program Files\DNKA\ServerOptions.exe" /restartCreate a new scheduled task that runs when your computer starts, and run as the user with privileges to run the server programs (this is the username used to install the programs). Now, even if the computer is restarted, there's no need for someone to come around and login!
Second, the Google Desktop Search will not update the network drive index automatically. But DNKA allows for "touch" and also server port number change.
And if the whole team uses the same drive letter as the "Search Server", result links will open the correct document, all the time.
One of the advantages of this approach instead of having each team member with her own Google Desktop Search is the network traffic impact. Instead of multiple users trying to index a huge mapped drive, we have only one doing the job. There you go. A cheap search server...
PS. DNKA is free for personal use, with a cheap licence for commercial use.
