Self-service sources for secure search

Abstract

A flexible and extensible architecture allows for secure searching across an enterprise. Such an architecture can provide a simple Internet-like search experience to users searching secure content inside (and outside) the enterprise. The architecture allows for the crawling and searching of a variety of sources across an enterprise, regardless of whether any of these sources conform to a conventional user role model. The architecture further allows for security attributes to be submitted at query time, for example, in order to provide real-time secure access to enterprise resources. The user query also can be transformed to provide for dynamic querying that provides for a more current result list than can be obtained for static queries.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of providing user-subscribed sources for secure search, the method comprising:
 providing to a user a template for crawling a source, the template defining a location of and crawl settings for a target data repository source, the template not having specified security credentials for the source;   allowing the user to subscribe to the source using the template;   receiving user-specified security credentials from the user and applying the user-specified security credentials to an instance of the template to create a user-subscribed source;   authenticating a crawler as the user on the source; and   crawling, using a processor associated with a computer system, the source as the user template with user-specified security credentials.   
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 creating an access control list for the user-subscribed source;   indexing documents for the user during the crawling in an index; and   stamping identification information for the user with each entry in the index such that the associated documents are only available for search in the index by the user.   
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the user-subscribed source is configured to match the user-specified security credentials with the template such that during a crawl on the user-subscribed source authentication is accomplished by augmenting the user-specified security credentials with target repositories. 
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising displaying query results for indexed documents to the user. 
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the template includes a data table. 
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising launching the crawler on said user-subscribed source using one of a current data source ID and a template source ID. 
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising providing a customized page that, when operated, allows the user to modify an aspect or attribute of the user-subscribed source. 
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising associating the template with a predetermined group of secure data. 
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 allowing an administrator to select a time for a crawl of the user-subscribed source;   mapping the user-subscribed source to other secure sources;   stamping any document crawled for the user-subscribed source with identification information for the user; and   using a single sign-on service with the user-subscribed source.   
     
     
         10 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the applying the user-specified security credentials to an instance of the template occurs at crawl time such that a configuration of the template can be modified without requiring each user to re-subscribe to the source. 
     
     
         11 . A computer-readable medium having sets of instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:
 provide to a user a template for crawling a source, the template defining a location of and crawl settings for a target data repository source, the template not having specified security credentials for the source;   allow the user to subscribe to the source using the template;   receive user-specified security credentials from the user and applying the user-specified security credentials to an instance of the template to create a user-subscribed source;   authenticate a crawler as the user on the source; and   crawl the source as the user template with user-specified security credentials.   
     
     
         12 . The computer-readable medium according to  claim 11 , wherein the sets of instructions when further executed by the computer, cause the computer to:
 create an access control list for the user-subscribed source;   index documents for the user during the crawling in an index; and   stamp identification information for the user with each entry in the index such that the associated documents are only available for search in the index by the user.   
     
     
         13 . The computer-readable medium according to  claim 11 , wherein the sets of instructions when further executed by the computer, cause the computer to match the user-specified security credentials with the template such that during a crawl on the user-subscribed source authentication is accomplished by augmenting the user-specified security credentials with target repositories. 
     
     
         14 . The computer-readable medium according to  claim 11 , wherein the sets of instructions when further executed by the computer, cause the computer to display query results for the indexed documents to the user. 
     
     
         15 . The computer-readable medium according to  claim 11 , wherein the sets of instructions when further executed by the computer, cause the computer to launch the crawler on said user-subscribed source using one of a current data source ID and a template source ID. 
     
     
         16 . The computer-readable medium according to  claim 11 , wherein the sets of instructions when further executed by the computer, cause the computer to provide a customized page that, when operated, allows the user to modify an aspect or attribute of the user-subscribed source. 
     
     
         17 . The computer-readable medium according to  claim 11 , wherein the sets of instructions when further executed by the computer, cause the computer to:
 associate the template with a predetermined group of secure data; and   allow an administrator to select a time for a crawl of the user-subscribed source.   
     
     
         18 . The computer-readable medium according to  claim 13 , wherein the sets of instructions when further executed by the computer, cause the computer to:
 map the user-subscribed source to other secure sources;   stamp any document crawled for the user-subscribed source with identification information for the user; and   use a single sign-on service with the user-subscribed source.   
     
     
         19 . A system for providing user-subscribed sources for secure search, the system comprising:
 a storage medium; and   a processor coupled with the storage medium, wherein the storage medium has sets of instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
 provide to a user a template for crawling a source, the template defining a location of and crawl settings for a target data repository source, the template not having specified security credentials for the source; 
 allow the user to subscribe to the source using the template; 
 receive user-specified security credentials from the user and applying the user-specified security credentials to an instance of the template to create a user-subscribed source; 
 authenticate a crawler as the user on the source; and 
 crawl the source as the user template with user-specified security credentials. 
   
     
     
         20 . The system according to  claim 19 , wherein the sets of instructions when further executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
 create an access control list for the user-subscribed source;   index documents for the user during the crawling in an index; and   stamp identification information for the user with each entry in the index such that the associated documents are only available for search in the index by the user.