You cannot query a specific search server in a server farm deployment of SharePoint Portal Server 2003

When you search your server farm deployment of Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server 2003, there is no supported method to query a specific search server directly. This issue can make troubleshooting difficult to determine which search server is behaving unexpectedly.

This problem was first fixed in a hotfix that is now contained in a service pack. If you installed the latest SharePoint Portal Server 2003 service pack, you do not have to install the hotfix.

Service pack information

This problem is corrected in SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Service Pack 3. To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for SharePoint Portal Server 2003. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
After you install the service pack, follow the steps that are listed in the "How to enable the hotfix" section of the article to set the AllowSearchServerInQueryString registry key and to activate the hotfix.

Hotfix information

How to obtain the hotfix

This issue is fixed in the SharePoint Portal Server 2003 hotfix packages 919175 and 898547. For more information about the English version of this hotfix package, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about the German and the Spanish versions of this hotfix package, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

How to enable the hotfix

Warning Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.

To enable this hotfix, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.
2. Locate and then click to select the following registry key:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\SPSSearch
3. After you select the key that is specified in step 2, point to New on the Edit menu, and then click DWORD Value.
4. Type AllowSearchServerInQueryString, and then press ENTER.
5. Right-click AllowSearchServerInQueryString, and then click Modify.
6. In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.
7. On the File menu, click Exit to quit Registry Editor.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

This problem was first corrected in SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Service Pack 3.

After you apply this hotfix, you can query an individual server. In a query that is similar to the following query, specify the server name in front of the catalog name:Note In the example query, the servername placeholder must be replaced with the name of the search server that you want to interrogate. The catalogname placeholder should be replaced with the catalog from which you want to obtain results.

There is no out-of-the-box ability to perform this kind of query in Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server. You must create a custom query interface to use this syntax.

For more information, see the Microsoft Office SharePoint Products and Technologies 2003 Software Development Kit (SDK). To obtain this SDK, visit the following Microsoft Web site: