Adjust search settings

You can set search parameters to control users' search capabilities, such as paged and sorted searching, size and time limits, and alias dereferencing options, by using the Web administration tool.

Paged results allow a client to manage the amount of data returned from a search request. A client can request a subset of entries (a page) instead of receiving all the results at once. Subsequent search requests display the next page of results until the operation is cancelled or the last result is returned.

Sorted search allows a client to receive search results sorted by a list of criteria, where each criterion represents a sort key. This moves the responsibility of sorting from the client application to the server.

To adjust the search settings of the directory server, follow these steps:

1. Expand the Server administration category in the navigation area and select Manage server properties.
   Note:
   To change server configuration settings using the tasks in the Server administration category of the Web Administration tool, you must authenticate to the server as an i5/OS user profile that has *ALLOBJ and IOSYSCFG special authorities. This can be done by authenticating as a projected user with the password for that profile. To bind as a projected user from the Web administration tool, enter a username of the form os400-profile=MYUSERNAME,cn=accounts,os400-sys=MYSYSTEM.COM, where MYUSERNAME and the MYSYSTEM.COM strings are replaced with your user profile name and the configured system projection suffix, respectively.
2. Select the Search settings tab.
3. Set the Search size limit. Click either the Entries or the Unlimited radio button. If you select Entries, you need to specify in the field the maximum number of entries a search returns. The default setting is 500. If more entries fit the search criteria, they are not returned. This limit does not apply to administrators or members of search limit groups who have been granted larger search size limits.
4. Set the Search time limit. Click either the Seconds or the Unlimited radio button. If you select Seconds, you need to specify in the field the maximum amount of time the server spends processing the request. The default setting is 900. This limit does not apply to administrators or members of search limit groups who have been granted larger search time limits.
5. To restrict search sorting capabilities to administrators, select the Only allow administrators to sort searches checkbox.
6. To restrict search paging capabilities to administrators, select the Only allow administrators to page searches checkbox.
7. Expand the drop-down menu for Alias dereferencing and select one of the following. The default setting is Always.

   Never

   Aliases are never dereferenced.

   Find

   Aliases are dereferenced when finding the starting point for the search, but not when searching under that starting entry.

   Search

   Aliases are dereferenced when searching the entries beneath the starting point of the search, but not when finding the starting entry.

   Always

   Aliases are always dereferenced, both when finding the starting point for the search, and also when searching the entries beneath the starting entry. Always is the default setting.

For more information, see Search parameters and Search the directory entries.