SharePoint 2013 Search: Adding a New Index Component to a Search Server

This blog is part of my Scaling Out Search Series and describes the processes for adding a new index component to a new search server:

Get Search Service Instance and Start on New Index Server$ssi = Get-SPEnterpriseSearchServiceInstance -Identity "<<new index server>>"
Start-SPEnterpriseSearchServiceInstance -Identity $ssi

Wait for Search Service Instance to come online
Get-SPEnterpriseSearchServiceInstance -Identity $ssi

(The full script contains a loop that waits for the service to come online)

Clone Active Search Topology$ssa = Get-SPEnterpriseSearchServiceApplication
$active = Get-SPEnterpriseSearchTopology -SearchApplication $ssa -Active
$clone = New-SPEnterpriseSearchTopology -SearchApplication $ssa -Clone –SearchTopology $active

Create New Index Component for Index Partition 0
New-SPEnterpriseSearchIndexComponent –SearchTopology $clone -SearchServiceInstance $ssi -IndexPartition 0 -RootDirectory "<<server index location>>"

Activate the Cloned Search Topology
Set-SPEnterpriseSearchTopology -Identity $clone


Review new topology
Get-SPEnterpriseSearchTopology -Active -SearchApplication $ssa

Monitor Distribution of Index
Get-SPEnterpriseSearchStatus -SearchApplication $ssa

The new index component will be "Degraded" until the index is fully synced. Use the -text parameter to retrieve more detailed information:

 

 

(The full script contains a loop that waits for the index component to be Active)

 

 

 

Once all components are activated, reviewing the Search Application Topology in Central Admin shows the following:

 

NEXT, I created a New Crawl Component.
 
FULL SCRIPT

Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

#Get Search Service Instance and Start on New Index Server
$ssi = Get-SPEnterpriseSearchServiceInstance -Identity "<<new index server>>"
Start-SPEnterpriseSearchServiceInstance -Identity $ssi

#Wait for Search Service Instance to come online
do {$online = Get-SPEnterpriseSearchServiceInstance -Identity $ssi; Write-Host "Waiting for service: " $online.Status}
until ($online.Status -eq "Online")

#Clone Active Search Topology
$ssa = Get-SPEnterpriseSearchServiceApplication
$active = Get-SPEnterpriseSearchTopology -SearchApplication $ssa -Active
$clone = New-SPEnterpriseSearchTopology -SearchApplication $ssa -Clone –SearchTopology $active

#Create New Index Component for Index Partition 0
New-SPEnterpriseSearchIndexComponent –SearchTopology $clone -SearchServiceInstance $ssi -IndexPartition 0 -RootDirectory "<<server index location>>"

#Activate the Cloned Search Topology
Set-SPEnterpriseSearchTopology -Identity $clone

#Review new topology
Get-SPEnterpriseSearchTopology -Active -SearchApplication $ssa

#Monitor Distribution of Index
do {$activeState = Get-SPEnterpriseSearchStatus -SearchApplication $ssa | Where-Object {$_.Name -eq "IndexComponent2"}; Write-Host "Waiting for active distribution: " $activeState.State}
until ($activeState.State -eq "Active")