I ’m a geek , I let in it . I have an Xserve in my basement that I practice to screen out Mac OS X Server and other initiative - type software program . Sometimes , I say server manuals for fun . I ’ll fag for calendar week to get something to work , just to see if I can do it and then never utilize it again . So , when theGoogle Mini Search Appliancewas release a while back , I visualise I was the right somebody to take a look at it .

Google swash the Mini — which lets you search for documents and other digital asset across Indian file server — as the perfect gizmo for small-scale to mid - size companies that do n’t have an IT faculty to instal and configure software system . It claim the Mini , which set off at $ 1,995 for the power to search through 50,000 documents , can be set up in no time by someone who might not have much experience with server ; just follow the instructions . ( As a side note , has a company ever promoted a intersection by enounce , “ This is so hard to localize up it will take you hours and hours and then it credibly still wo n’t work right ? ” Just enquire . )

Having been through my share nightmare situations that get with the hope of simplified rest - of - use , I set aside part of an afternoon and the whole evening to get the Google Mini lay out up .

The Mini comes with everything you want to get up and running — the 1U rackmount appliance , a crossover cable , an Ethernet cable television and power electric cord . For the rightfully challenged among us , Google even tinge the cables and the slots they go in to , so that it ’s nearly inconceivable to make a fault .

The ironware setup of the Mini is the easy part — plug in the power and the right colored cable into the right hole before press the button to plow it on . Because the Mini is headless , it gives you an audible chime when it finishes booting up — then you know it ’s meter to start up gear up up the software package .

I connected the crossing over cable to my MacBook and typed in the static IP reference of the Google Mini . To configure the Mini , you demand to set apart the box an IP address , gateway , router and give it a DNS IP . This is also where you setup the admin account for logging in to see the widget . Once this part was done , I unplugged the MacBook .

Going pretty fluid so far .

Next , I lumber into the Mini over the electronic internet using the IP computer address I ascribe it during the initial setup . This is where you configure what sites ( net or Intranet ) the Mini will index and how often it will index them . you could also produce subset of hunting here and then test everything in the Google Test Center , which is include with the Mini .

Once I did that and clicked the creep button , I was done . My Google Mini was frame-up and run on my web — I localise up an internal and external site for it to index number and it did very promptly .

It took me about 30 minutes from the prison term I cracked launch the packing tape on the box to the time I did my first lookup . It was almosttoosimple — for a while , I was n’t indisputable I actually finished the complete setup .

I am impressed with how promptly the box was setup . We all have sex that Google Search packs a flock of index and it ’s nice to see the troupe is able to work that to little business users in such an leisurely - to - usance box .