Unified Index Comparison

The Search and List from Unified Index has support for multiple engines. While all of them offer the same functionality and connect to various functionality such as the content search, PluginList, PluginCustomSearch and various others, they will have different performance characteristics and some may offer additional features.

As a general rule, the engine can simply be switched and the index rebuilt without any additional change to the configuration.

Overview

The unified index engines are:

• MariaDB/MySQL Full Text Search (is the default for 12.x onwards)
  • introduced in Tiki12
  • Within MariaDB/MySQL, additional memory required
  • Fast indexing (can be 10 times faster than Zend_Search_Lucene), slower/unstable query speed
  • No configuration required
  • Not customizable
• Elasticsearch
  • introduced in Tiki12
  • Independent Java server(s), horizontally scalable
  • Feature-rich
  • Fast indexing, fast/stable query speed, decent/good results
  • Typically, Elasticsearch is set up as a cluster on different servers than Tiki (or using a third-party service), but it is also possible to install on the same server.
  • Customizable
• Manticore Search, new in Tiki25
  • Feature-rich
  • Very fast
  • Written in C++
  • Customizable
  • Can be set up as a cluster
  • Requires small amounts of RAM (compared to Elasticsearch)
  • This is the default setup for WikiSuite once Tiki25 is released, and it is an option of the installer.

The system is designed for maintaining an autonomy vis à vis the engines. So more can be added later. No long-term data is stored in the indexes and it's fairly easy to switch from one to another. The next logical addition is OpenSearch. Please contact Marc Laporte if you have specific needs.

Limitations

The MySQL implementation has several limitations:

• Words with 3 or less characters will not be indexed unless the MySQL server configuration is modified.
• MySQL comes with an extensive list of English stop words, preventing many queries from working.
• MySQL can use a single index at a time. Depending on the query, performance can vary significantly.
• MySQL has several limitations on the number of columns and indexes it can contain. Complex sites with many different query patterns may hit those limitations.
• No support for field boosting, such as providing more relevance for hits on the title.
• There is a limitation on the number of tracker fields. The limitation is quite high (2000+), but when you hit it, you need to move to another engine because MySQL/MariaDB has a hard limit. It is not possible to know in advance the precise number of maximum fields because some tracker field types require more than one MySQL column.
  • It is possible to exclude some fields from the index to stay within the limit.

Elasticsearch requires a dedicated environment to be installed and works better with multiple instances running. It does not have known limitations.

Extra features

• Stored Search
  • Only supported by Elasticsearch and Manticore
• Faceted search (dynamic filters applicable on search results)
  • Only supported by Elasticsearch and Manticore
• Module More Like This
  • Only supported by Elasticsearch
• Federated Search
  • Only supported by Elasticsearch (Manticore on roadmap)

Selection guidelines

Tiki 24 and before

• Small sites, simple functionality: MariaDB/MySQL Full Text Search
• Medium or large sites, advanced functionality: Elasticsearch

Tiki 25 and up

• Small sites, simple functionality: MySQL Full Text Search
• If you are already using Elasticsearch and are happy with it: Elasticsearch
• Medium or large sites, advanced functionality: Manticore

Differences of results between engines

A tool has been created to compare the results, and make sure all is OK: https://gitlab.com/tikiwiki/tiki/-/merge_requests/940/

Legacy

Zend_Search_Lucene (PHP Implementation) was introduced in Tiki7 and later removed Last version: Tiki21.

• Search Engine Comparison