Search service administration web service protocol

摘要

The embodiments described herein generally relate to a method and system for enabling a client to configure and control the crawling function available through a crawl configuration Web service. A client is able to configure and control the crawling function by defining the URL space of the crawl. Such space may be defined by configuring the starting point(s) and other properties of the crawl. The client further configures the crawling function by creating and configuring a content source and/or a crawl rule. Further, a client defines authentication information applicable to the crawl to enable the discovery and retrieval of electronic documents requiring authentication and/or authorization information for access thereof. A protocol governs the format, structure and syntax (using a Web Services Description Language schema) of messages for communicating to and from the Web crawler through an application programming interface on a server hosting the crawler application.