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The Search

The search engine previously used in Exchange Server was based on the FAST engine and has given many Exchange administrators sleepless nights. The Exchange Team’s blog post announced the integration of a new search engine based on "Bing Technology". First, it's good to finally get rid of the FAST search and no longer worry about corrupt search indices, but secondly, some readers will certainly cringe at the term "Bing". The Bing search engine available on the web has a very different perception of the quality of the search results, especially when used in non-English countries. However, in the context of Exchange Server 2019, the focus is less on the word "Bing" but on the term "Bing Technology".

The key advantage of the new search is that the storage of metadata and indexes is no longer stored in a separate folder structure in the file system of each server, but in the mailbox database. The information is kept synchronized using the native and robust log-shipping mechanisms. This technological trick allows an even faster activation of a passive database copy in the case of a switchover or failover. By storing the search information in the database it’s automatically part of a backup.

Exchange 2019

Exchange 2019 Search Engine

Exchange 2019 introduces a new search engine called ‘Big Funnel’, based on Bing technologies. Search indexes are not longer stored on disk per Mailbox database, but search indexes are now stored inside the Mailbox database on a per Mailbox basis. As such, Search Indexes are also replicated to passive copies of the Mailbox database and these are always in sync. When a corrupt page containing search index information is found, page patching occurs to copy a healthy page from a passive copy of the Mailbox database and the active copy of a Mailbox database.

Exchange 2019