Searching without the Database

Many users are search dominant, they come to your site and look for the search box. <em>That</em> is their one true way of finding content. Unfortunately, searching with most databases is expensive, and often very limited (ignoring short strings, common words, etc). Your database probably has more important problems to solve.

Sphinx (and memcached) to the rescue!

This talk will walk you through the process of getting your data into sphinx, configuring your indices, and some tips on best use. Finally, storing your data in memcached for speed and glory.

This talk is based on information gained when rolling sphinx out to a site serving over 20 million unique visitors per day.