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I think we're talking about another service here.  Still using CQL and
reusing as much of SRW as we can, but definitely a new service.

Ralph

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Sebastian Hammer [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Wednesday, September 17, 2003 1:47 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Agenda Item: Metasearching - Multi-database search
>
>
> Hi All,
>
> Ray asked Brad Buckley of Gale to provide his input on
> Metasearch-specific
> requirements. His response to Ray echoes discussion from the
> Metasearch
> workshop in Denver earlier this year and I think it's a good
> point to raise.
>
> Content-providers like Gale, who hosts large numbers of databases, are
> faced with a peculiar challenge from metasearch engines.
> Specifically it
> involves metasearchers automatically launching parallel
> searches against
> several Gale-owned databases at once. This is perceived as a
> useful service
> by the developers and operators of metasearch engines, but it creates
> issues related to performance for the operator of the
> databases. Picture a
> situation where a single user fires off a search in a
> metasearch portal
> which is automatically turned into 10, 20, or 100 parallel search
> operations against the server.. imagine this kind of activity from a
> popular metasearch portal, and things might start to get
> pretty hot in the
> server pit at Gale (for example).
>
> In a nutshell, the proposal is for a mechanism that allows a
> metasearch
> engine to 'bundle' these searches into a single request, and
> similarly to
> allow the server to bundle the responses into a single package.
>
> We're talking about something that goes beyond mere multi-database
> searching in the original Z39.50 sense of the word.. we need
> individual
> hit-counts (and result sets) back from the server, and we
> will probably in
> some cases wish to send different query expressions to different
> databases... it comes much more close to the idea of a
> compound PDU model
> which was discussed for Z39.50 a while back. A way to
> implement this would
> be to introduce a "wrapper" element to allow multiple SRW
> requests to go in
> the same SOAP package. Another benefit for the content
> provider would be
> the ability to manage resources by refusing individual
> component requests
> (eg. during peak loads) without having to fail all requests.
> Presumably
> this would allow greater "fairness" in managing scant resources.
>
> I am personally ambivalent about this, and even as a metasearch engine
> developer, I feel that there are some thorny issues here. But
> this is an
> attempt to honestly represent a requirement that was put on
> the table by
> representatives of the content providers in Denver.
>
> --Sebastian
> --
> Sebastian Hammer, Index Data <http://www.indexdata.dk/>
> Ph: +45 3341 0100, Fax: +45 3341 0101
>