how sharepoint uses the index on Portal server

[Saaarc]

Please let me know, How to use the sharepoint index on the portal server and how to list the items on the sharepoint server, and is it also possible to integrate the CRM with Sharepoint, Integration of CRM is for, am heard it from my seniors regarding it. Please help...!

Thanks in Advance

[Alejandro]

To index SharePoint Portal Server 2003 list items in SharePoint Server 2007, follow these steps.

1. Start SharePoint 3.0 Central Administration.
2. Create a content source that points to the server that is running SharePoint Portal Server 2003. To do this, follow these steps:

• Click Application Management, and then click Create or configure this farm's shared services under OfficeSharePoint Server Shared Services.
• Click the Shared Service Provider (SSP) that you want to configure.
• On the Home page, click Search settings under Search.
• On the Configure Search Settings page, click Content sources and crawl schedules under Crawl Settings.
• On the Manage Content Sources page, click New Content Source.
• On the Add Content Source page, specify the settings for the content source, and then click OK.

sorce: Support.Microsoft

[RichiRich]

Integrating CRM with SharePoint is possible but the problem is that CRM is really great application but it lacks document management capabilities, and the benefit is that Users will benefit from the ability to see both quote financial information and the document itself from the same application. And the Third party implementation is also possible.

[Mecurtis]

SharePoint search works using a gatherer process that crawls a configurable set of content. The Index server manages the crawl of all content, performs the crawls for items external to the SharePoint farm, When crawling a Web page, the gatherer collects all the words in the document. It simultaneously gathers all the anchor tags (links) in the page. but makes requests to the available Query or Search servers in order to crawl the internal content of the SharePoint farm.