SphinxSearch or a spider - which one to choose?

Question

Hello, here is my problem:

We own SiteA and SiteB and they share the same server and database where we have full control. SiteC , siteD and siteE are some of the sites we own as well but reside on a different web hosts.

The goal is to create a unified search functionality for all of the sites mentioned above. That is if somebody search for a term in SiteA, the search result will automatically come up with results from SiteB,SiteC,SiteD and Site E too. The search results should be shown under the website they were found in.

All these websites content are stored in their own databases.

If I use SphinxSearch to index the above sites,I would then require those sites that we dont have complete control with to setup a web service where i can download a database dump or csv file for indexing.

Im not quite sure about how a sphider will come into play here so need your opinion.

Sphinx or a spider?

THanks!

Answer 1

If you can ask the owner of other websites to give you content for free, then there is no need for a spider. Just use sphinxsearch to index the content.

If you can't get content directly from them, a spider is the only choice for you. There is little to think about this issue.