Is it possible to restrict an indexed search source(ai search source) by role?

[siddhi sawant]

Hi Everyone,

Global Search returns results only if the user has the correct ACL permissions, but I want to confirm whether index search sources (ais_search_source) themselves can be restricted by role.

Any guidance or best practices would be appreciated!

Thank you.

[rpriyadarshy]

Please quote your Problem Statement/Use Case then Solution Mapping or Best Practice can be  suggested?

Regards

RP

[siddhi sawant]

Use Case / Problem Statement :

External users currently have access to 4 Catalog Items.
Because these items are visible to them, they also appear in Global Search results.
Any cases raised from these Catalog Items also become visible in search for the external user.

I want to confirm whether search sources (ais_search_source) can be restricted by (snc_external)role, so that external users do not search Catalog Items at all, even if those items are visible on the portal.

Is this restriction possible at the search-source level, or can it only be controlled through ACLs?

[Travis Rogers]

Just to confirm - You want these external users to have access to the 4 catalog items (presumably for self-service purposes), but you don't want those external users to search and find the same catalog items via global search? I'm not exactly understanding the reason for this requirement, but I'll go along with it...

What is the alternative expected behavior if a user searches for one of those 'do not find' items? ie, are you hoping the user finds nothing and is merely left confused like "hmm I swear there's a form with that name but I can't find it via this search box" or are you hoping to show them a redirect KB that instead instructs users "if you want to submit this item do it via the portal at this link" or perhaps something else entirely? Could you not instead just link the returned catalog item results to a portal view for those 4 items by either altering the EVAM definition or by adding a Search Scripted Post Processor to modify the URL to a portal URL for those items? (just some friendly ideas to kick around)

[qprinsloo]

Catalog items and knowledge articles should instead each be restricted using user criteria. AI search will then honor those restrictions. Just because something isn't being indexed and then presented in search results doesn't mean its not accessible. So it is therefore best practice to instead manage what search results are displayed AND who can access items using user criteria on the items themselves. Set the appropriate user criteria on your 4 catalog items and then AI search will respect this. The items won't show in search results for users who don't have the role set in your user criteria and then in turn will be displayed for those who do.