Search on multiple web applications (SharePoint 2010)

By default, you will find that each web application with root site have three search scopes defind, which are :

All Sites
This Site
People search

Hence you don't need to make additional configuration to search through all the sites in your farm. Just to make sure that you search service application have only one content source providing the search data and indexing the information.

Yagyashree,

This is the scenario

4 web apps
http://webapp1:80
http://webapp2:80
http://webapp3:80
http://webapp4:80

There is a content in Http://webapp1:80 that I want to search but i'm in http://webapp2:80 can I use the search in http://webapp2:80 without going to http://webapp1:80 ?

If you are using SharePoint Server (not Foundation), you have lots of options as how to manage the search experience.

Essentially, go into your Search Service Administration in Central Administration, and create a new Search Scope. You can define the rules for the search scope to include whatever content or whatever paths you want, and define what should also be excluded.

You can then use those search scopes in your normal site collections, or create an Enterprise Search Center (as referenced by ACH1LLES), and expose your scope that way as well.

How you end up architecting how the users search for what where is really up to you, but the answer is yes, you can have a search scope that searches across 4 different web applications - as long as you aren't using Foundation. And you don't have to be in that specific web application to search its content.

TechNet: Plan Search Scopes
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg185660(v=office.14).aspx

Did you manage to get the answer you were looking for?

Guys I'll apply this solution in a week or two, I'm currently working on something right now.
I'll keep everyone posted

Thanks!

Did you manage to get an answer for your query?

Not yet, I will have the answer by the end of this week or Monday next week