Patent ID: 7996380

Claim:
A machine, having one or more processors, implemented method, comprising: in response to a search request received from a client for searching metadata stored within one or more metadata stores in a storage associated with a search facility, identifying a search scope based on the search request, wherein the search scope defines whether a search should be performed locally, remotely, or both; matching a service scope of each of a plurality of metadata stores with the search scope of the search request, the plurality of metadata stores having registered with the search facility, wherein each metadata store is associated with a service scope specifying whether the metadata store is located locally or remotely; generating a set of one or more search targets from the plurality of metadata stores that have the associated service scope matched with the search scope of the search request; for each of the search targets, retrieving a plug-in interface and a plug-in application associated with the search target; invoking the plug-in application via the associated plug-in interface to perform the requested search in the corresponding metadata store, wherein each of the metadata stores only stores metadata extracted from one or more data files which are stored in a separate storage location of the storage; and returning at least a portion of a search result to the client based on an access privilege of the client, wherein the search result is used to determine whether the corresponding one or more data files contain information related to a search term of the search request without having to search the one or more data files to improve an efficiency of the search.