Apache Nutch

Apache Nutch is a highly extensible and scalable open-source web crawler designed for large-scale data acquisition and indexing. It is production-ready and supports fine-grained configuration, making it suitable for a wide range of crawling tasks. Built on top of Apache Hadoop, Nutch is ideal for batch processing of massive datasets but can also be tailored for smaller, targeted jobs. Its modular architecture and plugin system allow users to customize nearly every aspect of the crawling and indexing process.

Features

• Plugin-based architecture for parsing, indexing, filtering, and scoring
• Integration with Apache Tika for content extraction
• Support for indexing with Apache Solr, Elasticsearch, and other systems
• Multi-threaded fetching and crawl control
• URL filtering and normalization plugins
• Language detection and metadata extraction
• GeoIP-based indexing capabilities
• RSS feed indexing and anchor text support
• Dynamic scoring and ranking mechanisms
• JEXL-based expression filtering for indexing
• CSV, Kafka, and CloudSearch index writer plugins
• Subcollection and static field assignment for documents

Capabilities

• Large-scale web crawling using Hadoop-based infrastructure
• Customizable data acquisition workflows via plugins
• Fine-grained control over crawl depth, scope, and frequency
• Real-time and batch indexing support
• Flexible document routing and indexing logic
• Metadata enrichment and transformation during indexing
• Integration with enterprise search platforms
• Language and domain-specific content filtering
• Extensible API for developing custom plugins
• Distributed crawling and fault-tolerant architecture

Benefits

• Enables scalable and efficient web data collection
• Reduces development time through reusable components
• Enhances search relevance with customizable scoring
• Supports diverse indexing targets and formats
• Facilitates compliance with data governance via metadata tracking
• Promotes transparency and control over crawling behavior
• Adapts to evolving web standards and content types
• Encourages community-driven innovation and extensibility
• Provides robust documentation and developer resources