Can I ask a question -- are these subsites their own top  level WSS site  in a
managed path or are they under the sites  directory?

What I have is both. For my separate WSS top level  sites, I created  a
managed path, with (I think) explicit inclusion (the only option that
worked). Then I created a search  scope for that site and added  it to all
sources.

Works for me.

Could it be that you are adding the file to search for then not waiting for
the indesex to be rebuilt before testing?

I havent created  any managed paths so I think they are under the sites  directory. I have the hierarchy  like this:

Parent
--- child  1
------ Grandchild
--- Child 2
Parent 2
--- Child
where Parent is the top  level site.

I crawl  everytime I make a change and sometimes even reset the index  before testing.

but do you rebuild the indexes in sql server?

Yep, I tried that too - no luck.

Basically, I want to set  it up such that search  returns results  from
the site  (top level  or a subsite) and all sites  below it in the
hierarchy. Is this even possible?

Yes, my portal  searches yield results  from the portal and its sub sites  all
the time.

I guess I am just not smart enough to tell you why they do not in your case.

SPS search  can accomplish this, depending on how your content  sources
and indexes are set  up. WSS search will only search the current site.

Can you please elaborate on how to accomplish this using SPS search?

I tested the approach  (3) below. Am I missing something?

You're making this way too difficult. Just place the root site  in the
Manage Sites to be Crawled list and use the Sites Directory content
source to crawl  the site collection.

This is exactly what I did (Approach 3 below). Works as
intended for the Parent scope. Now I need to search  the child  and
its subsites, what content  type (Website/Webpage or Sharepoint Sites
Directory) should I choose when creating a content source?

Sites under a managed path are TLS in a new site  collection because the
managed path creates a new virtual root at which thousands of new site
collections can be created  without a new virtual server  in IIS.

Define TLS???????????????????????????

Top Level Site.........................

Like I said, *don't* create a new content  source. Just place the root
site in the Manage sites  to be Crawled list. Even a new site  created
inside a managed path is a root site, so ensure that is placed in this
list and all the sites in that site collection  will be indexed.

I am sorry I don't understand. I have this:

Parent
--Child
----Grandchild

I do have the parent  listed in the Manage sites  to be crawled list.

and I have created  a search  scope for the child  (to be able to
search child and grandchild but NOT the Parent). Now, what content
source should I point  this search scope  to? (If i point it to the
parent, it searches parent too)

You don’t need to worry about scopes  when using the sites  directory content  source. Remove your scopes and let the sites directory  content source  do it’s work. Are you in a shared services environment with child  portals? This makes it more difficult to do successfully if you’re working  in a child portal  in a shared services environment.

No, I am not in a shared services environment.

If I don't create a child search  scope, how do I let users  search
only the child  without returning results  from the parent?

IF that's really your business need, then you should create a content
source to *each* site, not each *site collection* and scope  them
accordingly. Frankly, that will get way out of hand pretty quick and
will likely overwhelm your scope list.

So, if you have 100 sites, then you'll need 100 content  sources, and 100
search scopes, regardless of the site  collection structure. Search
scopes must be created  at the content source  level, so you can't create
a content source for (let's say) 10 sites  and then create a scope for
each individual site. That functionality doesn't exist in SPS03.

The client wants scopes  only for the TLSs and the 2nd level sites  in
the hierarchy  totalling to only about 10 content  sources and 10
search scopes.

I have no problem creating content sources  for the TLSs (works if i
choose either the web  page content type  or the site  directory
content type) but the 2nd level  sites dont seem to be working.

Any idea how I could create content sources for the 2nd level sites?
If I use the web page/web site content type and specify a URL
similiar to this:

http://portal/sites/parent/child/

the parent  scope stops to work.

I am wondering if this is even possible.

I've never tried this, so perhaps it isn't possible. I don't have any
additional advise for you beyond what I've written. You may need to
call PSS about this.

An unrelated question. If a user who is searching  does
not have permissions to the documents/lists etc, do they still show
up in the search  results?

No. All search  results are security trimmed.

No - the result set  is clipped/trimmed for security based on the user
entering the query.