Highlight: "VolumeConfiguration.plist" lacking. Is it required, and tips on how to modify?

I’m seeing inconsistency in how Highlight is engaged on Shared Volumes and it seems the presence, or lack of, and the content material of
/Volumes/GodzillaClone/.Highlight-V100/VolumeConfiguration.plist
is likely to be implicated in these inconsistencies.

I’ve a number of SMB volumes mounted. One in every of them was a neighborhood quantity however has now been copied to a Mac mini server and I’ve it regionally mounted: smb://192.168.5.1/Godzilla

The opposite two, regionally mounted SMB volumes, have been freshly created on the server.

Whereas logged in on the Mac mini server I’ve eliminated the highlight listing and re-enable highlight on two volumes:
smb://192.168.5.1/PlexMedia_1
smb://192.168.5.1/PlexMedia_2

and after being reactivated there isn’t a longer a .Highlight-V100/VolumeConfiguration.plist

smb://192.168.5.1/Godzilla does have a VolumeConfiguration.plist

This analysis began after I tried to take away the native highlight cache utilizing mdutil -p on one of many mounted volumes after making a brand new Highlight database on the server. When my instructions failed I started to examine every quantity and see the variations.

mdutil -p  /Volumes/PlexMedia_1         
/System/Volumes/Information/Volumes/PlexMedia_1:
    Error: datastore publishing not applied.

mdutil -i on  /Volumes/PlexMedia_1
/System/Volumes/Information/Volumes/PlexMedia_1:
Error: unable to carry out operation.  (-403)
    Server search enabled.

mdutil -i on  /Volumes/PlexMedia_2
/System/Volumes/Information/Volumes/PlexMedia_2:
Error: unable to carry out operation.  (-403)
    Server search enabled.

mdutil -i on  /Volumes/Godzilla   
/System/Volumes/Information/Volumes/Godzilla:
    Indexing enabled.

mdutil -s  /Volumes/PlexMedia_1     
/System/Volumes/Information/Volumes/PlexMedia_1:
    Server search enabled.

mdutil -s  /Volumes/PlexMedia_2     
/System/Volumes/Information/Volumes/PlexMedia_2:
    Server search enabled.

mdutil -s  /Volumes/Godzilla   
/System/Volumes/Information/Volumes/Godzilla:
    Indexing enabled.

tree -L 2 /Volumes/Godzilla/.Highlight-V100 /Volumes/PlexMedia_1/.Highlight-V100 /Volumes/PlexMedia_2/.Highlight-V100 
/Volumes/Godzilla/.Highlight-V100
├── Retailer-V2
│   └── 6501AE1D-13CE-4787-9786-2AEBA0D5E3C5
└── VolumeConfiguration.plist
/Volumes/PlexMedia_1/.Highlight-V100
└── Retailer-V2
    └── D3AD2234-1A3A-46E1-919D-019D01D859B8
/Volumes/PlexMedia_2/.Highlight-V100
└── Retailer-V2
    └── 5E345843-A537-4A5D-A986-DE5B6EE0FBED

9 directories, 1 file

I do not keep in mind explicitly selecting to allow "Server search"

How is the plist created? I’m hazarding a guess that this can be a "defaults" setting for highlight that may be modified utilizing a "defaults…" command, however I do not know the command.

I’m additionally curious why there isn’t a plist created when highlight is turned off after which on for these two volumes. Perhaps it relies on whether or not sharing is turned on or off when it is initially listed?

I add the rhetorical questions for key phrase looking and to offer context, and in case it helps others, not essentially to be answered.

I’d admire any insights as I’m not capable of finding a lot googling.