diff --git a/config/alfresco/core-services-context.xml b/config/alfresco/core-services-context.xml
index 79aa40b487..0776ff557b 100644
--- a/config/alfresco/core-services-context.xml
+++ b/config/alfresco/core-services-context.xml
@@ -585,29 +585,12 @@
         </property>
     </bean>
 
-    <!-- Indexer and searchers for lucene -->
-    <bean id="admLuceneIndexerAndSearcherFactory"
-        class="org.alfresco.repo.search.impl.lucene.ADMLuceneIndexerAndSearcherFactory">
-        <property name="nodeService">
-            <ref bean="mlAwareNodeService" />
-        </property>
-        <property name="tenantService">
-            <ref bean="tenantService"/>
-        </property>
-        <property name="dictionaryService">
-            <ref bean="dictionaryService" />
-        </property>
-        <property name="nameSpaceService">
-            <ref bean="namespaceService" />
-        </property>
+    <bean id="abstractLuceneIndexerAndSearcherFactory" abstract="true">
         <property name="indexRootLocation">
             <value>${dir.indexes}</value>
         </property>
-        <property name="contentService">
-            <ref bean="contentService" />
-        </property>
-        <property name="queryRegister">
-            <ref bean="queryRegisterComponent" />
+        <property name="lockDirectory">
+            <value>${dir.indexes.lock}</value>
         </property>
         <property name="maxAtomicTransformationTime">
             <value>${lucene.maxAtomicTransformationTime}</value>  <!-- milliseconds allowed for inline text transformation -->
@@ -618,8 +601,76 @@
         <property name="indexerBatchSize">
             <value>${lucene.indexer.batchSize}</value>
         </property>
-        <property name="lockDirectory">
-            <value>${dir.indexes.lock}</value>
+        <!-- cache -->
+        <property name="cacheEnabled">
+            <value>${lucene.indexer.cacheEnabled}</value>
+        </property>
+        <property name="maxDocIdCacheSize">
+            <value>${lucene.indexer.maxDocIdCacheSize}</value>
+        </property>
+        <property name="maxDocumentCacheSize">
+            <value>${lucene.indexer.maxDocumentCacheSize}</value>
+        </property>
+        <property name="maxIsCategoryCacheSize">
+            <value>${lucene.indexer.maxIsCategoryCacheSize}</value>
+        </property>
+        <property name="maxLinkAspectCacheSize">
+            <value>${lucene.indexer.maxLinkAspectCacheSize}</value>
+        </property>
+        <property name="maxParentCacheSize">
+            <value>${lucene.indexer.maxParentCacheSize}</value>
+        </property>
+        <property name="maxPathCacheSize">
+            <value>${lucene.indexer.maxPathCacheSize}</value>
+        </property>
+        <property name="maxTypeCacheSize">
+            <value>${lucene.indexer.maxTypeCacheSize}</value>
+        </property>
+        <!-- merge indexers -->
+        <property name="mergerMaxMergeDocs">
+            <value>${lucene.indexer.mergerMaxMergeDocs}</value>
+        </property>
+        <property name="mergerMergeFactor">
+            <value>${lucene.indexer.mergerMergeFactor}</value>
+        </property>
+        <property name="mergerMinMergeDocs">
+            <value>${lucene.indexer.mergerMinMergeDocs}</value>
+        </property>
+        <!-- delta indexers -->
+        <property name="writerMaxMergeDocs">
+            <value>${lucene.indexer.writerMaxMergeDocs}</value>
+        </property>
+        <property name="writerMergeFactor">
+            <value>${lucene.indexer.writerMergeFactor}</value>
+        </property>
+        <property name="writerMinMergeDocs">
+            <value>${lucene.indexer.writerMinMergeDocs}</value>
+        </property>
+        <!-- target -->
+        <property name="mergerTargetIndexCount">
+            <value>${lucene.indexer.mergerTargetIndexCount}</value>
+        </property>
+        <property name="mergerTargetOverlayCount">
+            <value>${lucene.indexer.mergerTargetOverlayCount}</value>
+        </property>
+        <property name="maxDocsForInMemoryMerge">
+            <value>${lucene.indexer.maxDocsForInMemoryMerge}</value>
+        </property>
+        <!-- other -->    
+        <property name="termIndexInterval">
+            <value>${lucene.indexer.termIndexInterval}</value>
+        </property>
+        <property name="useNioMemoryMapping">
+            <value>${lucene.indexer.useNioMemoryMapping}</value>
+        </property>
+        <property name="postSortDateTime">
+            <value>${lucene.indexer.postSortDateTime}</value>
+        </property>
+        <property name="defaultMLIndexAnalysisMode">
+            <value>${lucene.indexer.defaultMLIndexAnalysisMode}</value>
+        </property>
+        <property name="defaultMLSearchAnalysisMode">
+            <value>${lucene.indexer.defaultMLSearchAnalysisMode}</value>
         </property>
         <property name="indexerMaxFieldLength">
             <value>${lucene.indexer.maxFieldLength}</value>
@@ -633,11 +684,29 @@
         <property name="lockPollInterval">
             <value>${lucene.lock.poll.interval}</value>
         </property>
-         <property name="defaultMLIndexAnalysisMode">
-            <value>EXACT_LANGUAGE_AND_ALL</value>
+    </bean>
+    
+    <!-- Indexer and searchers for lucene -->
+    <bean id="admLuceneIndexerAndSearcherFactory"
+        parent="abstractLuceneIndexerAndSearcherFactory"
+        class="org.alfresco.repo.search.impl.lucene.ADMLuceneIndexerAndSearcherFactory">
+        <property name="nodeService">
+            <ref bean="mlAwareNodeService" />
         </property>
-        <property name="defaultMLSearchAnalysisMode">
-            <value>EXACT_LANGUAGE_AND_ALL</value>
+        <property name="tenantService">
+            <ref bean="tenantService"/>
+        </property>
+        <property name="dictionaryService">
+            <ref bean="dictionaryService" />
+        </property>
+        <property name="nameSpaceService">
+            <ref bean="namespaceService" />
+        </property>
+        <property name="contentService">
+            <ref bean="contentService" />
+        </property>
+        <property name="queryRegister">
+            <ref bean="queryRegisterComponent" />
         </property>
         <property name="threadPoolExecutor">
             <ref bean="indexThreadPoolExecutor"></ref>
@@ -645,10 +714,6 @@
         <property name="bulkLoader">
             <ref bean="hibernateL1CacheBulkLoader"></ref>
         </property>
-        <!-- over-ride to false for pre 3.0 behaviour -->
-        <property name="postSortDateTime">
-            <value>true</value>
-        </property>
     </bean>
     
     <bean id="adm.luceneQueryEngineImpl" class="org.alfresco.repo.search.impl.querymodel.impl.lucene.LuceneQueryEngine" >
@@ -671,6 +736,7 @@
 	
      <!-- Indexer and searchers for lucene -->
     <bean id="admLuceneUnIndexedIndexerAndSearcherFactory"
+        parent="abstractLuceneIndexerAndSearcherFactory"
         class="org.alfresco.repo.search.impl.lucene.ADMLuceneUnIndexedIndexAndSearcherFactory">
         <property name="nodeService">
             <ref bean="mlAwareNodeService" />
@@ -684,45 +750,12 @@
         <property name="nameSpaceService">
             <ref bean="namespaceService" />
         </property>
-        <property name="indexRootLocation">
-            <value>${dir.indexes}</value>
-        </property>
         <property name="contentService">
             <ref bean="contentService" />
         </property>
         <property name="queryRegister">
             <ref bean="queryRegisterComponent" />
         </property>
-        <property name="maxAtomicTransformationTime">
-            <value>${lucene.maxAtomicTransformationTime}</value>  <!-- milliseconds allowed for inline text transformation -->
-        </property>
-        <property name="queryMaxClauses">
-            <value>${lucene.query.maxClauses}</value>
-        </property>
-        <property name="indexerBatchSize">
-            <value>${lucene.indexer.batchSize}</value>
-        </property>
-        <property name="lockDirectory">
-            <value>${dir.indexes.lock}</value>
-        </property>
-        <property name="indexerMaxFieldLength">
-            <value>${lucene.indexer.maxFieldLength}</value>
-        </property>
-        <property name="writeLockTimeout">
-            <value>${lucene.write.lock.timeout}</value>
-        </property>
-        <property name="commitLockTimeout">
-            <value>${lucene.commit.lock.timeout}</value>
-        </property>
-        <property name="lockPollInterval">
-            <value>${lucene.lock.poll.interval}</value>
-        </property>
-         <property name="defaultMLIndexAnalysisMode">
-            <value>EXACT_LANGUAGE_AND_ALL</value>
-        </property>
-        <property name="defaultMLSearchAnalysisMode">
-            <value>EXACT_LANGUAGE_AND_ALL</value>
-        </property>
         <property name="threadPoolExecutor">
             <ref bean="indexThreadPoolExecutor"></ref>
         </property>
@@ -730,6 +763,7 @@
 
     <!-- Indexer and searchers for lucene -->
     <bean id="avmLuceneIndexerAndSearcherFactory"
+        parent="abstractLuceneIndexerAndSearcherFactory"
         class="org.alfresco.repo.search.impl.lucene.AVMLuceneIndexerAndSearcherFactory">
         <property name="nodeService">
             <ref bean="mlAwareNodeService" />
@@ -743,9 +777,6 @@
         <property name="nameSpaceService">
             <ref bean="namespaceService" />
         </property>
-        <property name="indexRootLocation">
-            <value>${dir.indexes}</value>
-        </property>
         <property name="contentService">
             <ref bean="contentService" />
         </property>
@@ -761,43 +792,9 @@
         <property name="queryRegister">
             <ref bean="queryRegisterComponent" />
         </property>
-        <property name="maxAtomicTransformationTime">
-            <value>${lucene.maxAtomicTransformationTime}</value>  <!-- milliseconds allowed for inline text transformation -->
-        </property>
-        <property name="queryMaxClauses">
-            <value>${lucene.query.maxClauses}</value>
-        </property>
-        <property name="indexerBatchSize">
-            <value>${lucene.indexer.batchSize}</value>
-        </property>
-        <property name="lockDirectory">
-            <value>${dir.indexes.lock}</value>
-        </property>
-        <property name="indexerMaxFieldLength">
-            <value>${lucene.indexer.maxFieldLength}</value>
-        </property>
-        <property name="writeLockTimeout">
-            <value>${lucene.write.lock.timeout}</value>
-        </property>
-        <property name="commitLockTimeout">
-            <value>${lucene.commit.lock.timeout}</value>
-        </property>
-        <property name="lockPollInterval">
-            <value>${lucene.lock.poll.interval}</value>
-        </property>
-         <property name="defaultMLIndexAnalysisMode">
-            <value>EXACT_LANGUAGE_AND_ALL</value>
-        </property>
-        <property name="defaultMLSearchAnalysisMode">
-            <value>EXACT_LANGUAGE_AND_ALL</value>
-        </property>
         <property name="threadPoolExecutor">
             <ref bean="indexThreadPoolExecutor"></ref>
         </property>
-        <!-- over-ride to false for pre 3.0 behaviour -->
-        <property name="postSortDateTime">
-            <value>true</value>
-        </property>
     </bean>
 
 	<bean id="avm.luceneQueryEngineImpl" class="org.alfresco.repo.search.impl.querymodel.impl.lucene.LuceneQueryEngine" >
diff --git a/config/alfresco/messages/patch-service.properties b/config/alfresco/messages/patch-service.properties
index a478b89547..ca512a6f2d 100644
--- a/config/alfresco/messages/patch-service.properties
+++ b/config/alfresco/messages/patch-service.properties
@@ -275,6 +275,8 @@ patch.authorityMigration.result=Migrated {0} groups and {1} group associations t
 
 patch.authorityDefaultZonesPatch.description=Adds groups and people to the appropriate zones for wcm, share and everything else.
 patch.authorityDefaultZonesPatch.result=Unzoned groups and people added to the default zones.
+patch.authorityDefaultZonesPatch.users=  Adding users to zones ...
+patch.authorityDefaultZonesPatch.groups=  Adding groups to zones ...
 
 patch.fixNameCrcValues.description=Fixes name CRC32 values to match UTF-8 encoding.
 patch.fixNameCrcValues.result=Fixed {0} name CRC32 values for UTF-8 encoding.  See file {1} for details.
diff --git a/config/alfresco/model/contentModel.xml b/config/alfresco/model/contentModel.xml
index 670d0ce538..de9a2c17b0 100644
--- a/config/alfresco/model/contentModel.xml
+++ b/config/alfresco/model/contentModel.xml
@@ -80,7 +80,9 @@
             <property name="cm:content">
                <type>d:content</type>
                <mandatory>false</mandatory>
-               <!--- Index content in the background -->
+               <!-- Although content is marked as indexed atomically it may end up asynchronous -->
+               <!-- if the content conversion will take too long. Content that does not require conversion -->
+               <!-- to UTF8 test/plain will always be indexed atomically -->
                <index enabled="true">
                   <atomic>true</atomic>
                   <stored>false</stored>
diff --git a/config/alfresco/repository.properties b/config/alfresco/repository.properties
index d1c130fb4a..910d8fa4cf 100644
--- a/config/alfresco/repository.properties
+++ b/config/alfresco/repository.properties
@@ -157,22 +157,52 @@ lucene.query.maxClauses=10000
 #
 lucene.indexer.batchSize=1000000
 #
-# Lucene index min merge docs - the in memory size of the index 
+# Index cache sizes
 #
-lucene.indexer.minMergeDocs=1000
+lucene.indexer.cacheEnabled=true
+lucene.indexer.maxDocIdCacheSize=10000
+lucene.indexer.maxDocumentCacheSize=100
+lucene.indexer.maxIsCategoryCacheSize=-1
+lucene.indexer.maxLinkAspectCacheSize=10000
+lucene.indexer.maxParentCacheSize=10000
+lucene.indexer.maxPathCacheSize=10000
+lucene.indexer.maxTypeCacheSize=10000
 #
-# When lucene index files are merged together - it will try to keep this number of segments/files in  
+# Properties for merge (not this does not affect the final index segment which will be optimised) 
+# Max merge docs only applies to the merge process not the resulting index which will be optimised.
 #
-lucene.indexer.mergeFactor=10
+lucene.indexer.mergerMaxMergeDocs=1000000
+lucene.indexer.mergerMergeFactor=5
+lucene.indexer.mergerMinMergeDocs=1000
 #
-# Roughly the maximum number of nodes indexed in one file/segment 
+# Properties for delta indexes (not this does not affect the final index segment which will be optimised) 
+# Max merge docs only applies to the index building process not the resulting index which will be optimised.
 #
-lucene.indexer.maxMergeDocs=100000
+lucene.indexer.writerMaxMergeDocs=1000000
+lucene.indexer.writerMergeFactor=5
+lucene.indexer.writerMinMergeDocs=1000
+#
+# Target number of indexes and deltas in the overall index and what index size to merge in memory
+#
+lucene.indexer.mergerTargetIndexCount=5
+lucene.indexer.mergerTargetOverlayCount=5
+lucene.indexer.maxDocsForInMemoryMerge=10000
+#
+# Other lucene properties
+#
+lucene.indexer.termIndexInterval=128
+lucene.indexer.useNioMemoryMapping=true
+# over-ride to false for pre 3.0 behaviour
+lucene.indexer.postSortDateTime=true
+lucene.indexer.defaultMLIndexAnalysisMode=EXACT_LANGUAGE_AND_ALL
+lucene.indexer.defaultMLSearchAnalysisMode=EXACT_LANGUAGE_AND_ALL
 #
 # The number of terms from a document that will be indexed
 #
 lucene.indexer.maxFieldLength=10000
-
+#
+# Index locks (mostly deprecated and will be tidied up with the next lucene upgrade)
+#
 lucene.write.lock.timeout=10000
 lucene.commit.lock.timeout=100000
 lucene.lock.poll.interval=100
diff --git a/source/java/org/alfresco/repo/admin/patch/impl/AuthorityDefaultZonesPatch.java b/source/java/org/alfresco/repo/admin/patch/impl/AuthorityDefaultZonesPatch.java
index 303adf6f2a..2ff9fb427b 100644
--- a/source/java/org/alfresco/repo/admin/patch/impl/AuthorityDefaultZonesPatch.java
+++ b/source/java/org/alfresco/repo/admin/patch/impl/AuthorityDefaultZonesPatch.java
@@ -29,7 +29,9 @@ import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Set;
 
+import org.alfresco.i18n.I18NUtil;
 import org.alfresco.repo.admin.patch.AbstractPatch;
+import org.alfresco.repo.admin.patch.PatchExecuter;
 import org.alfresco.repo.domain.hibernate.HibernateSessionHelper;
 import org.alfresco.service.cmr.avm.AVMService;
 import org.alfresco.service.cmr.avm.AVMStoreDescriptor;
@@ -37,6 +39,8 @@ import org.alfresco.service.cmr.security.AuthorityService;
 import org.alfresco.service.cmr.security.AuthorityType;
 import org.alfresco.service.cmr.site.SiteInfo;
 import org.alfresco.service.cmr.site.SiteService;
+import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
+import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
 
 /**
  * Patch to assign users and groups to default zones
@@ -47,6 +51,9 @@ public class AuthorityDefaultZonesPatch extends AbstractPatch
 {
     /** Success message. */
     private static final String MSG_SUCCESS = "patch.authorityDefaultZonesPatch.result";
+    private static final String MSG_UPDATE_USERS = "patch.authorityDefaultZonesPatch.users";
+    private static final String MSG_UPDATE_GROUPS = "patch.authorityDefaultZonesPatch.groups";
+    private static Log progress_logger = LogFactory.getLog(PatchExecuter.class);
 
     /** The authority service. */
     private AuthorityService authorityService;
@@ -97,14 +104,21 @@ public class AuthorityDefaultZonesPatch extends AbstractPatch
     @Override
     protected String applyInternal() throws Exception
     {
-        setZonesForPeople();
-        setZonesForGroups();
+        int count = 0;
+        int total = authorityService.getAllAuthorities(AuthorityType.USER).size() + authorityService.getAllAuthorities(AuthorityType.GROUP).size();
+        reportProgress(total, count);
+        String msg = I18NUtil.getMessage(MSG_UPDATE_USERS);
+        progress_logger.info(msg);
+        count = setZonesForPeople(total, count);
+        msg = I18NUtil.getMessage(MSG_UPDATE_GROUPS);
+        progress_logger.info(msg);
+        setZonesForGroups(total, count);
 
         return MSG_SUCCESS;
 
     }
 
-    private void setZonesForPeople()
+    private int setZonesForPeople(int total, int start)
     {
         Set<String> defaultZones = new HashSet<String>(2, 1.0f);
         defaultZones.add(AuthorityService.ZONE_APP_DEFAULT);
@@ -113,11 +127,11 @@ public class AuthorityDefaultZonesPatch extends AbstractPatch
         List<Action> personActions = new ArrayList<Action>(1);
         personActions.add(new Action(null, defaultZones, ActionType.SET));
 
-        setZones(AuthorityType.USER, personActions);
+        return setZones(AuthorityType.USER, personActions, total, start);
 
     }
 
-    private void setZonesForGroups()
+    private int setZonesForGroups(int total, int start)
     {
         Set<String> defaultZones = new HashSet<String>(2, 1.0f);
         defaultZones.add(AuthorityService.ZONE_APP_DEFAULT);
@@ -152,13 +166,13 @@ public class AuthorityDefaultZonesPatch extends AbstractPatch
         }
         groupActions.add(new Action(null, defaultZones, ActionType.SET));
 
-        setZones(AuthorityType.GROUP, groupActions);
+        return setZones(AuthorityType.GROUP, groupActions, total, start);
 
     }
 
-    private void setZones(AuthorityType authorityType, List<Action> actions)
+    private int setZones(AuthorityType authorityType, List<Action> actions, int total, int start)
     {
-
+        int count = start;
         hibernateSessionHelper.mark();
         Set<String> authorities = authorityService.getAllAuthorities(authorityType);
         hibernateSessionHelper.reset();
@@ -181,7 +195,10 @@ public class AuthorityDefaultZonesPatch extends AbstractPatch
                 }
             }
             hibernateSessionHelper.reset();
+            count++;
+            reportProgress(total, count);
         }
+        return count;
     }