Can I have People Search without using My Sites?

Question

I have a request to create a custom employee directory. I plan to use search display templates linking to a custom profile page.

I'm making the following assumptions:

• I have to setup My Sites (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh582311(v=office.15).aspx#BKMK_SetUp) but I don't have to use them (we have a business reason for not using them at the moment).
• I will then index and query the User Profile Services
• I will create my own display templates
• I will use the display templates to generate a URL pointing to the custom display page

Question:
Given what they say about assumptions, are there any holes in this logic?

Answer 1

You need to setup a MySites host in order to take advantage of profiles. You do not need to have mysites enabled for people search to work.

If you're worried about MySites being enabled you can keep self site creation turned off and turn off the social features.

So as you already have the MySite host configured, you people search will work. I dont see any issue with this approach if you disabled the mysite properly so that no body can create it.

follow the steps here:

http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/UploadFile/Roji.Joy/how-to-configure-people-search-in-sharepoint-2013/