Search & Solr

Sitecore Solr Integration

Mohd Naeem
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Photo: Danial Iglesias / Unsplash · Royalty-free

Sitecore Solr Integration What are we trying to achieve? : Sitecore Solr Integration What versions are being used for integration? : Sitecore 8.2, Solr 5.1 Is there any compatibility matrix for Sitecore Solr Integration? : Yes, Sitecore Solr Compatibility matrix is here. How do we achieve this? : Please follow the documentation below. Sitecore  Solr  Integration Steps: 1-        Solr Installation 2-        Solr Configuration, Creating cores  and building the Indices  3-        Misc. Configurations   A-       Solr Installation : –             Solr versions before 5.0  were not stand alone servers, so to install them                   as a service we needed software like Jetty as service helper to manage                     the Solr as service –             With 5.0 version and ahead now Solr itself runs as a standalone service. –             So if you decide how you want to manage Solr – o    as a service  – you will need another software NSSM to act as service helper o    standalone – you can execute Solrservice.exe from the installation folder –             In this documentation we will try to use Solr as a service. –             Below will be the list of requirements o    NSSM – Solr service helper

  • Download NSSM and copy to d:solrnssm.
  • We only need nssm.exe for our purpose.
  • We will create a few PowerShell/Batch files for NSSM to install, start, stop, restart or uninstall Solr.
  • To install Solr
    • Install.ps1
  • To start Solr
    • Start.ps1
  • To stop Solr
    • Stop.bat
  • To restart Solr
    • Retart.ps1
  • To Un-Install Solr
    • UnInstall.bat
  • Please see the snapshot below the files under folder d:solrnssm :
nssm
  • What is in Install.ps1 –

cd “D:solrnssm” nssm install “Solr5.1.0”  “D:solrSolr5.1solr_start.bat” Note: NSSM is installing Solr as service name “Solr5.1.0” by executing the batch file solr_start.bat.  

  • What is in solr_start.bat –

cd “D:solrsolr-5.1.0server” java -Xms64M -Xmx256M -Djetty.port=8999  -Djava.util.logging.config.file=etc/logging.properties -jar D:solrsolr-5.1.0serverstart.jar Note: start.jar is executed using specified port and memory arguments.  

  • What is in Restart.bat –

net stop Solr5.1.0 net start Solr5.1.0 Note: First stop the Solr by name “Solr5.1.0”, then start it.  

  • What is in Start.ps1 –

net start Solr5.1.0 Note: First start the Solr by name “Solr5.1.0”  

  • What is in Stop.bat –

net stop Solr5.1.0 Note: First stop the Solr by name “Solr5.1.0”  

  • What is in UnInstall.bat –

nssm remove Solr5.1.0 confirm Note: Removes “Solr5.1.0” service   B-        Solr Configuration : –             Use Install.ps1 and Start.ps1 scripts to install and start the Solr service. –             You can see the following screen when Solr runs successfully.   –             Now let’s configure Solr config files o    Go to folder – “serversolrconfigsetsbasic_configsconf “ to config the file below:

  • Schema.xml
  • You can generate the Schema file using the Sitecore.
  • See screenshot below:

  • Also configure the<field> and <dynamicfield> tags under <fields> tag , <fieldType> elements in a <types> tag  and any <types>: <fieldType name=”pint”  to class=”solr.TrieIntField“/>

   

  • Finally save the file

  o    Go to folder – “serversolr “ to config the files below:

  • Solr.xml
  • This file is used for configuring the main Solor config settings

   

  • SolrCores.xml
  • This file is used for configuring the cores
  • The following coresneeds to be configured:

o    sitecore_web_index o    sitecore_master_index o    sitecore_core_index o    sitecore_analytics_index o    social_messages_web o    social_messages_master o    sitecore_marketing_asset_index_master o    sitecore_marketing_asset_index_web o    sitecore_testing_index o    sitecore_suggested_test_index o    sitecore_fxm_master_index o    sitecore_fxm_web_index o    sitecore_list_index

  • See snapshot below:

    o    To add new core :

  • Use the add button on Solor Admin panel:

  • Or Alternative use the CREATE method exposed by the service:
  • The call will be something like this:

$port=8787 $instanceRoot=”D:SolrSolr5.1” $name=”Sitecore_master_rebuild_index” http://localhost:$port/solr/admin/cores?action=CREATE&name=$name&instanceDir=$instanceRootserversolrconfigsetsbasic_configs&schema=schema.xml&config=solrconfig.xml&dataDir=$instanceRootserversolrcores$namedata   o    To Rebuild the indexes :

  • Use Sitecore Indexing manager to index .

  • Rebuild indexes will look like this:

  C-        Misc. Configurations :

  1. Configure Sitecore to Use Solr instead of Lucene.
  2. Install Solr Support package
  3. Install Solr support package from Sitecore

o   Unzip the Sole support package and get all the binaries from it and copy to the Sitecore bin folder, The following binaries will be copied:

  • Castle Windsor
  • Unity
  • Ninject
  • Autofac

 

  1. Enable Solr Configs
  • Remove the .example suffix from any configs having ‘Solr’ word in file name from the path websiteApp_ConfigInclude

                                                              iii.        Disable Lucene Configs

  • Add .disabled suffix to any configs having ‘Lucene’ word in file name from the path websiteApp_ConfigInclude

    After having done this configuration, you should be good to go.