Overview

The SearchStax Managed Search service can be used to add custom indexes on a Sitecore website.

This page presumes that you have already installed Sitecore and connected it to a Managed Search deployment according to the directions for Sitecore 9.1, Sitecore 9.2, Sitecore 9.3, or Sitecore 10.

Therefore, you already have a Sitecore site that is connected to a compatible Managed Search deployment. You have access to the Solr Dashboard, and you have prepared Solr configuration files for your custom collections, including a custom Managed Schema file.

Contents:

1. Install the Zookeeper Script
2. Upload the Sitecore Configuration Files.
3. Create Sitecore Collections.

Install the Zookeeper Script

Apache ZooKeeper is a centralized service for maintaining configuration information. In a Managed Search deployment, Zookeeper acts as a centralized repository for your Solr configuration files.

SearchStax users do not have direct access to the Zookeeper configsets as they would in a local Solr installation. Instead, they interact with Zookeeper through a modified version of Solr’s standard zkcli script. SearchStax provides both Linux and Windows versions of the script.

You can download the zkcli ZIP file here: searchstax-client-master.zip.

Unzip the file. The top-level directory is \searchstax-client-master. Navigate to the solr-5, solr-6, solr-7, or solr-8 scripts subdirectory (such as \searchstax-client-master\solr-8\scripts). Locate zkcli.bat in that directory. This is the Windows version of the script.

Upload the Sitecore Configuration Files

We assume that you have a directory of configuration files prepared for your custom Sitecore collection. If not, you can download a Sitecore configset from your Solr Cloud deployment and then upload it again under a new name. The configset name should match the name of your custom index.

See How can I update my Solr configurations in Zookeeper? for instructions on using zkcli to download/upload configsets.

Follow these steps to upload the Solr configuration for your new collection:

1. Download any of the existing Sitecore configsets.
2. Upload the configset to Zookeeper under a new name that matches your custom index.

Create Sitecore Collections

When you have uploaded the Solr configuration to Zookeeper, you can create Sitecore collections by following these steps:

1. Navigate to the Collections page in the Solr Dashboard.
2. Click Add Collection.
3. In the config set field, click the Sitecore configuration.
4. Specify the following fields as shown:
5. Repeat for each of the custom collections you wish to add.

The post Sitecore Custom Indexes appeared first on SearchStax Docs.

SearchStax offers many pages of Solr/Sitecore-related information, most of which were written in response to frequently-asked questions about connecting SearchStax Managed Search service deployments to Sitecore websites.

This page presently the full list of pages for rapid review.

SearchStax Sitecore Topics

The following topics are found in the SearchStax Help Center.

Can SearchStax provide Solr indexing to Sitecore?

SearchStax has hundreds of Sitecore clients. See the Sitecore/Solr Compatibility page for more information.

Optimizing the xConnect Search Service

Sitecore offers a page of advice about optimizing search and indexing of your xDB index. https://support.sitecore.com/kb?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0671173

Lowering &rows=1000000

By default, Sitecore sends queries to Solr with the &rows parameter set to 1000000. This setting places enormous stress on Solr, sometimes maximizing CPU and JVM usage, because Solr allocates… Continue reading Lowering &rows=1000000

Unpublish/Delete Fails to Remove Item from Index

If you are using Sitecore 10.0 or an older version, you might face a problem when trying to unpublish an item from the web database or even delete an item… Continue reading Unpublish/Delete Fails to Remove Item from Index

SearchStax Cloud Sitecore Topics

Topics associated with the SearchStax Managed Search Connector for Sitecore.

Sitecore/Solr Compatibility

What Sitecore/Solr combination are available for Managed Search? Some Solr releases are compatible with some Sitecore releases. Other combinations may not work at all, or may seem to work until… Continue reading Sitecore/Solr Compatibility

Sitecore 9.1

SearchStax Managed Search can be used to enable Apache Solr on a Sitecore 9.1 website.… Continue reading Sitecore 9.1

Sitecore 9.2

SearchStax Managed Search can be used to enable Apache Solr on a Sitecore website. This… Continue reading Sitecore 9.2

Sitecore 9.3

SearchStax Managed Search can be used to enable Apache Solr on a Sitecore 9.3 website.… Continue reading Sitecore 9.3

Sitecore 10.0

SearchStax Managed Search can be used to enable Apache Solr on a Sitecore 10.0 website.… Continue reading Sitecore 10.0

Sitecore 10.1

SearchStax Managed Search can be used to enable Apache Solr on a Sitecore 10.1 website.… Continue reading

Sitecore 10.2

SearchStax Managed Search can be used to enable Apache Solr on a Sitecore 10.2 website.… Continue reading Sitecore 10.2

Sitecore 10.3

SearchStax Managed Search can be used to enable Apache Solr on a Sitecore 10.3 website.… Continue reading Sitecore 10.3

Sitecore 10.4

SearchStax Managed Search can be used to enable Apache Solr on a Sitecore 10.4 website.… Continue reading Sitecore 10.4

Sitecore Custom Indexes

How to Add Custom Indexes to Sitecore using SearchStax Managed Search… Continue reading Sitecore Custom Indexes

Sitecore SwitchOnRebuild

Enable Sitecore’s SwitchOnRebuild with SearchStax Managed Search… Continue reading

Sitecore Topics from the SearchStax Blog

Plus, there are these selected blog posts from the full index of SearchStax Blog.

6 Reasons to Consider SearchStax Solr-as-a-Service

July 20, 2020
SearchStax Solr-as-a-Service has been selected by more than 200 customers over the last 4 years and here are the top 6 reasons why.

Sitecore Relies on SearchStax Managed Solr | SearchStax Blog

August 15, 2021
In our latest Case Study, see how Sitecore implements SearchStax Managed Solr to get a more stable, secure and robust Solr environment for their website.

Sitecore Best Practices for Solr Indexing | SearchStax Blog

Following our Sitecore best practices for Solr indexing will result in better performance and optimize resources consumption on Sitecore.

Migrating Azure Search to Solr Service for Sitecore – SearchStax

November 22, 2020
Migrating Azure Search to Solr Service for Sitecore is a fairly easy and straightforward process with SearchStax.

Sitecore SwitchOnRebuild and SearchStax SoIrCloud | The Search Experience Blog

April 27, 2020
Setting up the Sitecore SwitchOnRebuild feature with SolrCloud should be as simple as following the path to Grandma’s house – watch out for these red flags.

Sitecore Solr Stop Words Made Easy | The Search Experience Blog

April 2,2019
In Sitecore, it’s easy to use Solr stop words to remove specific words from queries to parse through the content and find the exact search phrase.

Questions?

Do not hesitate to contact the SearchStax Support Desk.

The post Solr for Sitecore FAQ appeared first on SearchStax Docs.

The SearchStax Managed Search service lets developers set up and deploy Solr infrastructure for Sitecore in minutes. Some Solr releases are compatible with some Sitecore releases. Other combinations may not work at all, or may seem to work until you encounter the incompatible feature at a later time.

SearchStax recommends certain specific combinations of Sitecore and Solr. We are prepared to support our Premium Clients who go down that path. The SearchStax Managed Search Connector for Sitecore helps you set up these systems.

We do not claim to be general Sitecore experts, and therefore cannot support Sitecore/Solr combinations that we have not tested and endorsed:

Our selection of supported combinations is derived from Sitecore’s published compatibility table.

• Note that even this table can be misleading because Sitecore did not support Solr Cloud deployments until Sitecore 9.0 update 2. SearchStax Managed Search deployments all require the Solr Cloud feature set, meaning that earlier versions of Sitecore are not compatible with Managed Search even though they can be used with some local Solr installations.
• Solr 8.x reached end-of-life on October 25, 2024. However, Sitecore advises customers to continue using compatible Solr versions.

Questions?

Do not hesitate to contact the SearchStax Support Desk.

The post Sitecore/Solr Compatibility appeared first on SearchStax Docs.

Overview

The SearchStax Managed Search service can be used to enable Apache Solr on a Sitecore 9.1 website.

This page demonstrates how easy it is to connect Sitecore to a Managed Search cluster. SearchStax has created a PowerShell 7 script that automates the steps of preparing Solr for Sitecore integration. This script is available to SearchStax clients free of charge from our Github site.

Contents:

1. Install Sitecore 9.1 without Solr
2. Create a New Deployment in Managed Search.
3. Run the Managed Search Connector for Sitecore.
4. Populate Schema from the Control Panel in Sitecore.
5. Problems?

Deprecated: Integrate Apache Solr with Sitecore 9.1 without the Managed Search Connector for Sitecore.

Install Sitecore 9.1 without Solr

This section describes how to install Sitecore 9.1 locally without Solr. We’ll connect it to a Managed Search deployment in a subsequent step.

1. Visit the Sitecore Experience Platform 9.1 Initial Release page. Under Download Options for On Premises Deployment, download Packages for XP Single.

Farther down the same web page, under Release Information, download the Installation Guide and the Quick Installation Guide.

2. With the exception of Solr, install all the prerequisite sub-components as mentioned in the installation guide.

3. Make the following changes in the configuration files.

A. XP0-SingleDeveloper.ps1: Change the $Prefix to “sitecore”.

Comment out the Solr root and service details:

B. XP0-SingleDeveloper.json: Comment out or remove the XConnectSolr and SitecoreSolr “includes:”

C. sitecore-XP0.json: Comment out or remove the UpdateSolrSchema task:

D. xconnect-xp0.json: Comment out or remove the ConfigureSolrSchemas task.

4. Once all the above changes have been made, go ahead with the Sitecore installation by running the PowerShell script .\XP0-SingleDeveloper.ps1 as recommended in the Sitecore installation guide.

Create a New Deployment in Managed Search

Assuming you have already created a SearchStax account and do not already have a deployment set up, click on the Dedicated Infrastructure tab and then click on the Create Deployment button at the top. Enter a deployment name, and select the most appropriate provider, region, plan, and Solr version for your needs.

Cloud Provider

A self-managed Sitecore project may use any of our cloud providers for the Solr deployment.

Single Node or Cluster

Sitecore will work with a single-node deployment (the “NDN” series of Managed Search deployments) for purposes of testing and evaluation. However, a production system requires a Managed Search cluster (the “NDC” series) to provide high-availability and failover features.

Sitecore/Solr Compatibility

Sitecore 9.1 is known to be compatible with Solr 7.2.1. Other combinations may or may not work. See Sitecore’s Solr Compatibility Table for further information.

Sitecore 9.1 is under sustaining support through 2026. Solr 7.2.1 is no longer supported by Apache.

Once you create your deployment, you will see it in the Solr Deployments dashboard.

Clicking on the name of the deployment gives you pertinent information about your deployment’s servers. The Solr HTTP Endpoint takes you to your Solr server dashboard.

Run the Managed Search Connector for Sitecore

This script is used to connect a Sitecore XP0 installation to a Managed Search instance.

The script automates the following parts of the procedure:

• Upload the Solr config files to Solr
• Create the Sitecore collections in Solr
• Configure Sitecore files

Download the Connector

The first step is to visit the SearchStax Github site and download the latest Managed Search Connector for Sitecore zip file.

Unzip the file to a convenient location. This creates the searchstax-cloud-connector-for-sitecore-x.y directory.

Install PowerShell 7 and Yaml Module

PowerShell 7 has special capabilities that are required by the Managed Search Connector for Sitecore.

We assume you are on a Windows 10 computer. Open your native PowerShell, and install PowerShell 7 using the following command:

Windows PowerShell:

> iex "& { $(irm https://aka.ms/install-powershell.ps1) } -UseMSI"

Exit Powershell and start Powershell 7 as the Administrator. Now install the powershell-yaml module:

Exit native Powershell and start Powershell 7 as the Administrator. Now install the powershell-yaml module:

Windows PowerShell 7:

> Install-Module powershell-yaml

> Install-Module powershell-yaml

Edit Connector Configuration

Edit the config.yml file in the searchstax-cloud-connector-for-sitecore-x.y directory. Enter the following configuration parameters:

settings:
  accountName: "SearchStaxAccount"
  deploymentUid: "ss123456"
  sitecorePrefix: "sitecore"
  pathToWWWRoot: "C:\\inetpub\\wwwroot"
  solrUsername: ""
  solrPassword: ""
  sitecoreVersion : "9.1.1" #Supported versions - 9.0.2 and 9.1.1
  isUniqueConfigs : "true"
  configurationMode : "XP"

settings:
  accountName: "SearchStaxAccount"
  deploymentUid: "ss123456"
  sitecorePrefix: "sitecore"
  pathToWWWRoot: "C:\\inetpub\\wwwroot"
  solrUsername: ""
  solrPassword: ""
  sitecoreVersion : "9.1.1" #Supported versions - 9.0.2 and 9.1.1
  isUniqueConfigs : "true"
  configurationMode : "XP"

Parameter	Description	Example
accountName	Name of the SearchStax account, upper right corner of the screen.	ABCInternational
deploymentUid	UID of the SearchStax deployment. Look in the deployment URL.	ss123456
sitecorePrefix	Prefix of the sitecore installation. We advise using the “sitecore” default. Do not use a period (.) in this value, as it causes issues with performance monitoring.	sitecore
pathToWWWRoot	Path to wwwroot folder in inetpub, i.e. your %IIS_SITE_HOME% variable	C:\inetpub\wwwroot
solrUsername	Solr Basic Auth username	(Optional)
solrPassword	Solr Basic Auth password	(Optional)
sitecoreVersion	Version of Sitecore (9.0.2 or 9.1.1)	9.1.1
isUniqueConfigs	Switch between one config for all collections, and a unique config for each. (See below.)	“true”
configurationMode	“XP” means to set up Sitecore only. “XCONNECT” means to set up an xDB index. “XP|XCONNECT” means both. For “XCONNECT” with Solr versions 6.6.0 to 8.6.2, you’ll need to have SearchStax Support enable configset.​upload.​enabled before running the connector.	“XP”

When isUniqueConfigs is false, the script creates only one set of config files, and use that set for all of the Sitecore collections. The name of the config set is sitecore_<sitecorePrefix>. Example: sitecore_sitecore930.

When isUniqueConfigs is true (the default), the script creates a set of config files corresponding to each separate Sitecore collection. This lets Sitecore properly populate the schemas of the various collections. These configsets are named <sitecorePrefix>_<collectionName>. Example: sitecore930_core_index.

Run the Managed Search Connector for Sitecore

From Powershell 7, run as Administrator, navigate to the searchstax-cloud-connector-for-sitecore-x.y directory.

Change the execution policy to skip checking.

Windows Powershell 7:

Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope Process -ExecutionPolicy Bypass

Run the sitecore-searchstax-connector.ps1 script.

Windows Powershell 7:

> .\sitecore-searchstax-connector.ps1

The script will prompt you for your SearchStax user name and password. The script may take a few minutes to run, during which it will notify you of its actions.

Populate Schema from the Control Panel in Sitecore

Follow these steps to populate the Solr schema:

1. Log in to the Sitecore Content Management environment.
2. Open the Sitecore Control Panel.
3. In the Indexing tab, click Populate Solr Managed Schema.
4. Select all indexes and click Populate. (If you have difficulty populating the schema, see Why does Sitecore fail to populate schemas?)
5. On the same page, go to the Indexing Manager, select all, and click Rebuild.

Problems?

See Sitecore Connection Errors for a list of the most-common issues that arise when connecting Sitecore to your SolrCloud deployment.

Questions?

Do not hesitate to contact the SearchStax Support Desk.

The post Sitecore 9.1 appeared first on SearchStax Docs.

Overview

The SearchStax Managed Search service can be used to enable Apache Solr on a Sitecore website.

This page demonstrates how easy it is to connect Sitecore to a Managed Search cluster. SearchStax has created a PowerShell 7 script that automates the steps of preparing Solr for Sitecore integration. This script is available to SearchStax clients free of charge from our Github site.

Contents:

1. Install Sitecore 9.2 without Solr
2. Create a New Deployment in Managed Search.
3. Run the Managed Search Connector for Sitecore.
4. Populate Schema from the Control Panel in Sitecore.
5. Problems?

Install Sitecore 9.2 without Solr

This section describes how to install Sitecore 9.2 locally without Solr. We’ll connect it to a Managed Search deployment in a subsequent step.

1. Visit the Sitecore Experience Platform 9.2 Initial Release page. Under Download Options for On Premises Deployment, download Packages for XP Single.

Farther down the same web page, under Release Information, download the Quick Installation Guide for a Developer Workstation.

2. With the exception of Solr, install all the prerequisite sub-components as mentioned in the installation guide.
3. Make the following changes in the configuration files.
   • XP0-SingleDeveloper.ps1: Change the $Prefix to “sitecore”.

     Comment out the Solr root and service details:

     
   • XP0-SingleDeveloper.json: Comment out or remove the XConnectSolr and SitecoreSolr “includes:”
   • sitecore-XP0.json: Comment out or remove the UpdateSolrSchema task:
   • xconnect-xp0.json: Comment out or remove the ConfigureSolrSchemas task.

4. Once all the above changes have been made, go ahead with the Sitecore installation by running the PowerShell script .\XP0-SingleDeveloper.ps1 as recommended in the Sitecore installation guide.

Create a New Deployment in Managed Search

Assuming you have already created a SearchStax account and do not already have a deployment set up, click on the Dedicated Infrastructure tab and then click on the Create Deployment button at the top. Enter a deployment name, and select the most appropriate provider, region, plan, and Solr version for your needs.

Cloud Provider

A self-managed Sitecore project may use any of our cloud providers for the Solr deployment.

Single Node or Cluster

Sitecore will work with a single-node deployment (the “NDN” series of Managed Search deployments) for purposes of testing and evaluation. However, a production system requires a Managed Search cluster (the “NDC” series) to provide high-availability and failover features.

Sitecore/Solr Compatibility

Sitecore 9.2 is known to be compatible with Solr 7.5.0. Other combinations may or may not work. See Sitecore’s Solr Compatibility Table for further information.

Sitecore 9.2 is under sustaining support through 2027. Solr 7.5.0 has reached end-of-life and is no longer supported by Apache.

Once you create your deployment, you will see it in the Solr Deployments dashboard.

Clicking on the name of the deployment gives you pertinent information about your deployment’s servers. The Solr HTTP Endpoint takes you to your Solr server dashboard.

Run the Managed Search Connector for Sitecore

This script is used to connect a Sitecore XP0 installation to a SearchStax Solr instance.

The script automates the following parts of the procedure:

• Upload the Solr config files to Solr
• Create the Sitecore collections in Solr
• Configure Sitecore files

Download the Connector

The first step is to visit the SearchStax Github site and download the latest Managed Search Connector for Sitecore zip file.

Unzip the file to a convenient location. This creates the searchstax-cloud-connector-for-sitecore-x.y directory.

Install PowerShell 7 and Yaml Module

PowerShell 7 has special capabilities that are required by the Managed Search Connector for Sitecore.

We assume you are on a Windows 10 computer. Open your native PowerShell, and install PowerShell 7 using the following command:

Windows PowerShell:

> iex "& { $(irm https://aka.ms/install-powershell.ps1) } -UseMSI"

Exit native Powershell and start Powershell 7 as the Administrator. Now install the powershell-yaml module:

Windows PowerShell 7:

> Install-Module powershell-yaml

Edit Connector Configuration

Edit the config.yml file in the searchstax-cloud-connector-for-sitecore-x.y directory. The entries take the form shown below. The connector will ignore any values that it doesn’t need as determined by the configurationMode value. Note the required indentation, which is two spaces under the “settings” header.

settings:
  accountName: "SearchStaxAccount"
  deploymentUid: "ss123456"
  sitecorePrefix: "sitecore"
  pathToWWWRoot: "C:\\inetpub\\wwwroot"
  solrUsername: ""
  solrPassword: ""
  sitecoreVersion : "9.2.0" 
  isUniqueConfigs : "true"
  configurationMode : "XP"

Name	Description	Example
accountName required string	Name of the SearchStax account, upper right corner of the screen.	“ABCInternational”
deploymentUid required string	UID of the SearchStax deployment. Look in the deployment URL.	“ss123456”
sitecorePrefix required for Sitecore, XConnectstring	Prefix of the sitecore installation. We advise using the “sitecore” default. Do not use a period (.) in this value, as it causes issues with performance monitoring.	“sitecore”
pathToWWWRoot optional string	Path to wwwroot folder in inetpub, i.e. your %IIS_SITE_HOME% variable	“C:\inetpub\wwwroot”
solrUsername optional string	Solr Basic Auth username	“username”
solrPassword optional string	Solr Basic Auth password	“password”
sitecoreVersion required string	Version of Sitecore	“9.3.0”
isUniqueConfigs required for Sitecore string	Switch between one config for all collections (“true”), and a unique config for each (“false”). (See below.)	“true”
configurationMode required string	“XP” means to set up Sitecore only. “XCONNECT” means to set up an xDB index. “XP|XCONNECT” means both at once. For “XCONNECT” with Solr versions 6.6.0 to 8.6.2, you’ll need to have SearchStax Support enable configset.​upload.​enabled before running the connector.	“XP”

When isUniqueConfigs is false, the script creates only one set of config files, and use that set for all of the Sitecore collections. The name of the config set is sitecore_<sitecorePrefix>. Example: sitecore_sitecore930.

When isUniqueConfigs is true (the default), the script creates a set of config files corresponding to each separate Sitecore collection. This lets Sitecore properly populate the schemas of the various collections. These configsets are named <sitecorePrefix>_<collectionName>. Example: sitecore930_core_index.

Run the Managed Search Connector for Sitecore

From Powershell 7, run as Administrator, navigate to the searchstax-cloud-connector-for-sitecore-x.y directory.

Change the execution policy to skip checking.

Windows Powershell 7:

Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope Process -ExecutionPolicy Bypass

Run the sitecore-searchstax-connector.ps1 script.

Windows Powershell 7:

> .\sitecore-searchstax-connector.ps1

The script will prompt you for your SearchStax user name and password. The script may take a few minutes to run, during which it will notify you of its actions.

Populate Schema from the Control Panel in Sitecore

Follow these steps to populate the Solr schema:

1. Log in to the Sitecore Content Management environment.
2. Open the Sitecore Control Panel.
3. In the Indexing tab, click Populate Solr Managed Schema.
4. Select all indexes and click Populate. (If you have difficulty populating the schema, see Why does Sitecore fail to populate schemas?)
5. On the same page, go to the Indexing Manager, select all, and click Rebuild.

Problems?

See Sitecore Connection Errors for a list of the most-common issues that arise when connecting Sitecore to your SolrCloud deployment.

Questions?

Do not hesitate to contact the SearchStax Support Desk.

The post Sitecore 9.2 appeared first on SearchStax Docs.

Overview

Managed Search can be used to enable Apache Solr on a Sitecore 9.3 website.

This page demonstrates how easy it is to connect Sitecore to a Managed Search cluster. SearchStax has created a PowerShell 7 script that automates the steps of preparing Solr for Sitecore integration. This script is available to SearchStax clients free of charge from our Github site.

Contents:

1. Install Sitecore 9.3 without Solr
2. Create a New Deployment in Managed Search.
3. Run the Managed Search Connector for Sitecore.
4. Populate Schema from the Control Panel in Sitecore.
5. Problems?

Install Sitecore 9.3 without Solr

This section describes how to install Sitecore 9.3 locally without Solr. We’ll connect it to a Managed Search deployment in a subsequent step.

1. Visit the Sitecore Experience Platform 9.3 Initial Release page. Under Download Options for On Premises Deployment, download Packages for XP Single.

   Farther down the same web page, under Release Information, download the Quick Installation Guide for a Developer Workstation.

   
2. With the exception of Solr, install all the prerequisite sub-components as mentioned in the installation guide.
3. Make the following changes in the configuration files.
   • XP0-SingleDeveloper.ps1: Change the $Prefix to “sitecore”.

     Comment out the Solr root and service details:

   • XP0-SingleDeveloper.json: Comment out or remove the XConnectSolr and SitecoreSolr “includes:”

     
   • sitecore-XP0.json: Comment out or remove the UpdateSolrSchema task:
   • xconnect-xp0.json: Comment out or remove the ConfigureSolrSchemas task.
4. Once all the above changes have been made, go ahead with the Sitecore installation by running the PowerShell script .\XP0-SingleDeveloper.ps1 as recommended in the Sitecore installation guide.

Create a New Deployment in Managed Search

Assuming you have already created a SearchStax account and do not already have a deployment set up, click on the Dedicated Infrastructure tab and then click on the Create Deployment button at the top. Enter a deployment name, and select the most appropriate provider, region, plan, and Solr version for your needs.

Cloud Provider

A self-managed Sitecore project may use any of our cloud providers for the Solr deployment.

Single Node or Cluster

Sitecore will work with a single-node deployment (the “NDN” series of Managed Search deployments) for purposes of testing and evaluation. However, a production system requires a Managed Search cluster (the “NDC” series) to provide high-availability and failover features.

Sitecore/Solr Compatibility

Sitecore 9.3 is known to be compatible with Solr 8.1.1. Other combinations may or may not work. See Sitecore’s Solr Compatibility Table for further information.

Sitecore 9.3 is under sustaining support through 2027. Solr 8.1.1 has reached end-of-life and is no longer supported by Apache.

Once you create your deployment, you will see it in the Solr Deployments dashboard.

Clicking on the name of the deployment gives you pertinent information about your deployment’s servers. The Solr HTTP Endpoint takes you to your Solr server dashboard.

Run the Managed Search Connector for Sitecore

This script is used to connect a Sitecore XP0 installation to a Managed Search instance.

The script automates the following parts of the procedure:

• Upload the Solr config files to Solr
• Create the Sitecore collections in Solr
• Configure Sitecore files

Download the Connector

The first step is to visit the SearchStax Github site and download the latest Managed Search Connector for Sitecore zip file.

Unzip the file to a convenient location. This creates the searchstax-cloud-connector-for-sitecore-x.y directory.

Install PowerShell 7 and Yaml Module

PowerShell 7 has special capabilities that are required by the Managed Search Connector for Sitecore.

We assume you are on a Windows 10 computer. Open your native PowerShell, and install PowerShell 7 using the following command:

Windows PowerShell:

> iex "& { $(irm https://aka.ms/install-powershell.ps1) } -UseMSI"

Exit Powershell and start Powershell 7 as the Administrator. Now install the powershell-yaml module:

Windows PowerShell 7:

> Install-Module powershell-yaml

Edit Connector Configuration

Edit the config.yml file in the searchstax-cloud-connector-for-sitecore-x.y directory. The entries take the form shown below. The connector will ignore any values that it doesn’t need as determined by the configurationMode value. Note the required indentation, which is two spaces under the “settings” header.

settings:
  accountName: "SearchStaxAccount"
  deploymentUid: "ss123456"
  sitecorePrefix: "sitecore"
  pathToWWWRoot: "C:\\inetpub\\wwwroot"
  solrUsername: ""
  solrPassword: ""
  sitecoreVersion : "9.3.0" 
  isUniqueConfigs : "true"
  configurationMode : "XP"

Name	Description	Example
accountName required string	Name of the SearchStax account, upper right corner of the screen.	“ABCInternational”
deploymentUid required string	UID of the SearchStax deployment. Look in the deployment URL.	“ss123456”
sitecorePrefix required for Sitecore XConnectstring	Prefix of the sitecore installation. We advise using the “sitecore” default. Do not use a period (.) in this value, as it causes issues with performance monitoring.	“sitecore”
pathToWWWRoot optional string	Path to wwwroot folder in inetpub, i.e. your %IIS_SITE_HOME% variable	“C:\inetpub\wwwroot”
solrUsername optional string	Solr Basic Auth username	“username”
solrPassword optional string	Solr Basic Auth password	“password”
sitecoreVersion required string	Version of Sitecore	“9.3.0”
isUniqueConfigs required for Sitecore string	Switch between one config for all collections (“true”), and a unique config for each (“false”). (See below.)	“true”
configurationMode required string	“XP” means to set up Sitecore only. “XCONNECT” means to set up an xDB index. “XP|XCONNECT” means both at once. For “XCONNECT” with Solr versions 6.6.0 to 8.6.2, you’ll need to have SearchStax Support enable configset.​upload.​enabled before running the connector.	“XP”

When isUniqueConfigs is false, the script creates only one set of config files, and use that set for all of the Sitecore collections. The name of the config set is sitecore_<sitecorePrefix>. Example: sitecore_sitecore930.

When isUniqueConfigs is true (the default), the script creates a set of config files corresponding to each separate Sitecore collection. This lets Sitecore properly populate the schemas of the various collections. These configsets are named <sitecorePrefix>_<collectionName>. Example: sitecore930_core_index.

Run the Managed Search Connector for Sitecore

From Powershell 7, run as Administrator, navigate to the searchstax-cloud-connector-for-sitecore-x.y directory.

Change the execution policy to skip checking.

Windows Powershell 7:

Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope Process -ExecutionPolicy Bypass

Run the sitecore-searchstax-connector.ps1 script.

Windows Powershell 7:

> .\sitecore-searchstax-connector.ps1

The script will prompt you for your SearchStax user name and password. The script may take a few minutes to run, during which it will notify you of its actions.

Populate Schema from the Control Panel in Sitecore

Follow these steps to populate the Solr schema:

1. Log in to the Sitecore Content Management environment.
2. Open the Sitecore Control Panel.
3. In the Indexing tab, click Populate Solr Managed Schema.
4. Select all indexes and click Populate. (If you have difficulty populating the schema, see Why does Sitecore fail to populate schemas?)
5. On the same page, go to the Indexing Manager, select all, and click Rebuild.

Problems?

See Sitecore Connection Errors for a list of the most-common issues that arise when connecting Sitecore to your SolrCloud deployment.

Questions?

Do not hesitate to contact the SearchStax Support Desk.

The post Sitecore 9.3 appeared first on SearchStax Docs.

Overview

The SearchStax Managed Search service can be used to enable Apache Solr on a Sitecore 10.0 website.

This page demonstrates how easy it is to connect Sitecore 10.0 to a Managed Search cluster. SearchStax has created a PowerShell 7 script that automates the steps of preparing Solr for Sitecore integration. This script is available to SearchStax clients free of charge from our Github site.

Contents:

1. Install Sitecore 10.0 without Solr
2. Create a New Deployment in Managed Search.
3. Run the Managed Search Connector for Sitecore.
4. Populate Schema from the Control Panel in Sitecore.
5. Problems?

Install Sitecore 10.0 without Solr

This section describes how to install Sitecore 10.0 locally without Solr. We’ll connect it to a Managed Search deployment in a subsequent step.

1. Visit the Sitecore Experience Platform 10.0 Initial Release page. Under Download Options for On Premises Deployment, download Packages for XP Single.

   Farther down the same web page, under Release Information, download the Quick Installation Guide for a Developer Workstation.

   
2. With the exception of Solr, install all the prerequisite sub-components as mentioned in the installation guide.
3. Make the following changes in the configuration files.
   • XP0-SingleDeveloper.ps1: Change the $Prefix to “Sitecore10”.

     Comment out or delete the Solr root and service details:

     
   • XP0-SingleDeveloper.json: Comment out or remove the XConnectSolr and SitecoreSolr “includes:”
   • xconnect-xp0.json: Comment out or remove the ConfigureSolrSchemas task.
4. Once all the above changes have been made, go ahead with the Sitecore installation by running the PowerShell script .\XP0-SingleDeveloper.ps1 as recommended in the Sitecore installation guide.

Create a New Deployment in Managed Search

Assuming you have already created a SearchStax account and do not already have a deployment set up, click on the Dedicated Infrastructure tab and then click on the Create Deployment button at the top. Enter a deployment name, and select the most appropriate provider, region, plan, and Solr version for your needs.

Cloud Provider

A self-managed Sitecore project may use any of our cloud providers for the Solr deployment.

Single Node or Cluster

Sitecore will work with a single-node deployment (the “NDN” series of Managed Search deployments) for purposes of testing and evaluation. However, a production system requires a Managed Search cluster (the “NDC” series) to provide high-availability and failover features.

Sitecore/Solr Compatibility

Sitecore 10.0 is known to be compatible with Solr 8.4.0. Other combinations may or may not work. See Sitecore’s Solr Compatibility Table for further information.

Sitecore 10.0 is under extended support through 2026; sustaining support continues through 2028. Apache Solr 8.4.0 has reached end-of-life and is no longer supported by Apache.

Once you create your deployment, you will see it in the Solr Deployments dashboard.

Clicking on the name of the deployment gives you pertinent information about your deployment’s servers. The Solr HTTP Endpoint takes you to your Solr server dashboard.

Run the Managed Search Connector for Sitecore

This script is used to connect a Sitecore XP0 installation to a SearchStax Solr instance.

The script automates the following parts of the procedure:

• Upload the Solr config files to Solr
• Create the Sitecore collections in Solr
• Configure Sitecore files

Download the Managed Search Connector for Sitecore

The first step is to visit the SearchStax Github site and download the latest SearchStax Managed Search Connector for Sitecore zip file.

Unzip the file to a convenient location. This creates the searchstax-cloud-connector-for-sitecore-x.y directory.

Install PowerShell 7 and Yaml Module

PowerShell 7 has special capabilities that are required by the Managed Search Connector for Sitecore.

We assume you are on a Windows 10 computer. Open your native PowerShell, and install PowerShell 7 using the following command:

Windows PowerShell:

> iex "& { $(irm https://aka.ms/install-powershell.ps1) } -UseMSI"

Exit native Powershell and start Powershell 7 as the Administrator. Now install the powershell-yaml module:

Windows PowerShell 7:

> Install-Module powershell-yaml

Edit Connector Configuration

Edit the config.yml file in the searchstax-cloud-connector-for-sitecore-x.y directory. The entries take the form shown below. The connector will ignore any values that it doesn’t need as determined by the configurationMode value. Note the required indentation, which is two spaces under the “settings” header.

settings:
  accountName: "SearchStaxAccount"
  deploymentUid: "ss123456"
  sitecorePrefix: "sitecore"
  pathToWWWRoot: "C:\\inetpub\\wwwroot"
  solrUsername: ""
  solrPassword: ""
  isAzurePaaS: "false"
  sitecoreVersion : "10.0.0" 
  isUniqueConfigs : "true"
  configurationMode : "XP"

Name	Description	Example
accountName required string	Name of the SearchStax account, upper right corner of the screen.	“ABCInternational”
deploymentUid required string	UID of the SearchStax deployment. Look in the deployment URL.	“ss123456”
sitecorePrefix required for Sitecore XConnectstring	Prefix of the sitecore installation. We advise using the “sitecore” default. Do not use a period (.) in this value, as it causes issues with performance monitoring.	“sitecore”
pathToWWWRoot optional string	Path to wwwroot folder in inetpub, i.e. your %IIS_SITE_HOME% variable	“C:\inetpub\wwwroot”
solrUsername optional string	Solr Basic Auth username	“username”
solrPassword optional string	Solr Basic Auth password	“password”
sitecoreVersion required string	Version of Sitecore	“10.0.0”
isUniqueConfigs required for Sitecore string	Switch between one config for all collections (“true”), and a unique config for each (“false”). (See below.)	“true”
isAzurePaaS required string	Set to “true” if you are configuring Sitecore installed in an Azure App service. This configures Solr only and skips configuring Sitecore files. Otherwise, set it to “false”.	“false”
configurationMode required string	“XP” means to set up Sitecore only. “XCONNECT” means to set up an xDB index. “XP|XCONNECT” means both at once. For “XCONNECT” with Solr versions 6.6.0 to 8.6.2, you’ll need to have SearchStax Support enable configset.​upload.​enabled before running the connector.	“XP”

When isUniqueConfigs is false, the script creates only one set of config files, and use that set for all of the Sitecore collections. The name of the config set is sitecore_<sitecorePrefix>. Example: sitecore_sitecore100.

When isUniqueConfigs is true (the default), the script creates a set of config files corresponding to each separate Sitecore collection. This lets Sitecore properly populate the schemas of the various collections. These configsets are named <sitecorePrefix>_<collectionName>. Example: sitecore100_core_index.

Run the Managed Search Connector for Sitecore

searchstax-cloud-connector-for-sitecore-x.y directory.

Change the execution policy to skip checking.

Windows Powershell 7:

Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope Process -ExecutionPolicy Bypass

Run the sitecore-searchstax-connector.ps1 script.

Windows Powershell 7:

> .\sitecore-searchstax-connector.ps1

The script will prompt you for your SearchStax user name and password. The script may take a few minutes to run, during which it will notify you of its actions.

Populate Schema from the Control Panel in Sitecore

Follow these steps to populate the Solr schema:

1. Log in to the Sitecore Content Management environment.
2. Open the Sitecore Control Panel.
3. In the Indexing tab, click Populate Solr Managed Schema.
4. Select all indexes and click Populate. (If you have difficulty populating the schema, see Why does Sitecore fail to populate schemas?)
5. On the same page, go to the Indexing Manager, select all, and click Rebuild.

Problems?

See Sitecore Connection Errors for a list of the most-common issues that arise when connecting Sitecore to your SolrCloud deployment.

Questions?

Do not hesitate to contact the SearchStax Support Desk.

The post Sitecore 10.0 appeared first on SearchStax Docs.

Overview

The SearchStax Managed Search service can be used to enable Apache Solr on a Sitecore 10.1 website.

This page demonstrates how easy it is to connect Sitecore to a Managed Search cluster. SearchStax has created a PowerShell 7 script that automates the steps of preparing Solr for Sitecore integration. This script is available to SearchStax clients free of charge from our Github site.

Contents:

1. Install Sitecore 10.1 without Solr
2. Create a New Deployment in Managed Search.
3. Run the Managed Search Connector for Sitecore.
4. Populate Schema from the Control Panel in Sitecore.
5. Problems?

Install Sitecore 10.1 without Solr

This section describes how to install Sitecore 10.1 locally without Solr. We’ll connect it to a Managed Search deployment in a subsequent step.

1. Visit the Sitecore Experience Platform 10.0 Initial Release page. Under Download Options for On Premises Deployment, download Packages for XP Single.

   Farther down the same web page, under Release Information, download the Quick Installation Guide for a Developer Workstation.

   
2. With the exception of Solr, install all the prerequisite sub-components as mentioned in the installation guide.
3. Make the following changes in the configuration files.
   • XP0-SingleDeveloper.ps1: Change the $Prefix to “Sitecore10”.

     Comment out or delete the Solr root and service details:

     
   • XP0-SingleDeveloper.json: Comment out or remove the XConnectSolr and SitecoreSolr “includes:”
   • xconnect-xp0.json: Comment out or remove the ConfigureSolrSchemas task.
4. Once all the above changes have been made, go ahead with the Sitecore installation by running the PowerShell script .\XP0-SingleDeveloper.ps1 as recommended in the Sitecore installation guide.

Create a New Deployment in Managed Search

Assuming you have already created a SearchStax account and do not already have a deployment set up, click on the Dedicated Infrastructure tab and then click on the Create Deployment button at the top. Enter a deployment name, and select the most appropriate provider, region, plan, and Solr version for your needs.

Cloud Provider

A self-managed Sitecore project may use any of our cloud providers for the Solr deployment.

Single Node or Cluster

Sitecore will work with a single-node deployment (the “NDN” series of Managed Search deployments) for purposes of testing and evaluation. However, a production system requires a Managed Search cluster (the “NDC” series) to provide high-availability and failover features.

Sitecore/Solr Compatibility

Sitecore 10.1 is known to be compatible with Solr 8.4.0. Other combinations may or may not work. See Sitecore’s Solr Compatibility Table for further information.

Sitecore 10.1 is in extended support through 2026, and sustaining support through 2028. Solr 8.4.0 is no longer supported by the Apache project.

Once you create your deployment, you will see it in the Solr Deployments dashboard.

Clicking on the name of the deployment gives you pertinent information about your deployment’s servers. The Solr HTTP Endpoint takes you to your Solr server dashboard.

Run the Managed Search Connector for Sitecore

This script is used to connect a Sitecore XP0 installation to a SearchStax Solr instance.

The script automates the following parts of the procedure:

• Upload the Solr config files to Solr
• Create the Sitecore collections in Solr
• Configure Sitecore files

Download the Managed Search Connector for Sitecore

The first step is to visit the SearchStax Github site and download the latest Managed Search Connector for Sitecore zip file.

Unzip the file to a convenient location. This creates the searchstax-cloud-connector-for-sitecore-x.y directory.

Install PowerShell 7 and Yaml Module

PowerShell 7 has special capabilities that are required by the Managed Search Connector for Sitecore.

We assume you are on a Windows 10 computer. Open PowerShell, and install PowerShell 7 using the following command:

Windows PowerShell:

> iex "& { $(irm https://aka.ms/install-powershell.ps1) } -UseMSI"

Exit native Powershell and start Powershell 7 as the Administrator. Now install the powershell-yaml module:

Windows PowerShell 7:

> Install-Module powershell-yaml

Edit Connector Configuration

Edit the config.yml file in the searchstax-cloud-connector-for-sitecore-x.y directory. The entries take the form shown below. The connector will ignore any values that it doesn’t need as determined by the configurationMode value. Note the required indentation, which is two spaces under the “settings” header. Parameters under switchOnRebuild and customIndexes must be four spaces.

settings:
  accountName: "Example"
  deploymentUid: "ss123456"
  sitecorePrefix: "sitecore"
  solrUsername: ""
  solrPassword: ""
  sitecoreVersion : "10.2.0"
  isUniqueConfigs: "true"  
  configurationMode: "XP"
  isSxa: "false"
  switchOnRebuild:
    enableForPlatformIndexes: "false"
    enableForMarketingIndexes: "false"
    enableForSXA: "false"
    sufix: "_rebuild"
    mainAlias: "_MainAlias"
    rebuildAlias: "_RebuildAlias"
    sitecorePrefix:  "sitecore"
  customIndexes:
    # - core: "sitecoreindex-123"
    #   isSwitchOnRebuild: "false"
    # - core: "sitecoreindex-456"
    #   isSwitchOnRebuild: "false"
  

Name	Description	Example
accountName required string	Name of the SearchStax account, upper right corner of the screen.	“ABCInternational”
deploymentUid required string	UID of the SearchStax deployment. Look in the deployment URL.	“ss123456”
sitecorePrefix required for Sitecore XConnectstring	Prefix of the sitecore installation. We advise using the “sitecore” default. Do not use a period (.) in this value, as it causes issues with performance monitoring.	“sitecore”
pathToWWWRoot optional string	Path to wwwroot folder in inetpub, i.e. your %IIS_SITE_HOME% variable. If isAzurePaaS is “true”, then pathToWWWRoot is not required.	“C:\inetpub\wwwroot”
solrUsername optional string	Solr Basic Auth username	“username”
solrPassword optional string	Solr Basic Auth password	“password”
sitecoreVersion required string	Version of Sitecore. Supported versions – 9.0.2, 9.1.1, 9.2.0, 9.3.0, 10.0.0, 10.1.0, 10.1.1, 10.2.0, 10.3.0	“10.1.0”
isUniqueConfigs required for Sitecore string	Switch between one config for all collections (“true”), and a unique config for each (“false”). When isUniqueConfigs is false, the script creates only one set of config files, and use that set for all of the Sitecore collections. The name of the config set is sitecore_<sitecorePrefix>. Example: sitecore_sitecore100. When isUniqueConfigs is true (the default), the script creates a set of config files corresponding to each separate Sitecore collection. This lets Sitecore properly populate the schemas of the various collections. These configsets are named <sitecorePrefix>_<collectionName>. Example: sitecore100_core_index.	“true”
isAzurePaaS required string	Set to “true” if you are configuring Sitecore installed in an Azure App service. This configures Solr only and skips configuring Sitecore files. Otherwise, set it to “false”.	“false”
configurationMode required string	“XP” means to set up Sitecore only. “XCONNECT” means to set up an xDB index. “XP|XCONNECT” means both at once. For “XCONNECT” with Solr versions 6.6.0 to 8.6.2, you’ll need to have SearchStax Support enable configset.​upload.​enabled before running the connector.	“XP”
isSxa required string	“True” will add two additional collections to Solr for SXA support.	“true” or “false”
switchOnRebuild	Header introducing extended configuration for switch on rebuild.	Has no values.
enableForPlatformIndexes required string	When “true”, will add additional collections and aliases for Sitecore Platform Indexes (core, master, web, etc.).	“true” or “false”
enableForMarketingIndexes required string	When “true”, will add additional collections and aliases for Sitecore Platform Marketing Indexes (content testing, fxm, etc). Generally, this will always be false unless a specific use case calls for this configuration.	“true” or “false”
enableForSXA required string	When “true”, will add additional collections and aliases for Sitecore SXA Indexes.	“true” or “false”
sufix required string	The suffix of the rebuild collection name. Default: “_rebuild”. Do not use a period (.) in this value, as it causes issues with performance monitoring.	“_rebuild”
mainAlias required string	The suffix of the Main Alias name. Default: “_MainAlias”	“_MainAlias”
rebuildAlias required string	The suffix of the Rebuild Alias name. Default: “_RebuildAlias”	“_RebuildAlias”
sitecorePrefix required string	The prefix of the Rebuild collections and Aliases. Default: “sitecore”. Do not use a period (.) in this value, as it causes issues with performance monitoring.	“sitecore”
customIndexes	Header introducing an array of optional custom indexes.	Each subsequent row begins with “-“. There are two parameters per row.
core required for custom index string	Collection name of the custom index. Do not use a period (.) in this value, as it causes issues with performance monitoring.	“sitecoreindex-456”
isSwitchOnRebuild required for custom index string	When “true” will create additional rebuild collection and aliases.	“true” or “false”

Run the Managed Search Connector for Sitecore

From Powershell 7, run as Administrator, navigate to the searchstax-cloud-connector-for-sitecore-x.y directory.

Change the execution policy to skip checking.

Windows Powershell 7:

Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope Process -ExecutionPolicy Bypass

Run the sitecore-searchstax-connector.ps1 script.

Windows Powershell 7:

> .\sitecore-searchstax-connector.ps1

The script will prompt you for your SearchStax user name and password. The script may take a few minutes to run, during which it will notify you of its actions.

Populate Schema from the Control Panel in Sitecore

Follow these steps to populate the Solr schema:

1. Log in to the Sitecore Content Management environment.
2. Open the Sitecore Control Panel.
3. In the Indexing tab, click Populate Solr Managed Schema.
4. Select all indexes and click Populate. (If you have difficulty populating the schema, see Why does Sitecore fail to populate schemas?)
5. On the same page, go to the Indexing Manager, select all, and click Rebuild.

Problems?

See Sitecore Connection Errors for a list of the most-common issues that arise when connecting Sitecore to your SolrCloud deployment.

Questions?

Do not hesitate to contact the SearchStax Support Desk.

The post Sitecore 10.1 appeared first on SearchStax Docs.

Overview

The SearchStax Managed Search service can be used to enable Apache Solr on a Sitecore 10.2 website.

This page demonstrates how easy it is to connect Sitecore to a Managed Search cluster. SearchStax has created a PowerShell 7 script that automates the steps of preparing Solr for Sitecore integration. This script is available to SearchStax clients free of charge from our Github site.

Contents:

1. Install Sitecore 10.2 without Solr
2. Create a New Deployment in Managed Search.
3. Run the Managed Search Connector for Sitecore.
4. Populate Schema from the Control Panel in Sitecore.
5. Problems?

Install Sitecore 10.2 without Solr

This section describes how to install Sitecore 10.2 locally without Solr. We’ll connect it to a Managed Search deployment in a subsequent step.

1. Visit the Sitecore Experience Platform 10.2 Initial Release page. Under Download Options for On Premises Deployment, download Packages for XP Single.

   Farther down the same web page, under Release Information, download the Quick Installation Guide for a Developer Workstation.

   
2. With the exception of Solr, install all the prerequisite sub-components as mentioned in the installation guide.
3. Make the following changes in the configuration files.
   • XP0-SingleDeveloper.ps1: Change the $Prefix to “Sitecore10”.

     Comment out or delete the Solr root and service details:

     
   • XP0-SingleDeveloper.json: Comment out or remove the XConnectSolr and SitecoreSolr “includes:”
   • xconnect-xp0.json: Comment out or remove the ConfigureSolrSchemas task.
4. Once all the above changes have been made, go ahead with the Sitecore installation by running the PowerShell script .XP0-SingleDeveloper.ps1 as recommended in the Sitecore installation guide.

Now that you have completed your Sitecore 10.2 installation, it’s time to create your Managed Search deployment.

Create a New Deployment in Managed Search

Assuming you have already created a SearchStax account and do not already have a deployment set up, click on the Dedicated Infrastructure tab and then click on the Create Deployment button at the top. Enter a deployment name, and select the most appropriate provider, region, plan, and Solr version (See the Sitecore/Solr Compatibility section below).

Cloud Provider

A self-managed Sitecore project may use any of our cloud providers for the Solr deployment.

Single Node or Cluster

Sitecore will work with a single-node deployment (the “NDN” series of Managed Search deployments) for purposes of testing and evaluation. However, a production system requires a Managed Search cluster (the “NDC” series) to provide high-availability and failover features.

Sitecore/Solr Compatibility

Sitecore 10.2 is known to be compatible with Solr 8.8.2. Other combinations may or may not work. See Sitecore’s Solr Compatibility Table for further information.

Sitecore 10.2 is in extended support through 2027 and in sustaining support through 2029. Solr 8.8.2 has reached end-of-life and no longer receives updates from Apache.

Once you create your deployment, you will see it in the Solr Deployments dashboard.

Clicking on the name of the deployment gives you pertinent information about your deployment’s servers. The Solr HTTP Endpoint takes you to your Solr server dashboard.

Run the Managed Search Connector for Sitecore

This script is used to connect a Sitecore XP0 installation to a SearchStax Solr instance.

The script automates the following parts of the procedure:

• Upload the Solr config files to Solr
• Create the Sitecore collections in Solr
• Configure Sitecore files

Download the Managed Search Connector for Sitecore

The first step is to visit the SearchStax Github site and download the latest Managed Search Connector for Sitecore zip file.

Unzip the file to a convenient location. This creates the searchstax-cloud-connector-for-sitecore-x.y directory.

Install PowerShell 7 and Yaml Module

PowerShell 7 has special capabilities that are required by the Managed Search Connector for Sitecore.

We assume you are on a Windows 10 computer. Open your native PowerShell, and install PowerShell 7 using the following command:

Windows PowerShell:

> iex "& { $(irm https://aka.ms/install-powershell.ps1) } -UseMSI"

Exit native Powershell and start Powershell 7 as the Administrator. Now install the powershell-yaml module:

Windows PowerShell 7:

> Install-Module powershell-yaml

Edit Connector Configuration

Edit the config.yml file in the searchstax-cloud-connector-for-sitecore-x.y directory. The entries take the form shown below. The connector will ignore any values that it doesn’t need as determined by the configurationMode value. Note the required indentation, which is two spaces under the “settings” header. Parameters under switchOnRebuild and customIndexes must be four spaces.

settings:
  accountName: "Example"
  deploymentUid: "ss123456"
  sitecorePrefix: "sitecore"
  solrUsername: ""
  solrPassword: ""
  sitecoreVersion : "10.2.0"
  isUniqueConfigs: "true"  
  configurationMode: "XP"
  isSxa: "false"
  switchOnRebuild:
    enableForPlatformIndexes: "false"
    enableForMarketingIndexes: "false"
    enableForSXA: "false"
    sufix: "_rebuild"
    mainAlias: "_MainAlias"
    rebuildAlias: "_RebuildAlias"
    sitecorePrefix:  "sitecore"
  customIndexes:
    # - core: "sitecoreindex-123"
    #   isSwitchOnRebuild: "false"
    # - core: "sitecoreindex-456"
    #   isSwitchOnRebuild: "false"
  

Name	Description	Example
accountName required string	Name of the SearchStax account, upper right corner of the screen.	“ABCInternational”
deploymentUid required string	UID of the SearchStax deployment. Look in the deployment URL.	“ss123456”
sitecorePrefix required for Sitecore XConnectstring	Prefix of the sitecore installation. We advise using the “sitecore” default. Do not use a period (.) in this value, as it causes issues with performance monitoring.	“sitecore”
pathToWWWRoot optional string	Path to wwwroot folder in inetpub, i.e. your %IIS_SITE_HOME% variable. If isAzurePaaS is “true”, then pathToWWWRoot is not required.	“C:\inetpub\wwwroot”
solrUsername optional string	Solr Basic Auth username	“username”
solrPassword optional string	Solr Basic Auth password	“password”
sitecoreVersion required string	Version of Sitecore. Supported versions – 9.0.2, 9.1.1, 9.2.0, 9.3.0, 10.0.0, 10.1.0, 10.1.1, 10.2.0, 10.3.0	“10.2.0”
isUniqueConfigs required for Sitecore string	Switch between one config for all collections (“true”), and a unique config for each (“false”). When isUniqueConfigs is false, the script creates only one set of config files, and use that set for all of the Sitecore collections. The name of the config set is sitecore_<sitecorePrefix>. Example: sitecore_sitecore100. When isUniqueConfigs is true (the default), the script creates a set of config files corresponding to each separate Sitecore collection. This lets Sitecore properly populate the schemas of the various collections. These configsets are named <sitecorePrefix>_<collectionName>. Example: sitecore100_core_index.	“true”
isAzurePaaS required string	Set to “true” if you are configuring Sitecore installed in an Azure App service. This configures Solr only and skips configuring Sitecore files. Otherwise, set it to “false”.	“false”
configurationMode required string	“XP” means to set up Sitecore only. “XCONNECT” means to set up an xDB index. “XP|XCONNECT” means both at once. For “XCONNECT” with Solr versions 6.6.0 to 8.6.2, you’ll need to have SearchStax Support enable configset.​upload.​enabled before running the connector.	“XP”
isSxa required string	“True” will add two additional collections to Solr for SXA support.	“true” or “false”
switchOnRebuild	Header introducing extended configuration for switch on rebuild.	Has no values.
enableForPlatformIndexes required string	When “true”, will add additional collections and aliases for Sitecore Platform Indexes (core, master, web, etc.).	“true” or “false”
enableForMarketingIndexes required string	When “true”, will add additional collections and aliases for Sitecore Platform Marketing Indexes (content testing, fxm, etc). Generally, this will always be false unless a specific use case calls for this configuration.	“true” or “false”
enableForSXA required string	When “true”, will add additional collections and aliases for Sitecore SXA Indexes.	“true” or “false”
sufix required string	The suffix of the rebuild collection name. Default: “_rebuild”. Do not use a period (.) in this value, as it causes issues with performance monitoring.	“_rebuild”
mainAlias required string	The suffix of the Main Alias name. Default: “_MainAlias”	“_MainAlias”
rebuildAlias required string	The suffix of the Rebuild Alias name. Default: “_RebuildAlias”	“_RebuildAlias”
sitecorePrefix required string	The prefix of the Rebuild collections and Aliases. Default: “sitecore”. Do not use a period (.) in this value, as it causes issues with performance monitoring.	“sitecore”
customIndexes	Header introducing an array of optional custom indexes.	Each subsequent row begins with “-“. There are two parameters per row.
core required for custom index string	Collection name of the custom index. Do not use a period (.) in this value, as it causes issues with performance monitoring.	“sitecoreindex-456”
isSwitchOnRebuild required for custom index string	When “true” will create additional rebuild collection and aliases.	“true” or “false”

Run the Managed Search Connector for Sitecore

From Powershell 7, run as Administrator, navigate to the searchstax-cloud-connector-for-sitecore-x.y directory.

Change the execution policy to skip checking.

Windows Powershell 7:

Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope Process -ExecutionPolicy Bypass

Run the sitecore-searchstax-connector.ps1 script.

Windows Powershell 7:

> .sitecore-searchstax-connector.ps1

The script will prompt you for your SearchStax user name and password. The script may take a few minutes to run, during which it will notify you of its actions.

Populate Schema from the Control Panel in Sitecore

Follow these steps to populate the Solr schema:

1. Log in to the Sitecore Content Management environment.
2. Open the Sitecore Control Panel.
3. In the Indexing tab, click Populate Solr Managed Schema.
4. Select all indexes and click Populate. (If you have difficulty populating the schema, see Why does Sitecore fail to populate schemas?)
5. On the same page, go to the Indexing Manager, select all, and click Rebuild.

Problems?

See Sitecore Connection Errors for a list of the most-common issues that arise when connecting Sitecore to your SolrCloud deployment.

Questions?

Do not hesitate to contact the SearchStax Support Desk.

The post Sitecore 10.2 appeared first on SearchStax Docs.

Overview

The SearchStax Managed Search service can be used to enable Apache Solr on a Sitecore 10.3 website.

This page demonstrates how to connect Sitecore to a Managed Search cluster. SearchStax has created a PowerShell 7 script that automates the steps of preparing Solr for Sitecore integration. This script is available to SearchStax clients free of charge from our Github site.

Contents:

1. Sitecore 10.3
2. Create a New Deployment in Managed Search.
3. Run the Managed Search Connector for Sitecore.
4. Set the Sitecore/Solr Connection String
5. Populate Schema from the Control Panel in Sitecore.
6. Problems?

Sitecore 10.3

This page assumes that you have already installed Sitecore per Sitecore’s documentation and that you have access to the Sitecore Content Management Server.

You’ll need access to the Sitecore Control Panel to be able to edit the Sitecore Configuration files and Connection Strings.

Installation guides for a number of architectures for all versions of Sitecore can be found here: https://doc.sitecore.com/xp/en/developers/installation-and-upgrade-guides/index.html

Create a New Deployment in Managed Search

Assuming you have already created a SearchStax account and do not already have a deployment set up, click on the Dedicated Infrastructure tab and then click on the Create Deployment button at the top. Enter a deployment name, and select the most appropriate provider, region, plan, and Solr version (See the Sitecore/Solr Compatibility section below).

Cloud Provider

A self-managed Sitecore project may use any of our cloud providers for the Solr deployment.

Single Node or Cluster

Sitecore will work with a single-node deployment (the “NDN” series of Managed Search deployments) for purposes of testing and evaluation. However, a production system requires a Managed Search cluster (the “NDC” series) to provide high-availability and failover features.

Sitecore/Solr Compatibility

Sitecore 10.3 is known to be compatible with Solr 8.11.2. Sitecore 10.3.3 and later require Solr 9.8.1. Other combinations may or may not work. See Sitecore’s Solr Compatibility Table for further information.

Sitecore 10.3 is under extended support through 2028, and through 2030 under sustaining support. Solr 8.11.2 has reached end-of-life and is no longer supported by Apache. Solr 9+ is actively supported by Apache as of early 2026.

Once you create your deployment, you will see it in the Solr Deployments dashboard.

Clicking on the name of the deployment gives you pertinent information about your deployment’s servers. The Solr HTTP Endpoint takes you to your Solr server dashboard.

Run the Managed Search Connector for Sitecore

This script is used to connect a Sitecore XP0 installation to a SearchStax Solr instance.

The script automates the following parts of the procedure:

• Upload the Solr config files to Solr
• Create the Sitecore collections in Solr
• Configure Sitecore files

Download the Connector

The first step is to visit the SearchStax Github site and download the latest Managed Search Connector for Sitecore zip file.

Unzip the file to a convenient location. This creates the searchstax-cloud-connector-for-sitecore-x.y directory.

Install PowerShell 7 and Yaml Module

PowerShell 7 has special capabilities that are required by the Managed Search Connector for Sitecore.

We assume you are on a Windows 10 computer. Open your native PowerShell, and install PowerShell 7 using the following command:

Windows PowerShell:

> iex "& { $(irm https://aka.ms/install-powershell.ps1) } -UseMSI"

Exit native Powershell and start Powershell 7 as the Administrator. Now install the powershell-yaml module:

Windows PowerShell 7:

> Install-Module powershell-yaml

Edit Connector Configuration

Edit the config.yml file in the searchstax-cloud-connector-for-sitecore-x.y directory. The entries take the form shown below. The connector will ignore any values that it doesn’t need as determined by the configurationMode value. Note the required indentation, which is two spaces under the “settings” header. Parameters under switchOnRebuild and customIndexes must be four spaces.

settings:
  accountName: "Example"
  deploymentUid: "ss123456"
  sitecorePrefix: "sitecore"
  solrUsername: ""
  solrPassword: ""
  sitecoreVersion : "10.3.0"
  isUniqueConfigs: "true"  
  configurationMode: "XP"
  isSxa: "false"
  switchOnRebuild:
    enableForPlatformIndexes: "false"
    enableForMarketingIndexes: "false"
    enableForSXA: "false"
    sufix: "_rebuild"
    mainAlias: "_MainAlias"
    rebuildAlias: "_RebuildAlias"
    sitecorePrefix:  "sitecore"
  customIndexes:
    # - core: "sitecoreindex-123"
    #   isSwitchOnRebuild: "false"
    # - core: "sitecoreindex-456"
    #   isSwitchOnRebuild: "false"
  

Name	Description	Example
accountName required string	Name of the SearchStax account, upper right corner of the screen.	“ABCInternational”
deploymentUid required string	UID of the SearchStax deployment. Look in the deployment URL.	“ss123456”
sitecorePrefix required for Sitecore XConnectstring	Prefix of the sitecore installation. We advise using the “sitecore” default. Do not use a period (.) in this value, as it causes issues with performance monitoring.	“sitecore”
pathToWWWRoot optional string	Path to wwwroot folder in inetpub, i.e. your %IIS_SITE_HOME% variable.	“C:\inetpub\wwwroot”
solrUsername optional string	Solr Basic Auth username	“username”
solrPassword optional string	Solr Basic Auth password	“password”
sitecoreVersion required string	Version of Sitecore. Supported versions – 9.0.2, 9.1.1, 9.2.0, 9.3.0, 10.0.0, 10.1.0, 10.1.1, 10.2.0, 10.3.0	“10.3.0”
isUniqueConfigs required for Sitecore string	Switch between one config for all collections (“true”), and a unique config for each (“false”). When isUniqueConfigs is false, the script creates only one set of config files, and use that set for all of the Sitecore collections. The name of the config set is sitecore_<sitecorePrefix>. Example: sitecore_sitecore100. When isUniqueConfigs is true (the default), the script creates a set of config files corresponding to each separate Sitecore collection. This lets Sitecore properly populate the schemas of the various collections. These configsets are named <sitecorePrefix>_<collectionName>. Example: sitecore100_core_index.	“true”
configurationMode required string	“XM” for setting up Sitecore XM Indexes (the core, master, and web indexes.) “XP” for setting up Sitecore XP Indexes. (XM indexes plus Marketing Definitions, Content Testing, etc.) “XCONNECT” means to set up an xDB index. For “XCONNECT” with Solr versions 6.6.0 to 8.6.2, you’ll need to have SearchStax Support enable configset.upload.enabled before running the connector.	“XP” “XP|XCONNECT” means both at once.
isSxa required string	“True” will add two additional collections to Solr for SXA support.	“true” or “false”
switchOnRebuild	Header introducing extended configuration for switch on rebuild.	Has no values.
enableForPlatformIndexes required string	When “true”, will add additional collections and aliases for Sitecore Platform Indexes (core, master, web, etc.).	“true” or “false”
enableForMarketingIndexes required string	When “true”, will add additional collections and aliases for Sitecore Platform Marketing Indexes (content testing, fxm, etc). Generally, this will always be false unless a specific use case calls for this configuration.	“true” or “false”
enableForSXA required string	When “true”, will add additional collections and aliases for Sitecore SXA Indexes.	“true” or “false”
sufix required string	The suffix of the rebuild collection name. Default: “_rebuild”. Do not use a period (.) in this value, as it causes issues with performance monitoring.	“_rebuild”
mainAlias required string	The suffix of the Main Alias name. Default: “_MainAlias”	“_MainAlias”
rebuildAlias required string	The suffix of the Rebuild Alias name. Default: “_RebuildAlias”	“_RebuildAlias”
sitecorePrefix required string	The prefix of the Rebuild collections and Aliases. Default: “sitecore”. Do not use a period (.) in this value, as it causes issues with performance monitoring.	“sitecore”
customIndexes	Header introducing an array of optional custom indexes.	Each subsequent row begins with “-“. There are two parameters per row.
core required for custom index string	Collection name of the custom index. Do not use a period (.) in this value, as it causes issues with performance monitoring.	“sitecoreindex-456”
isSwitchOnRebuild required for custom index string	When “true” will create additional rebuild collection and aliases.	“true” or “false”

Run the Managed Search Connector for Sitecore

From Powershell 7, run as Administrator, navigate to the searchstax-cloud-connector-for-sitecore-x.y directory.

Change the execution policy to skip checking.

Windows Powershell 7:

Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope Process -ExecutionPolicy Bypass

Run the sitecore-searchstax-connector.ps1 script.

Windows Powershell 7:

> .sitecore-searchstax-connector.ps1

The script will prompt you for your SearchStax user name and password. The script may take a few minutes to run, during which it will notify you of its actions.

Set the Sitecore/Solr Connection String

Be sure to also update your Sitecore Solr Connection String for all Sitecore roles including xConnect.

To connect Sitecore to a Solr cloud cluster, check the SitecoreWebSite/App_Config/ConnectionStrings.config file for an entry similar to:

<add name="solr.search" connectionString="<Solr HTTP Endpoint>/solr;solrCloud=true" />

The Solr HTTP Endpoint is on the Deployment Details screen of thee Solr deployment.

The connectionString ends with /solr;solrCloud=true. There is no / between /solr and the semicolon. Sitecore inserts that character automatically.

Populate Schema from the Control Panel in Sitecore

Follow these steps to populate the Solr schema:

1. Log in to the Sitecore Content Management environment.
2. Open the Sitecore Control Panel.
3. In the Indexing tab, click Populate Solr Managed Schema.
4. Select all indexes and click Populate. (If you have difficulty populating the schema, see Why does Sitecore fail to populate schemas?)
5. On the same page, go to the Indexing Manager, select all, and click Rebuild.

Problems?

See Sitecore Connection Errors for a list of the most-common issues that arise when connecting Sitecore to your SolrCloud deployment.

Questions?

Do not hesitate to contact the SearchStax Support Desk.

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