Solr Version Policy

Last Revised Date – September 1, 2023

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This section describes our version policy for SearchStax-hosted Apache Solr. SearchStax reserves the right to update or change this policy time to time.

AVAILABLE APACHE SOLR VERSIONS

Apache Solr versions are denoted as X.Y.Z, where X is the major version, Y is the minor version, and Z is the patch level or maintenance release (version 6.4.2, for example). You can learn more about versions on the Solr Downloads page and from the Solr Community.

We make the two latest minor versions of the latest major version available for provisioning. In addition, the latest minor version of the previous major version is also available.

Previous maintenance releases are removed as new ones becomes available. Only the latest maintenance release within an available minor version is available.

You might sometimes see additional versions listed in the user interface beyond what we guarantee to be available. If a version is listed in the SearchStax Dashboard, it can be deployed.

NEW APACHE SOLR VERSIONS

When a new Apache Solr version is released, we do our best to provide the new version in SearchStax Cloud within 4 weeks. We notify you of a new release and recommend an upgrade. You’ll need to decide whether to upgrade to the new version with new features and bug fixes or to stay with a version you know works for you a while longer.

There can be changes in new major versions of Apache Solr that will break what used to work in older versions. Before upgrading, you’ll want to check if the new version introduces any changes that might affect your applications. If you have an application that depends on the deprecated capability, the application will need to be updated to continue working with the new version of Apache Solr.

To learn more about upgrading to newer versions of the Apache Solr on our hosted service, contact our support team support@searchstax.com

UPGRADES FOR CRITICAL ISSUES

We reserve the right to force upgrade a cluster immediately and without notice in advance if there is a critical security or stability issue. Such upgrades happen only within minor versions.

A forced upgrade might become necessary in a situation that:

1. bypasses any authentication or security measures, where knowing only the cluster endpoint is sufficient to gain access to data.
2. disrupts our ability to effectively manage a cluster in disaster scenarios.
3. impairs stability to the point where we cannot guarantee cluster node or data integrity.
4. impairs or risks impairing our infrastructure

END-OF-LIFE VERSIONS

We follow the Apache Solr official end-of-life (EOL) policy for the SearchStax-hosted Apache Solr. This means that we provide support for each major release of Apache Solr and the last minor release of the two most recent major releases of Apache Solr.

For example,

VERSION	DESCRIPTION
v9.1.1	Current Version – Supported by SearchStax Hosting Services
v8.11.2	One Major Version Prior to Current Version – Supported by SearchStax Hosting Services
v7.7.2	Two Major Versions Prior to Current Version – Supported by SearchStax Hosting Services
v6.6.6	Three Major Versions Prior to Current Version – Not Supported

We give you six months advance notice before a minor version nears its end-of-life, effectively providing you with six month’s time to upgrade to a newer version yourself. Notice is given by email to the contacts registered in the SearchStax Dashboard.

If you do not upgrade to an available newer minor version by the end-of-life date, you will be force upgraded to the latest available minor version within your current major version.

For Gold and above subscriptions, we communicate with you through a support case and attempt to perform the upgrade in coordination with you.

For Standard subscriptions, we notify you by email and provide a deadline by which the upgrade will happen if you do not upgrade your cluster yourself.

We do not force upgrade across major versions. For major versions that reach end-of-life:

• We continue to provide support for up to 6 months after EOL for the last minor version of a major version (sometimes referred to as extended-end-of-life (EEOL) or end-of-extended-support).
• After six months have passed, the cluster goes out of support. To continue receiving support, you must upgrade your cluster first.

Last Updated, September 1, 2023