Linux Sysadmin Blog

Install Apache Solr and Tomcat for Drupal

Posted by Gerold Mercadero - | Comments

Here’s my quick install guide for Solr, Tomcat, and Drupal ApacheSolr module for multiple sites. Mostly I based the steps below from the following sites: wiki.apache.org and drupalconnect.com.

Detailed Setup:

  • Drupal 6.19
  • ApacheSolr module 6-1.1
  • Apache Solr PHP Client Library: Rev.22
  • Solr 1.4.1
  • Tomcat 6.0.29
  • SunJDK 6update21
  • RHEL5.5x64

Install Process: Tomcat

  • Create solr user
  • Download Tomcat6
  • Extract to /opt/tomcat,  this will be the $CATALINA_HOME directory, you can use any dir you want
  • Edit /opt/tomcat/conf/tomcat-users.xml to enable Tomcat login.  See comments in this file.
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<role rolename="manager"/>
<role rolename="admin"/>
<user username="tomcat" password="tomcat" roles="manager,admin"/>
  • Test run your Tomcat:  /opt/tomcat/bin/catalina.sh run. Chown all Tomcat files to solr user (chown -R solr.solr /opt/tomcat). Default server setting will use port 8080, to customized edit the file /opt/tomcat/conf/server.xml. If you encounter error on ”BASEDIR environment variable is not defined correctly…”, check permissions of .sh files inside /opt/tomcat/bin/ and make them executable (chmod 755 /opt/tomcat/bin/*.sh).
  • Add startup (init) script. Copy this Tomcat6 init file from Apache.org to /etc/init.d/tomcat6.  Check and update variables like Java home, Tomcat directory, etc, if needed. Add to startup /sbin/chkconfig --add tomcat6 and /sbin/chkconfig tomcat6 on. Dependencies: redhat-lsb (or lsb-base?)
  • Visit your Tomcat Admin page. ex http://localhost:8080

Install Process: Solr

  • Download Solr
  • Extract to temporary location, ex: /opt/apache-solr-1.4.1
  • Copy /opt/apache-solr-1.4.1/dist/apache-solr-1.4.1.war to /opt/tomcat/webapps/solr.war
  • Copy /opt/apache-solr-1.4.1/example/solr directory to /opt/tomcat/solr  this will be the $SOLR_HOME directory, you can use any dir you want
  • Create file /opt/tomcat/conf/Catalina/localhost/solr.xml with the following configuration.  Make sure paths are correct.
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<Context docBase="/opt/tomcat/webapps/solr.war" debug="0" privileged="true" allowLinking="true" crossContext="true">
<Environment name="solr/home" type="java.lang.String" value="/opt/tomcat/solr" override="true" />
</Context>

Install Process: ApacheSolr Drupal module and SolrPHP client

Configure Solr for Multi-Core Setup

  • Copy /var/www/site1/sites/all/modules/apachesolr/schema.xml to /opt/tomcat/solr/conf/schema.xml
  • Copy /var/www/site1/sites/all/modules/apachesolr/solrconfig.xml to /opt/tomcat/solr/conf/solrconfig.xml
  • Copy /opt/apache-solr-1.4.1/example/multicore/solr.xml to /opt/tomcat/solr/solr.xml
  • Create directory for each site and copy /opt/tomcat/solr/conf directory to each of them. Example:
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mkdir /opt/tomcat/solr/site1
mkdir /opt/tomcat/solr/site2
cp -r /opt/tomcat/solr/conf /opt/tomcat/solr/site1/
cp -r /opt/tomcat/solr/conf /opt/tomcat/solr/site2/
  • Edit /opt/tomcat/solr/solr.xml with the following config:
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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<solr persistent="false">
<cores adminPath="/admin/cores">
<core name="site1" instanceDir="site1" />
<core name="site1" instanceDir="site2" />
</cores>
</solr>
  • Start or Restart Tomcat: /etc/init.d/tomcat6 start
  • Visit http://localhost:8080/ and go to you Solr App

Configure Drupal site:

  • Go to ApacheSolr settings http://localhost/admin/settings/apachesolr
  • Save your config and if all is good you’ll see message: Your site has contacted the Apache Solr server.
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Solr host name: localhost
Solr port: 8080
Solr path (for site1): /solr/site1
  • Configure your search index.

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