FAQ about Hosted Solr

At the moment, we support TYPO3, Drupal and Storyblok.
Nevertheless, we currently working on supporting further third-party applications.

Please use the contact form for cancelling your account.

We offer you maximum flexibility! All Hosted Solr packages can be easily cancelled on a monthly basis - with just one click.

We operate our platform with a well-known German host that has a number of certifications (including DIN ISO/IEC 27001).
The infrastructure used exclusively by us is located exclusively in Germany and is administered directly by dkd.
With regard to data protection, the platform has been audited by the data protection officer appointed by dkd and is continuously reassessed in the event of any changes to the process.
Technically, the cores are exclusively assigned to the respective customer account and access is via https with the corresponding credentials of the SOLR core.
An exposed admin interface for SOLR is not available, meaning that communication takes place exclusively via the aforementioned channel.

Our server locations for the infrastructure of the hosted-solr.com platform are Nuremberg, Germany and Falkenstein, Germany.
The provider we use for hardware and infrastructure fulfils the legal requirements at national and European level and accordingly has a number of certifications in the area of hosting.
The specific systems and applications are exclusively supported and maintained by dkd.

The standard payment frequency is monthly, but it is possible to switch to semi-annual or annual payments.

You can easily access and sign the data processing agreement (DPA) for the use of the hosted-solr.com platform in your customer account. Directly to the DPA (https://app.hosted-solr.com/de/data_processing_agreement)

Unfortunately, we do not provide our customers with the admin panel.

As the root form reduction in the Solr Core is optimised for one language at a time, a separate Solr Core should be used for each language.

Schema customisations for the Solr cores are unfortunately not possible in self-service. However, we do offer individual adjustments to the schema configuration. These are made on a time and material basis, but are not persistent. If a core is deleted (which is extremely rare), the customisations would have to be carried out again.

The contract terms are usually 30 days. From the Medium tariff upwards, we also offer 12-month contracts - this reduces the administrative burden due to fewer transfers and invoices. Please use the contact form to get in touch with us.

After creating the Solr index using the web interface, please click on the button Tipps. There, we provide a TypoScript snippet that you need to paste into your website's TypoScript template configuration.

When using Site Configuration and the appropriate EXT:solr version 10+, the core configuration must be done in Site Configuration. However, the data required for Hosted Solr cannot be stored via Site Management, but requires a manual adjustment of the yaml file. As mentioned in the extension documentation, language-specific information can be stored there, e.g. via solr_host_read or solr_core_read.

In excerpts the configuration in the yaml file could look like this:

EXT:solr < 12.0

languages:
  -
    title: German
    solr_host_read: node-x.hosted-solr.com
    solr_core_read: core_de
    solr_path_read: ##path##/solr/
    solr_username_read: ##user_host_x##
    solr_password_read: ##password_host_x##
  -
    title: English
    solr_host_read: node-y.hosted-solr.com
    solr_core_read: core_en
    solr_path_read: ##path##/solr/
    solr_username_read: ##user_host_y##
    solr_password_read: ##password_host_y##

rootPageId: 1
solr_enabled_read: true
solr_scheme_read: https
solr_port_read: 443
solr_use_write_connection: false

EXT:solr >= 12.0

languages:
  -
    title: German
    solr_host_read: node-x.hosted-solr.com
    solr_core_read: core_de
    solr_path_read: /##path##
    solr_username_read: ##user_host_x##
    solr_password_read: ##password_host_x##
  -
    title: English
    solr_host_read: node-y.hosted-solr.com
    solr_core_read: core_en
    solr_path_read: /##path##
    solr_username_read: ##user_host_y##
    solr_password_read: ##password_host_y##

rootPageId: 1
solr_enabled_read: true
solr_scheme_read: https
solr_port_read: 443
solr_use_write_connection: false

Download a YAML example here

The use of environment variables is also possible, see Using Environment Variables in Site Configuration in the EXT:solr documentation.

Important: The yaml file should be protected from external access.

EXT:solr uses remote streaming, since Apache Solr 11.8.3 and 9.3.0 the use requires the setting of an environment variable. Hosted Solr cores support remote streaming and you can use all current EXT:solr versions.

EXT:solr 11.5.6 and 12.0.2 check the current status in the Reports module to show users any problems. Hosted Solr cores do not yet support the status check, although remote streaming is activated. You can ignore the message "Error determining system properties", in future a new creation of the core will provide a remedy.

Note on remote streaming, the use with EXT:solr and Hosted Solr is unproblematic, but with self-hosted Solr servers it must always be ensured that they are appropriately secured and not directly accessible to third parties

For security reasons, access to the Solr Admin UI is restricted and not possible, but tools are available to perform core operations or check the index content.

Via hosted-solr.com you can trigger the core reload, e.g. when using synonyms, this is possible for each core via ‘Admin’ => ‘Reload Solr core’, as well as the complete emptying of the core (‘Admin’ => ‘Empty Solr index’). In the case of TYPO3, it is possible to view the index content via the ‘Apache Solr’ > ‘Info’ > ‘Index Documents’ module.

Core reloads are rarely necessary, but actions such as changes to synonyms or stop words require a reload. For security reasons, however, access to the Apache Solr admin module is restricted and a reload is therefore not possible via the TYPO3 backend.

Of course, you can also trigger a core reload with Hosted Solr; this is possible with your Hosted Solr access at hosted-solr.com. You will find a corresponding option for each core under ‘Admin’ => ‘Reload Solr core’, as well as for completely emptying the core (‘Admin’ => ‘Empty Solr index’).

In TYPO3 installations, EXT:tika allows metadata and text extraction from local files, which offers added value, especially in conjunction with the solrfal extension available via the dkd development contributions.

Of course, Hosted Solr also supports metadata and text extraction, which is configured in EXT:tika via the ‘Solr Server’ service and the associated options. It is important to ensure that the access data is also specified during the connection configuration; this could look like this

EXT:solr < 12.0 & EXT:tika < 12.0

(Screenshot of a sample configuration)

EXT:solr 12.0+ & EXT:tika 12.0.1+

(Screenshot of a sample configuration)

You can switch to another plan on the page Change plan.

You can change your plan every 30 days.

Yes, the minimum contract term is 30 days.

No, if you only use one language, it is advisable to use the second core for a test system.