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Overriding Solr core automatic connection switching

Multiple Acquia Search cores

In some cases, you may want to override the auto-switching behavior. Example override scenarios include the following:

  • You are implementing a single search page that returns results from across many Drupal websites. For this you would need to have all websites read/write to a single Solr core (by also using a module, such as the Apache Solr Multisite Search module), which also powers your search pages.
  • Your subscription level is not entitled to multiple Acquia Search Solr cores, and you need to write into your single, available core from several environments.
  • You need read/write access from a local- or non-Acquia-hosted website.

Important

Sharing a single Solr core across websites has risks. For more information, see Sharing Solr cores in read/write mode.

To stop Acquia Search from enabling auto-switching, use one of the following methods:

Using the Acquia Search Multiple Indexes module

For Drupal 7-based websites, the easiest method to prevent auto-switching is to use the Acquia Search Multiple Indexes module, which enables you to manually configure a different Solr core connection for each Acquia Cloud environment. To use this module, complete the following steps:

  1. Download, install, and enable the Acquia Search Multiple Indexes module.
  2. Navigate to the configuration page for this module in your Drupal website’s administration pages.
    • Search API module - Go to Configuration > Search API settings, and then for the Acquia Search server you have configured, click Edit.
    • Apache Solr Search Integration module - Go to Configuration > Apache Solr Search > Settings > Edit.
  3. Select the Automatically switch when an Acquia Cloud environment is detected check box.
  4. Click Save.

Using code overrides to set the Acquia Search Solr connection

Customers can choose to manually configure the connections in the settings.php file by overriding variables. For non-hosted customers, setting these variables is the only way to use multiple Acquia Search Solr cores.

Code override requirements

Contact Acquia support to obtain the following values, which are required for any of the settings.php code overrides described in this section:

  • [colony]
  • [core ID]
  • [derived key]

The code override that you must use depends on your installed Drupal version and the module in use. For the appropriate code override, find your website’s configuration from the following list:

  • Drupal 8 - Search API Solr and Acquia Search modules
    Use the acquia_search.settings.connection_override configuration object to define a connection. To override the variables in your settings.php file, add the following code after the Acquia include statement:
// For Drupal 8 using Search API Solr and Acquia Search
if (isset($_ENV['AH_SITE_ENVIRONMENT'])) {
   if ($_ENV['AH_SITE_ENVIRONMENT'] == 'prod') {
        $config['acquia_search.settings']['connection_override'] = [
               'scheme' => 'https',
               'port' => 443,
               'host' => '[colony].acquia-search.com',
               'index_id' => '[core_ID]',
               'derived_key' => '[derived key]',
               ];
         }
   elseif ($_ENV['AH_SITE_ENVIRONMENT'] == 'test') {
         $config['acquia_search.settings']['connection_override'] = [
               'scheme' => 'https',
               'port' => 443,
               'host' => '[colony].acquia-search.com',
               'index_id' => '[core_ID]',
               'derived_key' => '[derived key]',
               ];
         }
   elseif ($_ENV['AH_SITE_ENVIRONMENT'] == 'dev') {
        $config['acquia_search.settings']['connection_override'] = [
               'scheme' => 'https',
               'port' => 443,
               'host' => '[colony].acquia-search.com',
               'index_id' => '[core_ID]',
               'derived_key' => '[derived key]',
               ];
         }
   } else {
      // Local or other non-acquia-hosted Drupal environment
         $config['acquia_search.settings']['connection_override'] = [
             'scheme' => 'https',
             'port' => 443,
             'host' => '[colony].acquia-search.com',
             'index_id' => '[core_ID]',
             'derived_key' => '[derived key]',
             ];
         }
  • Drupal 7 - Search API Solr and Acquia Search for Search API modules
    For Search API module, override using the search_api_acquia_overrides variable. To override the variables in your settings.php file, add the following code after the Acquia include statement (being sure to also replace 'acquia_search' in the code with the machine name of the search_api server):
// For Drupal 7 using Search API Solr and Acquia Search
 if (isset($_ENV['AH_SITE_ENVIRONMENT'])) {
   if ($_ENV['AH_SITE_ENVIRONMENT'] == 'prod') {
         $conf['search_api_acquia_overrides']['acquia_search'] = array(
               'path' => '/solr/[core_ID]',
               'host' => '[colony].acquia-search.com',
               'derived_key' => '[derived_key]',
               );
         }
   elseif ($_ENV['AH_SITE_ENVIRONMENT'] == 'test') {
         $conf['search_api_acquia_overrides']['acquia_search'] = array(
               'path' => '/solr/[core_ID]',
               'host' => '[colony].acquia-search.com',
               'derived_key' => '[derived_key]',
               );
         }
   elseif ($_ENV['AH_SITE_ENVIRONMENT'] == 'dev') {
        $conf['search_api_acquia_overrides']['acquia_search'] = array(
               'path' => '/solr/[core_ID]',
               'host' => '[colony].acquia-search.com',
               'derived_key' => '[derived_key]',
               );
         }
   } else {
      // Local or other non-acquia-hosted Drupal environment
         $conf['search_api_acquia_overrides']['acquia_search'] = array(
              'path' => '/solr/[core_ID]',
              'host' => '[colony].acquia-search.com',
              'derived_key' => '[derived_key]',
              );
         }
  • Drupal 7 - Apache Solr Search Integration and Acquia Search modules
    When using Apache Solr Search, override the apachesolr_environments variable. To override the variables in your settings.php file, add the following code after the Acquia include statement:
// For Drupal 7 using Apache Solr Search Integration and Acquia Search
 if (isset($_ENV['AH_SITE_ENVIRONMENT'])) {
   switch ($_ENV['AH_SITE_ENVIRONMENT']) {
    case 'test':
     $conf['apachesolr_environments']['acquia_search_server_1']['url']
         = 'http://[colony].acquia-search.com:80/solr/[core_ID]';
     $conf['apachesolr_environments']['acquia_search_server_1']['conf']
         ['acquia_search_key'] = '[derived_key]';
     break;
    case 'dev':
     $conf['apachesolr_environments']['acquia_search_server_1']['url'] =
         'http://[colony].acquia-search.com:80/solr/[core_ID]';
     $conf['apachesolr_environments']['acquia_search_server_1']['conf']
         ['acquia_search_key'] = '[derived_key]';
     break;
    }
   }
   else {
    // Set index to read-only in local development environments
     $conf['apachesolr_read_only'] = "1";
   }

Disabling auto-switching

You can use the Drupal variables or configuration objects to override certain Acquia Search module behaviors, described as follows:

Important

These settings can have data integrity implications for your index.

  • Drupal 8 Setting acquia_search.settings.disable_auto_switch to TRUE avoids auto-switching, causing the production Solr core to be used in read/write mode. When the variable is not set or is set to FALSE, setting acquia_search.settings.disable_auto_read_only to TRUE avoids the automatic read-only behavior — however, switching to the right core will still be attempted.
  • Drupal 7 Setting acquia_search_disable_auto_switch to TRUE avoids auto-switching. If you either do not have the Acquia Search Multiple Indexes module configured, or have another code override set, your website will connect to your production core. When the variable is not set or is set to FALSE, setting acquia_search_disable_auto_read_only to TRUE avoids the automatic read-only behavior — however, switching to the right core will still be attempted.

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