---
title: "Preparing for the migration to Acquia Search powered by SearchStax"
date: "2025-02-12T09:45:16+00:00"
summary: "Learn how to prepare for migrating to Acquia Search powered by SearchStax. Follow our step-by-step guide to set up your environment, create backups, and document your current search configuration for a smooth transition."
image:
type: "page"
url: "/acquia-cloud-platform/preparing-migration-acquia-search-powered-searchstax"
id: "a9722383-59d6-4153-ad0a-d491e0eb2422"
---

Requirements
------------

The following requirements must be met before you start the migration process:

*   The Search functionality on the application must be powered by Acquia Search or another Solr-based search.
*   One or more views must be built based on a Search API-powered search index.
*   One or more Search API search indexes must be hosted on one or more Search API search servers powered by Solr.
*   The application must run on a Drupal version later than Drupal 8.
    
    Warning
    
    If you use an older version of Drupal, such as Drupal 7, skip the migration module and connect to SearchStax directly by following the general setup guide outlined in the [Getting Started with Site Search](https://support.searchstax.com/hc/en-us/categories/11675838621325-Site-Search) page
    

Prerequisites
-------------

The following steps must be completed before you start the migration process:

1.  Install the latest version of [Search API](https://www.drupal.org/project/search_api_solr).
2.  (Recommended) Install the latest version of [Acquia Search](https://www.drupal.org/project/acquia_search).
3.  (Recommended) Install the latest version of [Acquia Connector](https://www.drupal.org/project/acquia_connector).
4.  (Recommended) Install the [Key](https://www.drupal.org/project/key) module.
5.  (Optional) Install the [Devel](https://www.drupal.org/project/devel) module on your environment.
6.  (Optional) Review the [flood controls](https://docs.acquia.com/acquia-cloud-platform/configuring-flood-controls-acquia-search-powered-searchstax-drupal-module "https://docs.acquia.com/acquia-cloud-platform/configuring-flood-controls-acquia-search-powered-searchstax-drupal-module").
    
    Note
    
    If you use the Search API attachments module, follow the instructions in [this document](https://support.searchstax.com/hc/en-us/articles/39885196332941-Extract-text-from-PDFs).
    
7.  Before you proceed, create an on-demand backup of your database.
    
    For more information, visit [On-demand database backups](/acquia-cloud-platform/docs/manage-apps/back#section-on-demand-database-backups).
    
8.  Document your current Search setup.
    
    Review and maintain a record of the following:
    
    Label
    
    Description
    
    1
    
    The names of your Apache Solr servers.
    
    2
    
    The names of your indexes.
    
    3
    
    The number of items that are currently indexed by your Search Solr server.
    
    4
    
    Drupal search results views.
    
    5
    
    Search behaviors including autocomplete settings.
    
    The following images illustrate the labels listed in the preceding table:
    
    ![srsx-server_&_index](https://acquia.widen.net/content/4yv96psplq/web/9758c_srsx-server_&_index.png?h=720&v=2782edea-052d-48f7-8a76-11ce683f222c&itok=8Fy_Fk0x)
    
    ![srsx-drupal_search_results_views](https://acquia.widen.net/content/iuoi69nihr/web/aecac_srsx-drupal_search_results_views.png?w=720&v=b81b00c5-0c51-40dd-a82b-e28f133ad0ed&itok=KK7Qfqrz)
    
    ![srsx-autocomplete_settings](https://acquia.widen.net/content/tsgon99yrr/web/006d8_srsx-autocomplete_settings.png?w=720&v=106a277e-6fb5-4d73-b6db-a527a27a8fc4&itok=v_0KLhBj)
    
9.  Remove your existing Drupal autocomplete settings.

Next step
---------

[Install the SearchStax module](/acquia-cloud-platform/installing-searchstax-module "Installing the SearchStax module")