Bitnami Apache Solr for Google Cloud Platform

Description

Apache Solr is an extremely powerful, open source enterprise search platform built on Apache Lucene. It is highly reliable and flexible, scalable, and designed to add value very quickly after launch.

First steps with the Bitnami Apache Solr Stack

Welcome to your new Bitnami application running on Google Cloud Platform! Here are a few questions (and answers!) you might need when first starting with your application.

What credentials do I need?

You need two sets of credentials:

The application credentials that allow you to log in to your new Bitnami application. These credentials consist of a username and password.
The server credentials that allow you to log in to your Google Cloud Platform server using an SSH client and execute commands on the server using the command line. These credentials consist of an SSH username and key.

What is the administrator username set for me to log in to the application for the first time?

Username: user

What SSH username should I use for secure shell access to my application?

SSH username: bitnami

How to start or stop the services?

Each Bitnami stack includes a control script that lets you easily stop, start and restart services. The script is located at /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh. Call it without any service name arguments to start all services:

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh start

Or use it to restart a single service, such as Apache only, by passing the service name as argument:

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh restart apache

Use this script to stop all services:

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh stop

Restart the services by running the script without any arguments:

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh restart

Obtain a list of available services and operations by running the script without any arguments:

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh

What are the default ports?

A port is an endpoint of communication in an operating system that identifies a specific process or a type of service. Bitnami stacks include several services or servers that require a port.

IMPORTANT: Making this application's network ports public is a significant security risk. You are strongly advised to only allow access to those ports from trusted networks. If, for development purposes, you need to access from outside of a trusted network, please do not allow access to those ports via a public IP address. Instead, use a secure channel such as a VPN or an SSH tunnel. Follow these instructions to remotely connect safely and reliably.

Port 22 is the default port for SSH connections.

Bitnami opens some ports for the main servers. These are the ports opened by default: 80, 443.

How to get started with Solr?

NOTE: Replace the CORE-NAME and PORT-NUMBER placeholders in the commands below with actual values.

To create a core, use these commands:

$ cd /opt/bitnami/apache-solr
$ sudo ./bin/solr create -c CORE-NAME -p PORT-NUMBER

To add documents, use these commands:

$ cd /opt/bitnami/apache-solr
$ sudo ./bin/post -c CORE-NAME FILES

How to access the Apache Solr server console?

For security reasons, the Apache Solr server console will be accessible only when using 127.0.0.1 as the hostname. To access the server console, it is necessary to create an SSH tunnel by forwarding port 8983 on the Apache Solr server to port 8983 on the local host.

An example of configuring the SSH tunnel using PuTTY on Windows is displayed below.

While the tunnel is active, you should be able to access the server console through the secure SSH tunnel you created, by browsing to http://127.0.0.1:8983/solr/admin.

Refer to the FAQ for platform-specific instructions to create the SSH tunnel.

How to upload files to the server with SFTP?

NOTE: Bitnami applications can be found in /opt/bitnami/apps.

If you are using the Bitnami Launchpad for Google Cloud Platform, obtain your server SSH key by following these steps:
- Browse to the Bitnami Launchpad for Google Cloud Platform dashboard and sign in if required using your Bitnami account.
- Select the "Virtual Machines" menu item.
- Select your cloud server from the resulting list.
- Download the SSH key for your server in PPK or PEM format. Note the server IP address on the same page.

If you are using the GCP Marketplace, you will need to generate and add your SSH key manually using these instructions.
Generate SSH key pair by executing the following commands:

NOTE: Replace USERNAME in the commands below with your Google Cloud platform username.

	$ sudo su USERNAME
	$ ssh-keygen -t rsa -f ~/.ssh/my-ssh-key -C USERNAME

Enter the passphrase twice. The SSH key pair will be generated and saved in /home/USERNAME/.ssh/my-ssh-key and /home/USERNAME/.ssh/my-ssh-key.pub.

Although you can use any SFTP/SCP client to transfer files to your server, this guide documents FileZilla (Windows, Linux and Mac OS X), WinSCP (Windows) and Cyberduck (Mac OS X).

Using an SSH Key

Once you have your server's SSH key, choose your preferred application and follow the steps below to connect to the server using SFTP.

FileZilla

IMPORTANT: To use FileZilla, your server private key should be in PPK format.

Watch the following video to learn how to upload files to your Google Cloud server with SFTP using FileZilla. The example below shows a server launched using the Bitnami launchpad, but this video is applicable to those servers launched using the GCP Marketplace.

Or you can follow these steps:

Download and install FileZilla.
Launch FileZilla and use the "Edit -> Settings" command to bring up FileZilla's configuration settings.
Within the "Connection -> SFTP" section, use the "Add keyfile" command to select the private key file for the server. FileZilla will use this private key to log in to the server.
Use the "File -> Site Manager -> New Site" command to bring up the FileZilla Site Manager, where you can set up a connection to your server.
Enter your server host name and specify bitnami as the user name.
Select "SFTP" as the protocol and "Ask for password" as the logon type.
Use the "Connect" button to connect to the server and begin an SFTP session. You might need to accept the server key, by clicking "Yes" or "OK" to proceed.

You should now be logged into the /home/bitnami directory on the server. You can now transfer files by dragging and dropping them from the local server window to the remote server window.

If you have problems accessing your server, get extra information by use the "Edit -> Settings -> Debug" menu to activate FileZilla's debug log.

WinSCP

IMPORTANT: To use WinSCP, your server private key should be in PPK format.

Follow these steps:

Download and install WinSCP.
Launch WinSCP and in the "Session" panel, select "SCP" as the file protocol.
Enter your server host name and specify bitnami as the user name.
Click the "Advanced…" button and within the "SSH -> Authentication -> Authentication parameters" section, select the private key file for the server. WinSCP will use this private key to log in to the server.
From the "Session" panel, use the "Login" button to connect to the server and begin an SCP session.

You should now be logged into the /home/bitnami directory on the server. You can now transfer files by dragging and dropping them from the local server window to the remote server window.

If you need to upload files to a location where the bitnami user doesn't have write permissions, you have two options:

Once you have configured WinSCP as described above, click the "Advanced…" button and within the "Environment -> Shell" panel, select sudo su - as your shell. This will allow you to upload files using the administrator account.
Upload the files to the /home/bitnami directory as usual. Then, connect via SSH and move the files to the desired location with the sudo command, as shown below:
```
 $ sudo mv /home/bitnami/uploaded-file /path/to/desired/location/
```

Cyberduck

IMPORTANT: To use Cyberduck, your server private key should be in PEM format.

Follow these steps:

Select the "Open Connection" command and specify "SFTP" as the connection protocol.
In the connection details panel, under the "More Options" section, enable the "Use Public Key Authentication" option and specify the path to the private key file for the server.
Use the "Connect" button to connect to the server and begin an SFTP session.

You should now be logged into the /home/bitnami directory on the server. You can now transfer files by dragging and dropping them from the local server window to the remote server window.

How to connect instances hosted in separate virtual networks or VPCs?

The Google Cloud Platform makes it possible to connect instances hosted in separate Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs), even if those instances belong to different projects or are hosted in different regions. This feature, known as VPC Network Peering, can result in better security (as services do not need to be exposed on public IP addresses) and performance (due to use of private, rather than public, networks and IP addresses).

Learn more about VPC Network Peering.

How to connect to Apache Solr from a different machine?

For security reasons, the Apache Solr ports in this solution cannot be accessed over a public IP address. To connect to Apache Solr from a different machine, you must open port 80, 443 for remote access. Refer to the FAQ for more information on this.

IMPORTANT: Making this application's network ports public is a significant security risk. You are strongly advised to only allow access to those ports from trusted networks. If, for development purposes, you need to access from outside of a trusted network, please do not allow access to those ports via a public IP address. Instead, use a secure channel such as a VPN or an SSH tunnel. Follow these instructions to remotely connect safely and reliably.

How to configure the Apache Solr server?

Obtain example configuration files by following these steps:

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh stop solr

Change directories to locate the files:
```
  $ cd /opt/bitnami/apache-solr
```
Create Solr home directory /opt/bitnami/apache-solr/example/techproducts/solr by executing the following command:
```
  $ sudo ./bin/solr -e techproducts
```

This action creates a set of example configuration files in /opt/bitnami/apache-solr/example/techproducts/solr/techproducts/conf. These are configuration references. Modify these files depending on your server requirements.

Access the Solr administration interface via SSH or by opening the port 8983 in the server firewall. Refer to the FAQ for more information on how to configure your server firewall.

How can I run a command in the Bitnami Apache Solr Stack?

Log in to the server console as the bitnami user and run the command as usual. The required environment is automatically loaded for the bitnami user.

How to create a full backup of Apache Solr?

Backup

The Bitnami Apache Solr Stack is self-contained and the simplest option for performing a backup is to copy or compress the Bitnami stack installation directory. To do so in a safe manner, you will need to stop all servers, so this method may not be appropriate if you have people accessing the application continuously.

Follow these steps:

Change to the directory in which you wish to save your backup:
```
  $ cd /your/directory
```

Stop all servers:

  $ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh stop

Create a compressed file with the stack contents:

  $ sudo tar -pczvf application-backup.tar.gz /opt/bitnami

Restart all servers:

  $ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh start

You should now download or transfer the application-backup.tar.gz file to a safe location.

Restore

Follow these steps:

Change to the directory containing your backup:
```
  $ cd /your/directory
```

Stop all servers:

  $ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh stop

Move the current stack to a different location:

  $ sudo mv /opt/bitnami /tmp/bitnami-backup

Uncompress the backup file to the original directoryv

  $ sudo tar -pxzvf application-backup.tar.gz -C /

Start all servers:

  $ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh start

If you want to create only a database backup, refer to these instructions for MySQL and PostgreSQL.

How to enable the Apache Solr logs?

The Apache Solr log files are not enabled by default after version 3.x. To enable the log files, uncomment the following section in the /opt/bitnami/apache-solr/server/etc/jetty.xml file. Remember to restart the server for your changes to take effect.

<Ref id="Handlers">
  <Call name="addHandler">
    <Arg>
      <New id="RequestLog" class="org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.RequestLogHandler">
        <Set name="requestLog">
          <New id="RequestLogImpl" class="org.eclipse.jetty.server.NCSARequestLog">
            <Set name="filename">
               logs/request.yyyy_mm_dd.log
            </Set>
            <Set name="filenameDateFormat">yyyy_MM_dd</Set>
            <Set name="retainDays">90</Set>
            <Set name="append">true</Set>
            <Set name="extended">false</Set>
            <Set name="logCookies">false</Set>
            <Set name="LogTimeZone">UTC</Set>
          </New>
        </Set>
      </New>
    </Arg>
  </Call>
</Ref>