solrctl Reference

The solrctl utility is a wrapper shell script included with Cloudera Search for managing collections, instance directories, configs, and more.

Make sure that the host on which you are running the solrctl utility has either a Gateway or Solr Server role assigned.

In general, if an operation succeeds, solrctl exits silently with a success exit code. If an error occurs, solrctl prints a diagnostics message combined with a failure exit code. solrctl supports specifying a log4j.properties file by setting the LOG4J_PROPS environment variable. By default, the LOG4J_PROPS setting specifies the log4j.properties in the Solr configuration directory (for example, /etc/solr/conf/log4j.properties). Many solrctl commands redirect stderr to /dev/null, so Cloudera recommends that your log4j properties file specify a location other than stderr for log output.

You can run solrctl on any host that is configured as part of the SolrCloud deployment (the Solr service in Cloudera Manager environments) . To run any solrctl command on a host outside of SolrCloud deployment, ensure that SolrCloud hosts are reachable and provide --zk and --solr command line options.

If you are using solrctl to manage your deployment in an environment that requires Kerberos authentication, you must have a valid Kerberos ticket, which you can get using kinit.

For collection configuration, users have the option of interacting directly with ZooKeeper using the instancedir option or using the Solr ConfigSets API using the config option. For more information, see Managing Configuration Using Configs or Instance Directories.

Command syntax

The general solrctl command syntax is:

solrctl [options] command [command-arg] [command [command-arg]] ...

Each element and its possible values are described in the following sections.

solrctl options

If used, the following options must precede commands:

Table 1. `solrctl` options
Option	Description
`--solr <solr_uri>`	Directs `solrctl` to a SolrCloud web API available at the specified URI. This option is required for hosts running outside of SolrCloud. A sample URI might be: `http://search01.example.com:8983/solr`.
`--zk <zk_ensemble>`	Directs `solrctl` to a particular ZooKeeper quorum. This option is required for hosts running outside of SolrCloud. For example: `zk01.example.com:2181,zk02.example.com:2181,zk03.example.com:2181/solr`. Output from `solrctl` commands that use the `--zk` option is sent to `/dev/null`, so no results are displayed.
`--jaas /path/to/jaas.conf`	Used to identify a JAAS configuration that specifies the principal with permissions to modify Solr metadata. The principal is typically `solr@EXAMPLE.COM`. In Kerberos-enabled environments where ZooKeeper ACLs protect Solr metadata, you must use this parameter when modifying metadata.
`--help`	Prints help.
`--quiet`	Suppresses most `solrctl` messages.
`--debug`	Prints errors to `stdout`.
`--trace`	Prints the executed commands to `stdout`.

Commands and arguments

The solrctl commands init, instancedir, config, collection and cluster affect the entire SolrCloud deployment and only need to be run once per required operation.

The solrctl core command affects a single SolrCloud host.

Table 2. solrctl commmands and arguments
Command	Argument	Description
`init`		Initializes a SolrCloud deployment. Must be run before starting solr-server daemons for the first time. The command has a built-in security check that prevents it from running on a deployment that has already been initialized.
`init`	[--force]	Allows you to re-initialize an already initialized SolrCloud deployment. Use this command cautiously because it erases all SolrCloud deployment state information from ZooKeeper, including all configuration files. It does not delete collections.
`instancedir`		Manipulates instance directories. note `solrctl instancedir` commands talk directly to ZooKeeper. Starting from CDH version 6.0, the ZooKeeper node that stores the instance configuration files (e.g.: `/solr/configs`) is only writable by the user 'solr'. This means that in a Kerberized environment you will have to create a Java Authentication and Authorization Service (JAAS) configuration file and a keytab for the solr user, and specifying this `jaas.conf` file when using `solrctl`. For example: `solrctl --jaas jaas.conf instancedir --create myInstanceDir /tmp/myInstanceDir`. Cloudera recommends using the `solrctl config --upload` command instead, as it does not require a keytab of the solr user (a simple `kinit` is enough) and additionally it can utilize Ranger to control who is authorized to modify instance configurations.
	`--generate <path> [-schemaless] [-localfs]`	`--generate <path>`: Generates an instance directory template on the local filesystem at `<path>`. The configuration files are located in the `conf` subdirectory under `<path>`. If used with the `-schemaless` option, it generates a schemaless instance directory template. For more information on schemaless support, see Schemaless Mode Overview and Best Practices. If used with the `-localfs` option, the default `HdfsDirectoryFactory` is overwritten with `NRTCachingDirectoryFactory` in the generated `solrconfig.xml`. The index of a collection using this configuration is written to the local file system, not to HDFS.
	`--create <name> <path>`	Uploads a copy of the instance directory from `<path>` on the local filesystem to ZooKeeper. If an instance directory with the specified `<name>` already exists, this command fails. Use `--update` to modify existing instance directories.
	`--update <name> <path>`	Overwrites an existing instance directory in ZooKeeper using the specified files on the local filesystem. This command is analogous to first running `--delete <name>` followed by `--create <name> <path>`.
	`--get <name> <path>`	Downloads the specified instance directory from ZooKeeper to the specified path on the local filesystem. You can then edit the configuration and then re-upload it using `--update`.
	`--delete <name>`	Deletes the specified instance directory from ZooKeeper.
	`--list`	Lists existing instance directories, including configs created by the `solrctl config` command.
`config`		Manipulates configs.
	`--create name <baseConfig> [-p <name>=<value>`	Creates a new config based on an existing config. The config is created with the specified `name`, using `<baseConfig>` as the template. For more information about config templates, see Config Templates. The `-p name=value` option overrides a `<baseConfig>` setting. The only config property that you can override is `immutable`, so the possible options are `-p immutable=true` and `-p immutable=false`. If you are copying an immutable config, such as a template, use `-p immutable=false` to make sure that you can edit the new config.
	`--upload name path`	Uploads a new configset in zip file format. You cannot use this option to update an existing config. The script will ask you to delete the existing version before allowing you to upload the new one. The `path` argument of this command needs to point to the local directory containing the instance configuration (meaning it has a conf subdirectory and the config files like `conf/solrconfig.xml`). This can also be an instance configuration directory generated using `solrctl instancedir --generate name` or downloaded using `solrctl instancedir --get name path`. The underlying Solr API requires a .zip archive to be created, this is automatically performed by the command. note This function needs the zip binary to be installed and executable by the user running the `solrctl config --upload` command.
	`--delete name`	Deletes the specified config. You cannot delete an immutable config without accessing ZooKeeper directly as the `solr` super user.
`collection`		Manipulates collections.
	`--create <name> -s <numShards> [-a] [-c <configName>] [-r <replicationFactor>] [-m <maxShardsPerHost>] [-n <hostList>]]`	Creates a new collection with `<numShards>` shards. The `-a` option enables automatic addition of replicas (`autoAddReplicas=true`) if machines hosting existing shards become unavailable. The collection uses the specified `<configName>` for its configuration set, and the specified `<replicationFactor>` controls the number of replicas for the collection. Keep in mind that this replication factor is on top of the HDFS replication factor. The maximum shards per host is determined by `<maxShardsPerHost>`, and you can specify specific hosts for the collection in the `<hostList>`. The only required parameters are `<name>` and `-s <numShards>`. If `-c <configName>` is not provided, it is assumed to be the same as the name of the collection.
	`--delete <name>`	Deletes a collection.
	`--reload <name>`	Reloads a collection.
	`--stat <name>`	Outputs SolrCloud specific run-time information for a collection.
	`--deletedocs <name>`	Purges all indexed documents from a collection.
	`--list`	Lists all collections.
	`--create-snapshot <snapshotName> -c <collectionName>`	Creates a named snapshot for the specified collection.
	`--delete-snapshot <snapshotName> -c <collectionName>`	Deletes the specified snapshot for the specified collection.
	`--describe-snapshot <snapshotName> -c <collectionName>`	Provides detailed information about a snapshot for the specified collection.
	`--list-snapshots <collectionName>`	Lists all snapshots for the specified collection.
	`--prepare-snapshot-export <snapshotName> -c <collectionName> -d <destDir>`	Prepares the snapshot for export to a remote cluster. If you are exporting the snapshot to the local cluster, you do not need to run this command. This command generates collection metadata as well as information about the Lucene index files corresponding to the snapshot. The destination HDFS directory path (specified by the `-d` option) must exist on the local cluster before you run this command. Make sure that the Solr superuser (`solr` by default) has permission to write to this directory. If you are running the snapshot export command on a remote cluster, specify the HDFS protocol (such as WebHDFS or HFTP) to be used for accessing the Lucene index files corresponding to the snapshot on the source cluster. This configuration is driven by the `-p` option which expects a fully qualified URI for the root filesystem on the source cluster, for example `webhdfs://namenode.example.com:20101/`. note Creating backups and performing restore operations using the `solrctl` CLI tool exclusively works on HDFS. If you want to create a backup to, or perform a restore from a different FS, consult the Apache Solr documentation.
	`--export-snapshot <snapshotName> -c <collectionName>\|-s <sourceDir> -d <destDir>`	Creates a backup copy of the Solr collection metadata as well as the associated Lucene index files at the specified location. If exporting to a local cluster, use the `-c <collectionName>` argument. If exporting to a remote cluster, use the `-s <sourceDir>` argument. The `-d` configuration option specifies the directory path where this backup copy is be created. This directory must exist before exporting the snapshot, and the Solr superuser (`solr`, by default) must be able to write to it. note Creating backups and performing restore operations using the `solrctl` CLI tool exclusively works on HDFS. If you want to create a backup to, or perform a restore from a different FS, consult the Apache Solr documentation.
	`--restore <restoreCollectionName> -l <backupLocation> -b <snapshotName> -i <requestId> [-a] [-c <configName>] [-r <replicationFactor>] [-m <maxShardsPerHost>] [-n <selectedNodes>]`	Restores the state of an earlier created backup as a new Solr collection. Run this command on the cluster on which you want to restore the backup. The `-l` configuration option specifies the local HDFS directory where the backup is stored. If the backup is stored on a remote cluster, you must copy it to the local cluster before restoring it. The Solr superuser (`solr` by default) must have permission to read from this directory. The `-b` configuration option specifies the name of the backup to be restored. Because the restore operation can take a long time to complete depending on the size of the exported snapshot, it is run asynchronously. The `-i` configuration parameter specifies a unique identifier for tracking the operation. The optional `-a` configuration option enables the `autoAddReplicas` feature for the new Solr collection. The optional `-c` configuration option specifies the `configName` for the new Solr collection. If this option is not specified, the `configName` of the original collection at the time of backup is used. If the specified `configName` does not exist, the restore operation creates a new configuration from the backup. The optional `-r` configuration option specifies the replication factor for the new Solr collection. If this option is not specified, the replication factor of the original collection at the time of backup is used. The optional `-m` configuration option specifies the maximum number of replicas (`maxShardsPerNode`) to create on each Solr Server. If this option is not specified, the `maxShardsPerNode` configuration of the original collection at the time of backup is used. The optional `-n` configuration option specifies the nodes to spread the restored collection across. If this option is not specified, the operation will create shard-replica spread across all live Solr nodes. note Creating backups and performing restore operations using the `solrctl` CLI tool exclusively works on HDFS. If you want to create a backup to, or perform a restore from a different FS, consult the Apache Solr documentation.
	`--request-status <requestId>`	Displays the status of the specified operation. The status can be one of the following: `running`: The restore operation is running. `completed`: The restore operation is complete. `failed`: The restore operation failed. `notfound`: The specified requestID is not found.
`core`		Manipulates cores.
	`--create <name> [-p <name>=<value>]`	Creates a new core. The core is configured using `<name>=<value>` pairs. For more information about configuration options, see Solr documentation
	`--reload <name>`	Reloads a core.
	`--unload <name>`	Unloads a core.
	`--status <name>`	Prints the status of a core.
`cluster`		Manages cluster configuration.
	`--get-solrxml <file>`	Downloads the cluster configuration file `solr.xml` from ZooKeeper to the local system.
	`--put-solrxml <file>`	Uploads the specified file to ZooKeeper as the cluster configuration file `solr.xml`.
	`--set-property <name> <value>`	Sets property names and values. For example, to configure a cluster to use TLS/SSL: `solrctl cluster --set-property urlScheme https`
	`--remove-property <name>`	Removes the specified property.
	`--get-clusterstate <file>`	Downloads the `clusterstate.json` file from ZooKeeper to the local system.