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Alfresco Search Services

Installation options

You can install Search Services in two different ways using the distribution zip, the first is with mutual TLS, and the second is without mutual TLS (HTTP with secret word in request header).

Important: From version 2.0, you cannot install Search Services without mutual TLS (plain HTTP) because it is no longer supported.

Install with mutual TLS

Use this information to install Search Services on the same machine as Alfresco Content Services with mutual TLS.

Mutual TLS is used for authentication between the Repository and Search Services.

This task assumes you have:

  • Installed Alfresco Content Services 6.2 or above, see Supported platforms.

  • Set the following properties in the <TOMCAT_HOME>/shared/classes/alfresco-global.properties file:

      index.subsystem.name=solr6
  solr.secureComms=https
  solr.port=8983

Note: If using the Community Edition of Content Services, the <TOMCAT_HOME>/shared/classes/alfresco-global.properties file is already set up as required.

Important: Alfresco strongly recommends you use firewalls and other infrastructure means to ensure the Search Services server is not accessible from anything other than trusted hosts and/or users, and only on the ports needed for Search Services.

  1. Download alfresco-search-services-2.0.x.zip from the Hyland Community if you are an Alfresco Content Services Enterprise user, or from Alfresco Community Edition if you are an Alfresco Content Services Community user.

  2. Extract the Search Services distribution.

    By default, the contents of alfresco-search-services-2.0.x.zip are decompressed in a root folder as /alfresco-search-services. See Search Services directory structure for more details.

  3. If you use several languages across your organization, you must enable cross-language search support in all fields. To do this update the alfresco-search-services/solrhome/conf/shared.properties file:

     alfresco.cross.locale.datatype.0={http://www.alfresco.org/model/dictionary/1.0}text
 alfresco.cross.locale.datatype.1={http://www.alfresco.org/model/dictionary/1.0}content
 alfresco.cross.locale.datatype.2={http://www.alfresco.org/model/dictionary/1.0}mltext

  4. (Optional) Suggestion is disabled by default. To enable suggestion update the alfresco-search-services/solrhome/conf/shared.properties file.

     alfresco.suggestable.property.0={http://www.alfresco.org/model/content/1.0}name
 alfresco.suggestable.property.1={http://www.alfresco.org/model/content/1.0}title
 alfresco.suggestable.property.2={http://www.alfresco.org/model/content/1.0}description
 alfresco.suggestable.property.3={http://www.alfresco.org/model/content/1.0}content

    Note: The spell check functionality does not work with Search Services when suggestion is enabled.

  5. To secure access to Search Services, you must create a new set of keystores and keys.

    1. Generate secure keys specific to your Alfresco installation. For more information, see Secure keys.

    2. Create a new keystore directory at alfresco-search-services/solrhome.

    3. In the production environment, copy your custom keystore and truststore to the alfresco-search-services/solrhome/keystore directory.

    4. Update the SSL-related system properties by replacing <SOLR_HOME> with alfresco-search-services/solrhome, and set your keystore and truststore passwords.

      (Windows) update the alfresco-search-services/solr.in.cmd file:

       set SOLR_SSL_KEY_STORE=<SOLR_HOME>/keystore/ssl-repo-client.keystore
 set SOLR_SSL_KEY_STORE_PASSWORD=keystore
 set SOLR_SSL_KEY_STORE_TYPE=JCEKS
 set SOLR_SSL_TRUST_STORE=<SOLR_HOME>/keystore/ssl-repo-client.truststore
 set SOLR_SSL_TRUST_STORE_PASSWORD=truststore
 set SOLR_SSL_TRUST_STORE_TYPE=JCEKS
 set SOLR_SSL_NEED_CLIENT_AUTH=true
 set SOLR_SSL_WANT_CLIENT_AUTH=false

      (Linux) update the alfresco-search-services/solr.in.sh file:

       SOLR_SSL_KEY_STORE=<SOLR_HOME>/keystore/ssl-repo-client.keystore
 SOLR_SSL_KEY_STORE_PASSWORD=keystore
 SOLR_SSL_KEY_STORE_TYPE=JCEKS
 SOLR_SSL_TRUST_STORE=<SOLR_HOME>/keystore/ssl-repo-client.truststore
 SOLR_SSL_TRUST_STORE_PASSWORD=truststore
 SOLR_SSL_TRUST_STORE_TYPE=JCEKS
 SOLR_SSL_NEED_CLIENT_AUTH=true
 SOLR_SSL_WANT_CLIENT_AUTH=false

    5. Set the SOLR_PORT environment variable:

      (Windows) update the alfresco-search-services/solr.in.cmd file:

       set SOLR_PORT=8983

      (Linux) update the alfresco-search-services/solr.in.sh file:

       SOLR_PORT=8983

  6. (Optional) If you want to install Search Services on a separate machine, set the SOLR_SOLR_HOST and SOLR_ALFRESCO_HOST environment variables before starting Search Services, for more see Configuring Search Services.

    (Windows) update the alfresco-search-services/solr.in.cmd file:

     set SOLR_SOLR_HOST=localhost

     set SOLR_ALFRESCO_HOST=localhost

    (Linux) update the alfresco-search-services/solr.in.sh file:

     SOLR_SOLR_HOST=localhost

     SOLR_ALFRESCO_HOST=localhost

  7. To configure the Solr6 cores, set the following:

    • Before creating the alfresco and archive cores:
      • Set alfresco.secureComms=https in alfresco-search-services/solrhome/templates/rerank/conf/solrcore.properties.

      • Copy the custom keystores to the alfresco-search-services/solrhome/keystore directory.

          ssl-repo-client.keystore
  ssl-repo-client.truststore
    • If the alfresco and archive cores already exist, ensure that alfresco.secureComms is set to https for both the cores. For example:
      • alfresco-search-services/solrhome/alfresco/conf/solrcore.properties
      • alfresco-search-services/solrhome/archive/conf/solrcore.properties

  8. For running a single instance of Search Services use the following commands:

    Note: You should run this application as a dedicated user. For example, you can create a Solr user.

     cd alfresco-search-services
 ./solr/bin/solr start -a
 "-Dcreate.alfresco.defaults=alfresco,archive
 -Dsolr.ssl.checkPeerName=false
 -Dsolr.allow.unsafe.resourceloading=true
 -Dssl-keystore.password=keystore
 -Dssl-keystore.aliases=ssl-alfresco-ca,ssl-repo-client
 -Dssl-keystore.ssl-alfresco-ca.password=keystore
 -Dssl-keystore.ssl-repo-client.password=keystore
 -Dssl-truststore.password=truststore
 -Dssl-truststore.aliases=ssl-alfresco-ca,ssl-repo,ssl-repo-client
 -Dssl-truststore.ssl-alfresco-ca.password=truststore
 -Dssl-truststore.ssl-repo.password=truststore
 -Dssl-truststore.ssl-repo-client.password=truststore" -f

    Note: The -Dcreate.alfresco.defaults=alfresco,archive command automatically creates the alfresco and archive cores. Therefore, you should only start Search Services with -Dcreate.alfresco.defaults=alfresco,archive the first time you run Search Services. In addition, to ensure that Search Services connects using the IPv6 protocol instead of IPv4, add -Djava.net.preferIPv6Addresses=true to the startup parameters.

    The default port used is 8983.

    The command line parameter, -a passes additional JVM parameters, for example, system properties using -D.

    Once Search Services is up and running, you should see a message like:

     Waiting up to 180 seconds to see Solr running on port 8983 []  
 Started Solr server on port 8983 (pid=24289). Happy searching!

    To stop all instances of Search Services, use:

     ./solr/bin/solr stop

    The logs are stored in the alfresco-search-services/logs/solr.log file, by default. This can be configured in solr.in.sh (for Linux) or solr.in.cmd (for Windows) using SOLR_LOGS_DIR.

    You have successfully created an alfresco core and an archive core. To verify, in a browser, navigate to the Solr URL, https://localhost:8983/solr.

    Note: You need to install the browser.p12 certificate in your browser before accessing this URL.

    In the Solr Admin UI, select the core selector drop-down list and verify that both the alfresco and archive cores are present.

    Allow a few minutes for Search Services to start indexing.

    Note: The Admin Console is only available when you are using Alfresco Content Services Enterprise.

Install without mutual TLS (HTTP with secret word in request header)

Use this information to install Search Services on the same machine as Alfresco Content Services without mutual TLS, using HTTP with a secret word in the request header. This means communication between the Repository and Search Services is protected by a shared secret that is passed in a configurable Request HTTP Header.

Important: This installation method is only supported when using Content Services 7.2 and above.

This task assumes you have:

  • Installed Alfresco Content Services 7.2 or above.

  • Set the following properties in the <TOMCAT_HOME>/shared/classes/alfresco-global.properties file:

      index.subsystem.name=solr6
  solr.secureComms=secret
  solr.port=8983
  solr.sharedSecret=password

Important: To ensure the security of your system specify your own custom secret word for the solr.sharedSecret property, than the one provided in the example.

  1. Download alfresco-search-services-2.0.x.zip from the Hyland Community if you are an Alfresco Content Services Enterprise user, or from Alfresco Community Edition if you are an Alfresco Content Services Community user.

  2. Extract the Search Services distribution.

    By default, the contents of alfresco-search-services-2.0.x.zip are decompressed in a root folder as /alfresco-search-services. See Search Services directory structure for more details.

  3. Configure HTTP.

    Pass alfresco.secureComms.secret as a system property (using -D when starting Solr) by adding the startup parameters in step 7:

    -Dalfresco.secureComms=secret
-Dalfresco.secureComms.secret=password

    This ensures that the Solr cores are created in plain HTTP mode with the shared secret communication method. The property alfresco.secureComms.secret includes the same word used in the solr.sharedSecret property in the Repository configuration.

  4. If you use several languages across your organization, you must enable cross-language search support in all fields. To do this add the following to the alfresco-search-services/solrhome/conf/shared.properties file:

     alfresco.cross.locale.datatype.0={http://www.alfresco.org/model/dictionary/1.0}text
 alfresco.cross.locale.datatype.1={http://www.alfresco.org/model/dictionary/1.0}content
 alfresco.cross.locale.datatype.2={http://www.alfresco.org/model/dictionary/1.0}mltext

  5. (Optional) Suggestion is disabled by default. To enable suggestion update the alfresco-search-services/solrhome/conf/shared.properties file.

     alfresco.suggestable.property.0={http://www.alfresco.org/model/content/1.0}name
 alfresco.suggestable.property.1={http://www.alfresco.org/model/content/1.0}title
 alfresco.suggestable.property.2={http://www.alfresco.org/model/content/1.0}description
 alfresco.suggestable.property.3={http://www.alfresco.org/model/content/1.0}content

    Note: The spell check functionality works with Search Services when suggestion is enabled.

  6. (Optional) If you want to install Search Services on a separate machine, set the SOLR_SOLR_HOST and SOLR_ALFRESCO_HOST environment variables before starting Search Services, for more see Configuring Search Services.

    (Windows) update the alfresco-search-services/solr.in.cmd file:

     set SOLR_SOLR_HOST=localhost

     set SOLR_ALFRESCO_HOST=localhost

    (Linux) update the alfresco-search-services/solr.in.sh file:

     SOLR_SOLR_HOST=localhost

     SOLR_ALFRESCO_HOST=localhost

  7. To start Search Services with all the default settings, use the following command:

     ./solr/bin/solr start -a "-Dcreate.alfresco.defaults=alfresco,archive"

    The command line parameter, -a passes additional JVM parameters, for example, system properties using -D.

    Note: The -Dcreate.alfresco.defaults=alfresco,archive command automatically creates the alfresco and archive cores. Therefore, you should only start Search Services with -Dcreate.alfresco.defaults=alfresco,archive the first time you run Search Services. In addition, you should run this application as a dedicated user. For example, you can create a Solr user. Finally, to ensure that Search Services connects using the IPv6 protocol instead of IPv4, add -Djava.net.preferIPv6Addresses=true to the startup parameters.

    Once Search Services is up and running, you should see a message similar to the following:

     Waiting up to 180 seconds to see Solr running on port 8983 []
 Started Solr server on port 8983 (pid=24289). Happy searching!

    To stop the currently running Search Services instance, use:

     ./solr/bin/solr stop

    The logs are stored in the alfresco-search-services/logs/solr.log file, by default. This can be configured in solr.in.sh (for Linux) or solr.in.cmd (for Windows) using SOLR_LOGS_DIR.

    You have successfully created an alfresco core and an archive core. To verify, in a browser, navigate to the Solr URL, http://localhost:8983/solr. In the Solr Admin UI, select the core selector drop-down list and verify that both the alfresco and archive cores are present.

    Allow a few minutes for Search Services to start indexing.

  8. Go to Admin Console > Repository Services > Search Service and verify that:

    1. You see the Solr 6 option in the Search Service In Use list.

    2. Under Main (Workspace) Store Tracking Status, the Approx Transactions to Index is 0.

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