Why Monitor Apache Solr?

Apache Solr is one of the most popular, blazing-fast, open-source enterprise search platforms built on Apache Lucene. Apache Solr is highly reliable, scalable and fault tolerant, providing distributed indexing, replication and load-balanced querying, automated failover and recovery, centralized configuration and more. Apache Solr powers the search and navigation features of many of the world's largest internet sites. To periodically check the efficiency of this search engine and to proactively alert administrators to inconsistencies in its performance, eG Enterprise offers a specialized monitoring model for Apache Solr. Using the eG Monitor for Apache Solr, administrators monitor the Lucene index and collect a slew of performance metrics. The administrative task handlers on the Lucene index are monitored periodically and the administrative task handler that is error-prone and is taking too long to process requests is identified. The count of cache indexes and the number of documents added to the cache indexes can be measured. In addition, the Monitor tracks the search queries processed, reports the time taken for query execution, and pinpoints the queries that are error-prone and are taking too long to execute. The update handlers on each index are monitored periodically, and the update handler that is taking too long to process requests are identified. The Monitor also reports whether replication is enabled on each index and if replication is enabled, additionally reports the time duration of the request handler and the request processing capability of the index.

This model alerts administrators to real and potential issues in the overall performance of the Apache Solr by highlighting the following:

  • The request load and errors on client and server side.

  • Cache efficiency and replication status.

  • Throughput of the searches and overall update and search performance.

This way, eG Enterprise ensures smooth functioning of the Apache Solr and also helps in timely resolution of issues identified with respect to throughput of the client searches. This systematic approach paves way for optimal performance of the Apache Solr at all times.