📚 Moodle + OpenSolr Integration Guide

Get Global Search working in Moodle LMS using the mighty power of OpenSolr
No servers? No problem. OpenSolr gives you a fully hosted Solr instance so you can focus on what matters — teaching, not taming Java demons.

🧰 What You’ll Need

Before Moodle and OpenSolr can become besties, you’ll need:

• An active OpenSolr account
• Your Solr endpoint details:
  • Solr Hostname
  • Port
  • Solr Path/Core
  • Username & Password (provided by Opensolr)
• Access to your Moodle site's admin interface (preferably with a cup of coffee)

🚀 Step-by-Step Integration

Step 1: Prepare Your Solr Core in OpenSolr

1. Log in to the OpenSolr dashboard.
2. Create a new Solr Index — name it something like moodle_index.
3. Use the Moodle-provided schema.xml for best compatibility:
   • Find it here:

     /your/moodle/path/search/engine/solr/schema.xml
     

   • Upload the schema to your OpenSolr core (via the control panel or API).
4. No need to Restart / Reload the Opensolr index, but you can also do that if you must, from the Opensolr Control Panel.

Step 2: Enable Global Search in Moodle

1. Moodle Admin Panel → Site administration > Advanced features
2. Check ✔️ Enable global search
3. Save changes (and breathe)

Step 3: Enable Solr Search Engine

1. Moodle Admin Panel → Site administration > Plugins > Search > Manage global search engines
2. Enable the Solr engine

Step 4: Configure Solr Settings in Moodle

Go to:
Site administration > Plugins > Search > Solr

Now fill in the juicy bits:

Click Save changes, and Moodle will try to handshake with Solr like two polite British gentlemen.

Step 5: Test & Index Content

1. After saving, Moodle will test the connection.
2. Navigate to: Site administration > Search > Index data
3. Click Start indexing
4. Watch your content go zooming into Solr

🧪 Optional: Trigger Indexing via CLI

If your cron is still on vacation:

php admin/tool/task/cli/schedule_task.php --execute=\core\task\search_index_task

✅ You’re Done!

Now Moodle's search box is powered by OpenSolr — lightning fast, globally scalable, and no server maintenance nightmares.

If Moodle search was a sleepy librarian before, now it's a caffeinated research assistant.

Need help? Holler at: [email protected]