Creating & Managing Solr Indexes

Creating Indexes

An Opensolr index is a searchable container for your data. Before you can search anything, you need to create at least one index. This page walks you through the entire process, from choosing a name to understanding replicas. If you prefer to create indexes programmatically, see the API: Create New Solr Index documentation.

Creating an index takes about 30 seconds. Once it is ready, you can immediately start adding data and running searches.

How to Create an Index

Follow these steps to create a new Opensolr index from your dashboard.

Log in to your Opensolr account at opensolr.com/signin. You will land on the dashboard.
Click the "Create New Index" button at the top of the page. A creation form will appear.
Enter a name for your index. This will become part of your index URL. Choose something short, descriptive, and lowercase. See the naming rules below.
Select an index type. Choose "Generic" for most use cases, "Ecommerce" if you are building a product catalog, or "Drupal" if you use the Drupal CMS. Each type comes with a pre-configured schema optimized for its purpose.
Choose a server region. Pick the location closest to your users for the fastest response times. If most of your visitors are in Europe, pick a European server. If they are in the US, pick a US server.
Click "Create" and wait about 30 seconds. Opensolr provisions the index on the selected server, sets up the schema, and assigns replica servers. When it is done, you will see your new index in the dashboard.

Index Types

When you create an index, you choose a type. The type determines the pre-configured schema (the fields and rules your index starts with). You can always customize the schema later.

Not sure which type to pick?

Go with Generic. It works for almost every use case and has dynamic fields that automatically accept any data you send. You can always customize the schema later in the Configuration tab.

Server Regions

Opensolr runs servers in multiple regions around the world. When you create an index, pick the region closest to the majority of your users. Closer means faster response times. You can also retrieve the full list of available regions programmatically via the API: Get Available Regions endpoint.

US Central (Chicago) EU Central (Germany) EU North (Finland) EU West (United Kingdom)

Latency matters

A server in Chicago responding to a user in Chicago takes about 5-20 milliseconds. The same server responding to a user in Tokyo might take 150-200 milliseconds. Pick the region where most of your users are located for the fastest experience.

You can change regions later

If you picked the wrong region, you can clone your index to a different region. Your data is copied over automatically. See the "Cloning an Index" section below.

Index Naming Rules

Your index name becomes part of the URL, so it needs to follow a few simple rules:

Rule	Example	Valid?
Use lowercase letters only	`mystore`	Yes
Hyphens are allowed	`my-online-store`	Yes
Numbers are allowed	`store2024`	Yes
No spaces	`my store`	No
No uppercase letters	`MyStore`	No
No special characters	`my_store!`	No
Must be unique across Opensolr	(already taken)	No

Index names cannot be changed after creation

Choose your name carefully. Once an index is created, the name is permanent. If you need a different name, you will have to create a new index with the desired name and migrate your data to it.

Cloning an Index

Cloning creates an exact copy of an existing index — same data, same schema, same configuration. The clone is a completely independent index that you can modify without affecting the original. To clone indexes via the API, see API: Replicate Solr Index.

Common reasons to clone an index:

Testing changes: Clone your production index, experiment on the clone, and only apply changes to production when you are satisfied with the results.
Changing regions: Clone to a different server region to serve users in a new geographic area.
Creating a staging environment: Keep a clone as a staging/test version of your search index.

Deleting an Index

Deleting an index is permanent and irreversible

When you delete an index, all data, configuration, backups, and search history associated with it are permanently destroyed. There is no "undo" button. Make absolutely sure you want to delete before confirming. To delete indexes programmatically, see API: Delete Solr Index.

To delete an index:

Select the index you want to delete from the index dropdown at the top of the dashboard.
Go to the Info tab and scroll down to the danger zone at the bottom of the page.
Click "Delete Index" and confirm the deletion when prompted. You may be asked to type the index name to confirm.

Create a backup first

Before deleting, consider creating a backup of your index. If you change your mind later, you can restore the backup into a new index.

Understanding Replicas

Every Opensolr index automatically gets one or more replica servers. A replica is a mirror copy of your index running on a separate physical server. Replicas serve two purposes:

High Availability

If the primary server experiences any issues, search requests are automatically routed to the replica. Your users never see downtime. This happens transparently — no action needed from you.

Load Distribution

When search traffic is high, queries are spread across both the primary and replica servers. This means faster response times during traffic spikes — both servers share the workload.

Replicas are automatic and free

You do not need to set up or pay extra for replicas. Every Opensolr index gets replica servers included with your plan. The replica hosts are shown on your dashboard Info tab. To learn about the differences between Shared, Dedicated, and Resilient plans, see Shared, Dedicated & Resilient Cluster Solutions.