Creating a managed master or repeater in the managed configuration

You can create a managed master or repeater in the managed configuration. It is recommended to use only managed nodes as part of your production system.

Before you begin

Review the managed search topologies and select the one that meets your business needs.
Note: This task applies only to topology 2 or 3, as a managed master or repeater is required to be a member of the Solr cluster. If you have a business need to index under production, you must use one of these topologies. Therefore, the following steps help you change one of the search cluster's managed subordinate servers into either a master or a repeater.

About this task

The following list shows the high-level steps that are associated with creating a managed master node or managed repeater:
  1. A managed subordinate node is identified to become the managed master or repeater.
  2. The repeater server JVM is updated in the deployment manager to point to the matching managed search templates based on its role.
  3. Search query requests are disabled on the selected node.
  4. A server transport is opened for other subordinate servers to use for replication.
  5. The managed search templates are redeployed with the correct new repeater or master hostname and password.

Procedure

  1. Identify a managed subordinate node that will become the managed master or repeater. In this task, this node will be referred to as the repeater node.
  2. Update the repeater server JVM properties to point to the matching managed search templates.
    1. In the deployment manager, go to the search subordinate cluster members. WebSphere Application Server clusters > search_slave_cluster_name > Cluster members.
    2. For the target cluster member, go to the custom properties. search_server_name > Process definition > Java Virtual Machine > Custom properties.
    3. Click the solr.solr.home property and modify it to point to the repeater templates:

      ./installedApps/demo_search_cell/Search_demo.ear/managed-solr/repeater/solr/home

      • The demo_search_cell and Search_demo.ear values might be different on your system, depending on the names that were given when the search application was installed.
      • The value starts with a dot to indicate that it is a relative path to the server location on the file system. If the server you are updating is a managed master, use the following value instead:

        ./installedApps/demo_search_cell/Search_demo.ear/managed-solr/master/solr/home

    4. Save the property into the configuration.
  3. Disable forwarding search query requests to the repeater node.
    1. In the deployment manager, go to the search subordinate cluster members. WebSphere Application Server clusters > search_slave_cluster_name > Cluster members.
    2. Set the runtime and configured weight to 0 for the repeater server.
    3. Save the changes to the master configuration.
  4. Open a server transport for other subordinate servers to use for replication.
    1. In the deployment manager, go to the search subordinate cluster members. WebSphere Application Server clusters > search_slave_cluster_name > Cluster members.
    2. On the repeater cluster, go to repeater_server_name > Container Settings > Web Container Settings > Web container transport chains.
    3. Click New to create a new transport chain named replicationTransport. Then, click Next.
    4. Specify a port name, for example, replicationPort, and a port number, for example, 3636. Ensure that the host value is set to *.
    5. Click Save and Save to configuration.
    6. Go to Virtual Hosts > VH_instance_name_search > Host Aliases.
    7. Create new host aliases that point to the new replication port number created earlier in this step.
    8. Click Save and close and Save to configuration.
    9. Restart the repeater server.
  5. Generate the web plug-ins by selecting Web servers > search_server_name > Generate Plug-in. Then, after the plug-ins are generated, select Propagate Plug-in.
  6. Restart the search server.
  7. Redeploy the managed search templates with the correct new master or repeater host name and password.
    Note: If the deployed managed-solr templates do not include the repeater or master templates, ensure that you regenerate the template that corresponds to the managed node you created earlier in this task. For example, the repeater template.
    1. Open the solrhome/solr.xml file on both the repeater and subordinate templates for editing.
    2. Update the replication port number to the new value entered in the previous step.
      For example:
      
<core instanceDir="MC_masterCatalogId/en_US/CatalogEntry/" name="MC_masterCatalogId_CatalogEntry_en_US">
<property name="master.server.url" value="hostname:port"/>
<property name="replication.enable.slave" value="true"/>
<property name="solr.replication.pollInterval" value="00:00:30"/>
</core>
      Note: This step is required due to all the nodes being subordinates when first setting up the search cluster. This step can be ignored if you have already configured a repeater in the loading.properties file when setting up the search index structure in the managed configuration.
    3. Save your changes and close the file.
    4. Package the new solr.xml file into the search.zip file archive so that it can be deployed in the next task using the deployment manager.