Integrating LucidWorks Cloud with Other Systems

Integration Questions Answered on this Page

What Solr versions do you support?

LucidWorks Platform uses Solr "trunk" as it's base, which is also known as Solr 4.0. To find out the exact version, click the 'Version' button in the bottom right-hand corner of the UI. 

Can I migrate my local Solr implementation to LucidWorks Cloud?

There is not yet an automated way to translate your Solr implementation to LucidWorks Cloud, but we can work with you to determine the best approach. Note that with LucidWorks Cloud there is no access to some of the lower-level Solr configuration files (such as schema.xml or solrconfig.xml), but in many cases we can help you modify those configuration files to work with LucidWorks Cloud.

In general, the most common modifications that people want to make to default Solr (such as adding or removing fields, creating or removing dynamic field rules, and tweaking some defaults) are possible through the Admin Console. So, while it's not possible to edit the underlying configuration files manually, it may be possible to attain the same configuration using the UI or the APIs.

Can I crawl the content on my corporate network?

That depends on the format of the documents and how they would to be accessed. First and foremost, the files need to be accessible to our crawlers, which since they operate in the cloud, may be considered "external" to your network. Check with your network administrators to see what types of access are allowed.

In addition, because some data source types have been disabled, documents that would require those types would not be as easily accessible. The corporate intranet, if accessible to an outside crawler agent, would be able to be crawled. An "external" data source could also be used, which allows documents to be pushed directly to Solr in lieu of using the crawlers embedded in LucidWorks Enterprise.

How many documents can I index / How many queries I can run?

For Amazon customers, there is an initial limit of 5 million documents or 100Gb of index space that can be used. Once this limit is reached, an email will be sent to notify the administrator, and new crawls can not be started. The 100Gb limit may be reached with less than 5 million documents depending on the index configuration - more fields stored and indexed will mean more space consumed by the index. There is no limit on the number of queries, or the number of queries per second, but if you anticipate a very high query rate let us know so we can provide you with the optimal environment to serve your users.

For Windows Azure customers, these are determined by your subscription plan.

General tips:

• It's best to plan your index fields carefully to maximize use of the available space.
• Keep queries simple- the more complex features can use a lot of time and sometimes require more complex indexes.

How do I use the REST API in the Cloud environment?

The main Collections page in the Admin UI for your instance displays an "Access URL". The default displays the URL to access Solr directly. Click the REST API button to see the base URL for all REST API calls. Access to the REST API and Solr are secured with Basic Authentication. See Secure API Access for more information.

The examples in the REST API documentation assume a base URL of "http://localhost:8888/" or "http://localhost:8989/". All Cloud instances use an URL with "https://s-XXXXXXXX.lucidworks.io" where XXXXXXXX is 8 characters (letters or numbers). So, if your instance URL is "https://s-9sdff10b.lucidworks.io/" you would use that in place of any example API calls that used "http://localhost:8888". For example, this call to get all collections:

curl 'http://localhost:8888/api/collections'

would be changed to:

curl -u 'API_Key:password' 'https://s-9sdff10b.lucidworks.io/api/collections'

The API_Key is described in Secure API Access.

For users on LucidWorks Cloud for Windows Azure, the above URL would be: 'https://s-9sdff10b.azure.lucidworks.io/api/collections'

I have multiple users who need to access the Admin Console, how can I get accounts for them?

Only a single user can have a login to the LucidWorks Cloud front end, but you can set up as many users as you'd like to access the Admin Console by clicking the Users link at the upper right. All users must be created manually at this time.

How do I connect my application (for end-users) to LucidWorks Cloud?

The LucidWorks Platform (in either form, on-premise or in the cloud) includes a sample search UI to run queries during the development cycle. We don't expect, however, that most users will go live with that application.  Instead, we've enabled full access to all of the Solr APIs which allow full control over how queries are processed and how results are presented to users.  Options to control result grouping, faceting, spell check, highlighting and more are documented in detail in the chapter on Searching in our Solr Reference Guide.

Solr also includes several output options for the results themselves, such as XML, JSON, PHP, Python, Ruby and even CSV, to make integration with existing applications easier.

Can I have a development environment and a production environment?

You can, but the development environment will be provisioned as a separate LucidWorks Cloud instance.  There is also not currently a way to keep multiple instances in sync.

Can I connect my user authentication system (such as LDAP or Active Directory) to LucidWorks Cloud?

Not at this time. Customers usually want to do this to handle authentication to the front-end search application. Since the included search interface is meant to be used as a development tool, you can design your production search interface to interact with your LDAP or Active Directory system in the way that works best for you. Additional users for the Admin Console can be configured manually through the Admin Console (the Users link at the upper right).

How are system upgrades handled?

The LucidWorks Platform is in active development and as updates are available we will upgrade customer instances. Our general process includes extensive internal testing of the new release and when we are ready to release we'll notify you of the planned maintenance window.  The length of the window will vary with the update, but as a general rule we don't anticipate needing more than 2 hours for each update.  Our notification will include the impact of the changes on your instance including new features and bug fixes.  We send out another update when we have completed the update so you know when it's done.

New Accounts

Frequently Asked Questions

Backups and Failover