Solr on Windows with Sitecore

Question

I am trying to setup solr to work with Sitecore. Locally, it was easy to set up on my Windows machine. In the other environments I naturally want to use a dedicated Solr server.

The question is: can I use a Windows machine to act as a Solr server and would that be sensible to do so? Does Solr on Windows have all the capabilities that Solr on Linux has, for example, in scaling out scenario's? My experience with Linux is limited, so my preferred solution would be to go with Windows, but I need to know if this will not bite in the long run.

Answer 1

You are good to go with Windows.

There was same question asked on community.sitecore.net and was already answered there by Jason St-Cyr: SOLR on Windows instead of Linux

I will let those with specific Linux experience speak to the actual SOLR performance, though I've heard anecdotally that there is a performance benefit to running on Linux. However, I always recommend that regardless of minor performance benefits that an organization should look at the cost of ownership.

If your organization doesn't have a team that knows how to manage a Windows server, you shouldn't be adding a Windows server just for SOLR. Similarly for Linux... you will run into far higher costs of ownership bringing in operating systems that your team does not know how to operate or manage. When you have something like SOLR that can run on either, I find it best to go with the operating system that fits best into your organization's regular backup and maintenance practices.

Answer 2

As Marek says, you can go for Windows.

For a single Solr installation, there are no issues. I've been running them on Windows for years without issues.

For your scaling options: it is also possible to run SolrCloud with Zookeeper on windows machines. We just did it on a project that will go into production very soon. But.. in the docs for Zookeeper they mention:

Win32 is supported as a development platform only for both server and client.

where as Linux is mentioned as supported for development and production.

But the advice Jason gave on the Sitecore community site (quoted by Marek) is in my opinion probably the best one: if you are familiar with Windows and not with Linux, choose the familiar one.