Why is SIF failing to create Solr core?

Question

I am trying to install Sitecore XP9 by following the installation guide as described in Chapter 5 of the Sitecore Experience Platform Installation Guide. After creating a Powershell script as described in section 5.2.1, when I run it, I get the following error:

I had previously installed Solr 6.6.1 with an SSL self-signed certificate according to the following links:

• https://lucene.apache.org/solr/guide/6_6/enabling-ssl.html
• https://lucene.apache.org/solr/guide/6_6/installing-solr.html
• https://www.norconex.com/how-to-run-solr5-as-a-service-on-windows/

This instance is up and running as displayed in the image below.

I don't have the slightest idea of what is going on. Anyone?

Answer 1

Your SOLR instance is not secure. I recommend you install Solr 6.6.2, it works better than 6.6.1.

To make your solr instance secure please follow these steps:

Using the JDK Keytool command we can create self-signed certificates to be used by the SOLR instance. For the following steps, the following variables are used.

You should replace these variables with your applicable path when typing out the commands.

{JAVA_HOME} : The path where you have Java installed (e.g.C:\Program Files (x86)\jre1.8.0_131)

{SOLR_HOME} : The path where you have Solr installed (e.g. C:\solr\solr-6.6.2)

NOTE: The following steps are based on instructions provided by Apache (https://lucene.apache.org/solr/guide/6_6/enabling-ssl.html) with alterations that I used to simplify the flow:

1. Open command prompt

2. Change to the Solr 'etc' directory: cd "{SOLR_HOME}\server\etc"

3. Execute the keygentool command

"{JAVA_HOME}\bin\keytool.exe" -genkeypair -alias solr-ssl -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -keypass secret -storepass secret -validity 9999 -keystore solr-ssl.keystore.jks -ext SAN=DNS:localhost,IP:127.0.0.1 -dname "CN=localhost, OU=Organizational Unit, O=Organization, L=Location, ST=State, C=Country"

This will generate the keystore with a password of 'secret' as valid for localhost and 127.0.0.1. You can add other DNS and IPs as desired, or skip hostname verification. See full instructions at: https://lucene.apache.org/solr/guide/6_6/enabling-ssl.html

4. Convert generated JKS to PKCS12

   "{JAVA_HOME}\bin\keytool.exe" -importkeystore -srckeystore solr-ssl.keystore.jks -destkeystore solr-ssl.keystore.p12 -srcstoretype jks -deststoretype pkcs12

5. Enter password when prompted. The password secret was used in the previous step. Remember to use your password instead if you changed it in the keygen command parameters.

6. Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the 'etc' directory ("{SOLR_HOME}\server\etc")

7. Double-click on the generated 'p12' file (solr-ssl.keystore.p12 if you used the default parameters from the previous steps)

8. In the dialog, specify the following values: Store Location: Local Machine File name: Leave as provided Password: secret Certificate Store: Trusted Root Certification Authorities Remember to use your password instead if you changed it during the previous steps.

9. Open the solr.in.cmd file for editing (e.g. {SOLR_HOME}\bin\solr.in.cmd)

10. Edit the SSL settings:

set SOLR_SSL_KEY_STORE=etc/solr-ssl.keystore.jks

set SOLR_SSL_KEY_STORE_PASSWORD=secret

set SOLR_SSL_TRUST_STORE=etc/solr-ssl.keystore.jks

set SOLR_SSL_TRUST_STORE_PASSWORD=secret

set SOLR_SSL_NEED_CLIENT_AUTH=false

set SOLR_SSL_WANT_CLIENT_AUTH=false

Remember to update passwords and file paths to match to the parameters you specified.

11. Restart SOLR to pick up the changes.

Answer 2

Judging from the screenshot, you are missing a self-signed certificate. When the certificate is correctly installed, Chrome considers Solr admin page as "Secured" as opposed to "Not secure" that you're having at the moment.

There is already a number of powershell scripts prepared by the community that automate Solr installation and https setup. This question mentions at least 2 scripts.