Sitecore Publishing target and Solr Configuration

Creating a new publishing target is very helpful if your Sitecore environment is setup in multiple content delivery servers. We can publish data from Master database to one or more publishing target databases. Main thing to notice here is Master database contains all versions of any content or assets while publishing target database contains single latest version for each language.

     This post aims to provide systematic instructions to set up publishing target. It comprises of a target database (where the content will be published) and publishing target definition item in master database that points to that target database. 

    

     Post creation of publishing target need to take care of Solr configuration. This post cove master slave Solr configuration and onPublishEndAsync strategy. We are using 1 Solr Master instance and 6 Slave instance (2-EU, 2-Ap, 2- NA).

   

1   Software used for this post

a.      OS – Window 7/ Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise

b.      CMS – Sitecore 8.0 (Update 1)

c.      Solr ( Master and Slave ) 

d.      SQL Server

                   

2   Publishing Target Configuration

2.1   Entry in ConnectionString.config

Create target database (where the content will be published) and do entry in  /App_Config/Include/ConnectionString.config file.

<add name="web_us" connectionString="Trusted_Connection=Yes;Data Source=T-SC_SQL\SITECORE;Database=PublishSCDBUSSitecore_Web" />

2.2    Entry in  Sitecore.config

Open /App_Config/Include/Sitecore.config file and search for <databases> node.

Copy and paste existing <database> node  “web” and change the database id with the connection string name (web_us).

<!-- web _us-->

    <database id="web_us" singleInstance="true" type="Sitecore.Data.Database, Sitecore.Kernel">

      <param desc="name">$(id)</param>

      <icon>Images/database_web.png</icon>

      <securityEnabled>true</securityEnabled>

      <dataProviders hint="list:AddDataProvider">

        <dataProvider ref="dataProviders/main" param1="$(id)">

          <disableGroup>publishing</disableGroup>

          <prefetch hint="raw:AddPrefetch">

            <sc.include file="/App_Config/Prefetch/Common.config"/>

            <sc.include file="/App_Config/Prefetch/Webdb.config"/>

          </prefetch>

        </dataProvider>

      </dataProviders>

      <proxiesEnabled>false</proxiesEnabled>

      <proxyDataProvider ref="proxyDataProviders/main" param1="$(id)"/>

      <archives hint="raw:AddArchive">

        <archive name="archive"/>

        <archive name="recyclebin"/>

      </archives>

           <Engines.HistoryEngine.Storage>

          <obj type="Sitecore.Data.$(database).$(database)HistoryStorage, Sitecore.Kernel">

            <param connectionStringName="$(id)" />

            <EntryLifeTime>30.00:00:00</EntryLifeTime>

          </obj>

        </Engines.HistoryEngine.Storage>

        <Engines.HistoryEngine.SaveDotNetCallStack>false</Engines.HistoryEngine.SaveDotNetCallStack>

      <cacheSizes hint="setting">

        <data>500MB</data>

        <items>300MB</items>

        <paths>500KB</paths>

        <itempaths>10MB</itempaths>

        <standardValues>5MB</standardValues>

      </cacheSizes>

    </database>

2.3         Add publishing target definition item in master database.  

Follow below steps to add publishing target in Sitecore master DB.

A)      Navigate to /sitecore/system/Publishing targets. Right click and add insert new publishing target.

B)      Give any significant name to publishing target definition item.  Enter database id (web_us) in the Target database Field. 

C)      Open Sitecore publishing dialog and you can see newly created publishing target.

                               

              

3        Solr Configuration  

3.1    Create publishing strategy : we need to push the content from newly created DB to respective solr core.

·        Open file  App_Config/Include/Sitecore.ContentSearch.DefaultConfigurations.config

·        Copy already existing respective strategy and paste it.  

·        Change the name of strategy and provide the correct DB name as specified in connection string.

<onPublishEndAsyncWebUS type="Sitecore.ContentSearch.Maintenance.Strategies.OnPublishEndAsynchronousStrategy, Sitecore.ContentSearch">

            <param desc="database">web_us</param>

            <!-- Whether or not a full index rebuild should be triggered when the number of items in the EventQueue exceeds the number specified

               in ContentSearch.FullRebuildItemCountThreshold. -->

            <CheckForThreshold>true</CheckForThreshold>

 </onPublishEndAsyncWebUS>

3.2   Create another solr index related to current target database  and set the newly created strategy.

·        Create new file inside path: App_Config/Include and copy the data from another solr web index.    

New File Name :  Sitecore.ContentSearch.Solr.Index.NA.Web.config

·        Enter the meaningful index name ex : na_web_us_index

·        Enter newly created strategy Ex: onPublishEndAsyncWebUS

·        Enter newly created database for each crawler. Ex : Web_US

                                 

<indexes hint="list:AddIndex">

          <index id="na_web_us_index" type="Sitecore.ContentSearch.SolrProvider.SolrSearchIndex, Sitecore.ContentSearch.SolrProvider">

            <param desc="name">$(id)</param>

            <param desc="core">$(id)</param>

            <param desc="propertyStore" ref="contentSearch/indexConfigurations/databasePropertyStore" param1="$(id)" />

            <configuration ref="contentSearch/indexConfigurations/defaultSolrIndexConfiguration" />

            <strategies hint="list:AddStrategy">

              <strategy ref="contentSearch/indexConfigurations/indexUpdateStrategies/ onPublishEndAsyncWebUS" />

            </strategies>

            <locations hint="list:AddCrawler">

              <crawler type="Sitecore.ContentSearch.SitecoreItemCrawler, Sitecore.ContentSearch">

                <Database>web_us</Database>

                <Root>/sitecore/content/NA</Root>

              </crawler>

              <crawler type="Sitecore.ContentSearch.SitecoreItemCrawler, Sitecore.ContentSearch">

                <Database> web_us</Database>

                <Root>/sitecore/content/Shared Data</Root>

              </crawler>

              <crawler type="Sitecore.ContentSearch.SitecoreItemCrawler, Sitecore.ContentSearch">

                <Database>web_us</Database>

                <Root>/sitecore/media library/NA</Root>

              </crawler>

            </locations>

            <enableItemLanguageFallback>false</enableItemLanguageFallback>

            <enableFieldLanguageFallback>false</enableFieldLanguageFallback>

          </index>

3.3 Create another solr core inside CMS solr setup (Master) with current target database. 

Note: Master solr URL is : http://10.1.16.13:8983/solr

EX: Core Name -  na_web_us_index

3.4 Create another solr core inside CD solr setup (Slave) with current target database. 

Note: Create core for each slave with current database ID and modify master Url in solrconfig.xml file accordingly.

EX: Core Name - na_web_us_index

<requestHandler name="/replication" class="solr.ReplicationHandler" >

    <lst name="slave">

      <!--fully qualified url for the replication handler of master. It is possible

               to pass on this as

               a request param for the fetchindex command-->

      <str name="masterUrl">http://10.1.16.13:8983/solr/na_web_us_index/replication</str>

      <!--Interval in which the slave should poll master .Format is HH:mm:ss . If

               this is absent slave does not

               poll automatically.

               But a fetchindex can be triggered from the admin or the http API -->

      <str name="pollInterval">00:00:20</str>

    </lst>

  </requestHandler>

Happy configuration :) Feel free if you face any issue with same.