Can't reindex with sunspot / solr in rails app - Error: Severe errors in solr configuration

Question

Ok, so I have a simple rails application and now i'm trying to implement sunspot for search capabilities. However, after I've generated the config file with rails g sunspot_rails:install and after I've started the server and it has made the solr-dir in my rails app-dir and i run bundle exec rake sunspot:solr:reindex I get the following trace:

cakism@saraswati:~/railscode/calendar$ bundle exec rake sunspot:solr:reindex --trace
** Invoke sunspot:solr:reindex (first_time)
** Invoke sunspot:reindex (first_time)
** Invoke environment (first_time)
** Execute environment
** Execute sunspot:reindex
Skipping progress bar: for progress reporting, add gem 'progress_bar' to your Gemfile
rake aborted!
RSolr::Error::Http - 500 Internal Server Error
Error: Severe errors in solr configuration.

Check your log files for more detailed information on what may be wrong.

If you want solr to continue after configuration errors, change:

 <abortOnConfigurationError>false</abortOnConfigurationError>

in null

-------------------------------------------------------------

Request Data: "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?><delete><query>type:Event</query></delete>"

Backtrace: /var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/rsolr-1.0.7/lib/rsolr/client.rb:230:in `adapt_response'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/rsolr-1.0.7/lib/rsolr/client.rb:167:in `execute'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/rsolr-1.0.7/lib/rsolr/client.rb:161:in `send_and_receive'
(eval):2:in `post'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/rsolr-1.0.7/lib/rsolr/client.rb:67:in `update'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/rsolr-1.0.7/lib/rsolr/client.rb:131:in `delete_by_query'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/sunspot-1.3.0/lib/sunspot/indexer.rb:55:in `remove_all'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/sunspot-1.3.0/lib/sunspot/session.rb:181:in `remove_all'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/sunspot-1.3.0/lib/sunspot/session.rb:181:in `each'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/sunspot-1.3.0/lib/sunspot/session.rb:181:in `remove_all'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/sunspot-1.3.0/lib/sunspot/session_proxy/abstract_session_proxy.rb:11:in `remove_all'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/rsolr-1.0.7/lib/rsolr/client.rb:230:in `adapt_response'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/rsolr-1.0.7/lib/rsolr/client.rb:167:in `execute'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/rsolr-1.0.7/lib/rsolr/client.rb:161:in `send_and_receive'
(eval):2:in `post'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/rsolr-1.0.7/lib/rsolr/client.rb:67:in `update'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/rsolr-1.0.7/lib/rsolr/client.rb:131:in `delete_by_query'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/sunspot-1.3.0/lib/sunspot/indexer.rb:55:in `remove_all'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/sunspot-1.3.0/lib/sunspot/session.rb:181:in `remove_all'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/sunspot-1.3.0/lib/sunspot/session.rb:181:in `each'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/sunspot-1.3.0/lib/sunspot/session.rb:181:in `remove_all'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/sunspot-1.3.0/lib/sunspot/session_proxy/abstract_session_proxy.rb:11:in `remove_all'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/sunspot-1.3.0/lib/sunspot.rb:464:in `remove_all'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/sunspot_rails-1.3.0/lib/sunspot/rails/searchable.rb:178:in `solr_remove_all_from_index'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/sunspot_rails-1.3.0/lib/sunspot/rails/searchable.rb:197:in `solr_reindex'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/sunspot_rails-1.3.0/lib/sunspot/rails/tasks.rb:54
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/sunspot-1.3.0/lib/sunspot/class_set.rb:16:in `each'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/sunspot-1.3.0/lib/sunspot/class_set.rb:16:in `each'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/sunspot_rails-1.3.0/lib/sunspot/rails/tasks.rb:53
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.9.2.2/lib/rake/task.rb:205:in `call'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.9.2.2/lib/rake/task.rb:205:in `execute'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.9.2.2/lib/rake/task.rb:200:in `each'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.9.2.2/lib/rake/task.rb:200:in `execute'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.9.2.2/lib/rake/task.rb:158:in `invoke_with_call_chain'
/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/monitor.rb:242:in `synchronize'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.9.2.2/lib/rake/task.rb:151:in `invoke_with_call_chain'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.9.2.2/lib/rake/task.rb:176:in `invoke_prerequisites'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.9.2.2/lib/rake/task.rb:174:in `each'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.9.2.2/lib/rake/task.rb:174:in `invoke_prerequisites'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.9.2.2/lib/rake/task.rb:157:in `invoke_with_call_chain'
/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/monitor.rb:242:in `synchronize'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.9.2.2/lib/rake/task.rb:151:in `invoke_with_call_chain'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.9.2.2/lib/rake/task.rb:144:in `invoke'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.9.2.2/lib/rake/application.rb:116:in `invoke_task'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.9.2.2/lib/rake/application.rb:94:in `top_level'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.9.2.2/lib/rake/application.rb:94:in `each'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.9.2.2/lib/rake/application.rb:94:in `top_level'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.9.2.2/lib/rake/application.rb:133:in `standard_exception_handling'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.9.2.2/lib/rake/application.rb:88:in `top_level'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.9.2.2/lib/rake/application.rb:66:in `run'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.9.2.2/lib/rake/application.rb:133:in `standard_exception_handling'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.9.2.2/lib/rake/application.rb:63:in `run'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/rake-0.9.2.2/bin/rake:33
/var/lib/gems/1.8/bin/rake:19:in `load'
/var/lib/gems/1.8/bin/rake:19
Tasks: TOP => sunspot:solr:reindex => sunspot:reindex

I am specially curious about this:

If you want solr to continue after configuration errors, change:

 <abortOnConfigurationError>false</abortOnConfigurationError>

in null

Why would it say in null? Other posts with the same problem as I have has specified the solr/conf/solrconfig.xml, and also, when I change it to false, nothing else happens.

If I remove the searchable block from my model, I don't get any error (but I suppose that's because it doesn't try to do anything then)

I've run the config file through an XML validator, and it says it's bad start-tag name at 2<-1 5<-2 6<90%. However, even if I remove the lines which then gives a valid XML, restart solr, and try to reindex, I still get the same error.

I'm starting to get desperate here, so any help is greatly appriciated!

Answer 1

I was having a very similar problem and solved it by

• stopping all running solr processes
• removing the solr folder
• turn off/restart the computer
• gem uninstall all related gems
• bundle install
• start solr
• reindex solr

Answer 2

it happened to me occasionally.. in my case it was solr (not sunspot) issue

try to go to

http://localhost:8982/solr/admin

or http://localhost:8983/solr/admin

or http://[your.domain]:8983/solr/admin

(depending on what environment you use)

to see what error you have under solr web server

i saw the java error message and fixed it with just deleting index directory and restarting solr

and it began to behave as expected

hope it helped