System Requirements

You can install Solr in any system where a suitable Java Runtime Environment (JRE) is available.

Installation Requirements

Supported Operating Systems

Solr is tested on several versions of Linux, macOS and Windows.

Java Requirements

You will need the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) version 11 or higher. At a command line, check your Java version like this:

$ java -version
openjdk version "11.0.14.1" 2022-02-08
OpenJDK Runtime Environment Temurin-11.0.14.1+1 (build 11.0.14.1+1)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM Temurin-11.0.14.1+1 (build 11.0.14.1+1, mixed mode)

The exact output will vary, but you need to make sure you meet the minimum version requirement. We also recommend choosing a version that is not end-of-life from its vendor. It’s also preferred to use the latest available official release.

Some versions of Java VM have bugs that may impact your implementation. To be sure, check the page Lucene Java Bugs.

Sources for Java

Java is available from a number of providers. The official Docker image for Solr uses the Temurin distribution of OpenJDK from the Adoptium project. Solr regularly test with Temurin, OpenJDK and Oracle versions of Java. Some distributions are free, others have a cost, some provide security patches and support, others do not. We recommend you read the article Java is still free by Java Champions to help you decide.

The Solr project does not endorse any particular provider of Java.

While we reference the Java Development (JDK) on this page, any Java Runtime Environment (JRE) associated with the referenced JDKs is acceptable.

Java and Solr Combinations

Each Solr release has an extensively tested minimum Java version. For instance the minimum Java version for Solr 9 is Java 11. This section provides guidance when running Solr with a more recent Java version than the minimum specified.

  • OpenJDK and Oracle Java distributions are tested extensively and will continue to be tested going forward.

    • Distributions of Java from other sources are not regularly tested by our testing infrastructure, therefore you must test Java from those sources in your environment.

    • For the purposes of Solr, Oracle’s Java and OpenJDK are identical.

  • Upgrading Java is not required with the understanding that no Java bugs will be addressed unless you are using a version of Java that provides LTS.

  • Java 11 has been extensively tested by both automated tests and users through Solr 9. Long Term Support (LTS) for Java 11 is provided from several sources.

  • The project’s testing infrastructure continuously tests with the minimum and greater versions of Java for each development branch.

  • Java 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 have no LTS. For this reason, Java 17 is preferred when upgrading Java.

  • For specific questions the Solr User’s List is a great resource.

Project Testing of Java-Solr Combinations

Solr and Lucene run a continuous integration model, running automated unit and integration tests using several versions of Java. In addition, some organizations also maintain their own test infrastructure and feed their results back to the community.

Our continuous testing is against the two code lines under active development, Solr 9x and the future Solr 10.0:

  • Solr 9.x is the current stable release line and will have "point releases", i.e., 9.1, 9.2, etc., until Solr 10.0 is released.

    • Solr 9.x is currently tested against Java 11, 17 and 18-prerelease.

  • There is also development and testing with the future Solr 10.x release line.

  • /Solr 8.x and earlier release lines are not tested on a continuous basis.

Released Solr and Java Versions

The success rate in our automated tests is similar with all the Java versions tested with the following caveats.

Solr 8.x

  • Requires Java 8 or higher.

  • This version did have continuous testing with Java 9, 10, 11, 12 and the pre-release version of Java 13.

  • There were known issues with Kerberos with Java 9+ prior to Solr 8.1.