Customizing the search index schema

Customizing the search schema that defines the relationship between data in a table and a search index.

A search schema defines the relationship between data in a table and a search index. The schema identifies the columns to index and maps column names to Apache Solr™ types.

Schema defaults

DSE Search automatically maps the CQL column type to the corresponding Solr field type, defines the field type analyzer and filtering classes, and sets the DocValues.

Tip: If required, modify the schema using the CQL-Solr type compatibility matrix.

Table and schema definition

Fields with indexed="true" are indexed and stored as secondary files in Lucene so that the fields are searchable. The indexed fields are stored in the database, not in Lucene, with the exception of copy fields. Copy field destinations are not stored in the database.

To set field values as lowercase and have them stored as lowercase in docValues, use the custom LowerCaseStrField type. Refer to Using LowerCaseStrField with search indexes.

Sample schema

The following example from uses a simple primary key. The schema version attribute is the Solr version number for the schema syntax and semantics. In this example, version="1.5".

<schema name="my_search_demo" version="1.5">
  <types>
    <fieldType class="solr.StrField" multiValued="true" name="StrCollectionField"/>
    <fieldType name="string" class="solr.StrField"/>
    <fieldType name="text" class="solr.TextField"/>
    <fieldType class="solr.TextField" name="textcollection" multiValued="true">
      <analyzer>
        <tokenizer class="solr.StandardTokenizerFactory"/>
      </analyzer>
    </fieldType>
  </types>
  <fields>
    <field name="id"  type="string" indexed="true"/>
    <field name="quotes"  type="textcollection" indexed="true"/>
    <field name="name"  type="text" indexed="true"/>
    <field name="title"  type="text" indexed="true"/>
  </fields>
  <defaultSearchField>quotes</defaultSearchField>
  <uniqueKey>id</uniqueKey>
</schema>

DSE Search indexes the id, quotes, name, and title fields.

Mapping CQL primary keys and Solr unique keys

DSE Search supports CQL tables using simple or compound primary keys.

If the field is a compound primary key or column in the database, the unique key value is enclosed parentheses. The schema for this kind of table requires a different syntax than the simple primary key:

List each compound primary key column that appears in the CQL table in the schema as a field, just like any other column.
Declare the unique key using the key columns enclosed in parentheses.
Order the keys in the uniqueKey element as the keys are ordered in the CQL table.

When using composite partition keys, do not include the extra set of parentheses in the uniqueKey.

Partition key	CQL syntax	Solr uniqueKey syntax
Simple CQL primary key	`CREATE TABLE ( . . . a type PRIMARY KEY, . . . );` (`a` is both the partition key and the primary key)	`<uniqueKey>a</uniqueKey>` Note: Parenthesis are not required for a single key.
Compound primary key	`CREATE TABLE ( . . . PRIMARY KEY ( a, b, c ) );` (`a` is the partition key and `a b c` is the primary key)	`<uniqueKey>(a, b, c)</uniqueKey>`
Composite partition key	`CREATE TABLE ( . . . PRIMARY KEY ( ( a, b), c );` (`a b` is the partition key and `a b c` is the primary key)	`<uniqueKey>(a, b, c)</uniqueKey>`