question Could not create instance directory. Check if [indexer] solr_zk_ in Archives of Support Questions (Read Only)

Could not create instance directory. Check if [indexer] solr_zk_

scottolle — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 14:00:04 GMT

I have installed a single node instance on a m3.2xlarge AWS EC2 Instance with EBS so I can stop and start it (using the very nice http://gethue.com/hadoop-tutorial-how-to-create-a-real-hadoop-cluster-in-10-minutes/). I am trying to use it to test a solr implementation that I have. I have used the CDH 5.2 (Cloudera Express) installer my cluster is all green. I can launch Solr and it seems good though no clusters are installed.

I receive the following error message when I try to install the Hue - Quick Start application samples for Solr Search on the Hue Quick Start Tab Step 2 Examples. "Could not create instance directory. Check if [indexer] solr_zk_ensemble is correct in Hue config and look at the Solr error logs for more info".

I have tried to changing the Hue configuration with the Hue Server Configuration Advanced Configuration Snippet for hue_safety_valve_server.ini to:

[search]
## URL of the Solr Server
solr_url=http://SOLR_HOST:8983/solr

and I get the following message: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/opt/cloudera/parcels/CDH-5.2.0-1.cdh5.2.0.p0.36/lib/hue/desktop/libs/indexer/src/indexer/../data/collections'

I also tried using

## URL of the Solr Server
solr_url=http://<AWS Public DNS> SOLR_HOST:8983/solr

in the Hue configuration and I get the following: "Could not create instance directory. Check if [indexer] solr_zk_ensemble is correct in Hue config and look at the Solr error logs for more info" the same as not configuring this parameter.

I was able to install this on Ubantu 14 Trusty and somehow was able to get it to install but I could not stop and start the AWS instance... it trashed the HDFS service so that it was unusable.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Re: Could not create instance directory. Check if [indexer] solr_zk_

scottolle — Tue, 04 Nov 2014 20:13:26 GMT

I can manually create instances and collections using the linux command line from the Deploying Cloudera Search e.g.

solrctl instancedir --generate $HOME/solr_configs

I can create a collection and query it through the Solr Admin pannel, but I still can't install the samples.

Re: Could not create instance directory. Check if [indexer] solr_zk_

scottolle — Wed, 05 Nov 2014 18:28:44 GMT

I found a work around...

I went to the parcels directory and found the installation script and ran it in the server comman window

$cd /opt/cloudera/parcels/CDH-5.2.0-1.cdh5.2.0.p0.36/lib/hue/apps/search/examples/bin

$sudo ./create_collections.sh

still don't understand why it is failing when running from Hue, but this is an acceptable workaround

Re: Could not create instance directory. Check if [indexer] solr_zk_

scratch28 — Tue, 16 Dec 2014 19:08:40 GMT

Tried to do the same thing but it didn't work for me

/opt/cloudera/parcels/CDH-5.2.1-1.cdh5.2.1.p0.12/lib/hue/apps/search/examples/bin$ sudo ./create_collections.sh

on CDH5.2.1 on HUE 3.6

Creating collection twitter_demo
Warning: Non-SolrCloud mode has been completely deprecated
Please configure SolrCloud via SOLR_ZK_ENSEMBLE setting in
/opt/cloudera/parcels/CDH-5.2.1-1.cdh5.2.1.p0.12/bin/../etc/default/solr
If you running remotely, please use --zk zk_ensemble.
Uploading configs from ../collections/solr_configs_twitter_demo/conf to . This may take up to a minute.
Error: can't upload configuration
Warning: Non-SolrCloud mode has been completely deprecated
Please configure SolrCloud via SOLR_ZK_ENSEMBLE setting in
/opt/cloudera/parcels/CDH-5.2.1-1.cdh5.2.1.p0.12/bin/../etc/default/solr
If you running remotely, please use --zk zk_ensemble.
Error: can't discover Solr URI. Please specify it explicitly via --solr.

Creating collection yelp_demo
Warning: Non-SolrCloud mode has been completely deprecated
Please configure SolrCloud via SOLR_ZK_ENSEMBLE setting in
/opt/cloudera/parcels/CDH-5.2.1-1.cdh5.2.1.p0.12/bin/../etc/default/solr
If you running remotely, please use --zk zk_ensemble.
Uploading configs from ../collections/solr_configs_yelp_demo/conf to . This may take up to a minute.
Error: can't upload configuration
Warning: Non-SolrCloud mode has been completely deprecated
Please configure SolrCloud via SOLR_ZK_ENSEMBLE setting in
/opt/cloudera/parcels/CDH-5.2.1-1.cdh5.2.1.p0.12/bin/../etc/default/solr
If you running remotely, please use --zk zk_ensemble.
Error: can't discover Solr URI. Please specify it explicitly via --solr.

Creating collection log_analytics_demo
Warning: Non-SolrCloud mode has been completely deprecated
Please configure SolrCloud via SOLR_ZK_ENSEMBLE setting in
/opt/cloudera/parcels/CDH-5.2.1-1.cdh5.2.1.p0.12/bin/../etc/default/solr
If you running remotely, please use --zk zk_ensemble.
Uploading configs from ../collections/solr_configs_log_analytics_demo/conf to . This may take up to a minute.
Error: can't upload configuration
Warning: Non-SolrCloud mode has been completely deprecated
Please configure SolrCloud via SOLR_ZK_ENSEMBLE setting in
/opt/cloudera/parcels/CDH-5.2.1-1.cdh5.2.1.p0.12/bin/../etc/default/solr
If you running remotely, please use --zk zk_ensemble.
Error: can't discover Solr URI. Please specify it explicitly via --solr.

Creating collection jobs_demo
Warning: Non-SolrCloud mode has been completely deprecated
Please configure SolrCloud via SOLR_ZK_ENSEMBLE setting in
/opt/cloudera/parcels/CDH-5.2.1-1.cdh5.2.1.p0.12/bin/../etc/default/solr
If you running remotely, please use --zk zk_ensemble.
Uploading configs from ../collections/solr_configs_jobs_demo/conf to . This may take up to a minute.
Error: can't upload configuration
Warning: Non-SolrCloud mode has been completely deprecated
Please configure SolrCloud via SOLR_ZK_ENSEMBLE setting in
/opt/cloudera/parcels/CDH-5.2.1-1.cdh5.2.1.p0.12/bin/../etc/default/solr
If you running remotely, please use --zk zk_ensemble.
Error: can't discover Solr URI. Please specify it explicitly via --solr.