The Search API Solr Search module page on drupal.org has a list of services that can host Apache Solr indices. Most inexpensive shared hosting providers don’t provide a Solr index, and your institutional IT staff may or may not be willing to provide one. Using an external service can give you access to Solr even if your core hosting doesn’t support it, but you may want to first try using Database Search and Search API to improve search on your site.

Download, install and enable the Search API module as well as API Database Search. Also enable the Search Views module (part of the Search API package). Then, follow this tutorial to configure the modules and create a more robust search interface.

• 16.1 Overview
• 16.2 Search block and search pages
• 16.3 Configuring Drupal’s built-in search
  • 16.3.1 Indexing and cron runs
  • 16.3.2 Search modules
  • 16.3.3 Search ranking
  • 16.3.4 Debugging search
• 16.4 Customizing the search result display
• 16.5 Hiding content from the index
• 16.6 Creating a custom advanced search page using Views
• 16.7 Search API
• 16.8 Summary