This question has been asked before. I found a few postings to Solr user and a couple on Google-in-the-large. But I am still not sure which is best.
My project currently has two distinct datasets (documents) with no shared fields. But at times, we need to query across both of them. So we are trying to decide between a single index to hold both as a combined document. Or separate indexes, one for each document type and perform a queries on both and combine the results when we need a query across both.. From what I have read, the general consensus seems to be separate indexes. A few general conclusions of the posts: If the load (query demand) per dataset is different, then multiple indexes can be managed differently. Multiple indexes provide more flexibility. One index can be taken down without affecting the other one. Combining datasets makes for a larger index, which can greatly lengthen re-indexing time. The smaller the index, the faster the search. We are also interested in how a single index with divergent document types might complicate ranking and relevancy. Also, in the future we need to dynamically add new fields via managed schema. Also, it's possible in the future there can be new document types we need to index. Any opinions or thoughts along this question are appreciated. Thanks in advance. -Steve Pruitt
