What is the cause reported in the solr log? This should be in: example/cloud/node3/solr/logs
that often gives a much more complete statement of what went wrong. You don't really need the -cloud parameter, the -z parameter implies that it's a SolrCloud installation. That's not the root of your problem, more of an aside. What's inconsistent here is that you started your third node on port 8987, but the URL you accessed was 8983. That makes no sense to me. Forgetting the bits about adding a new Solr instance, do you see a healthy Solr cluster in the admin UI before you add the new instance? My bet is that your basic installation is messed up and the new Solr node is a red herring. FWIW, I routinely spin up multiple Solr JVMs with : mkdir ./example/cloud/node1 cp ./server/solr/solr.xml ./example/cloud/node1/solr then bin/solr start -z localhost:2181 -p 8981 -s example/cloud/node1/solr Typically I use ports 8981, 8982, 8983, 8984 just because it makes keeping track easier, but there's no reason 8987 wouldn't work. Finally, assuming the Solr node starts successfully, you won't see anything in the admin UI unless you look under "live_nodes" in the admin UI>>cloud>>tree view Best, Erick
