Acquia Frequently Asked Questions

FAQ Topics

Acquia, the Company

Acquia Drupal

Acquia Network subscriptions

Acquia Support


Acquia Search

 

Acquia, the Company

What is Acquia?

We are a commercial open source software company. We provide an incredibly valuable set of software and network services for the popular Drupal open source social publishing system. Our goal is to amplify Drupal and make it rock even better and louder for more audiences.

What does Acquia sell?

We sell annual subscriptions for our software and services.

What software products does Acquia offer?

Acquia Drupal is our first software distribution. It includes Drupal core, a collection of Drupal community contributed modules, Acquia Network Connector modules, and potentially, non-Drupal software, assembled together to provide an advanced starting point to begin building Drupal websites.

What services does Acquia offer?

The Acquia Network is an operations portal for managing Drupal web sites, offering site developers and administrators a suite of remote network services and professional technical support to operate and maintain Drupal websites. Subscribers to the Acquia Network gain access to these services as well as community forums and Acquia Drupal documentation.

Does Acquia claim to own or control Drupal in any way?

No. We do not claim to own or control Drupal in any way. Acquia is a member of the Drupal community, similar to any other organization. We want to see the Drupal community succeed and work with the community to advance Drupal. The Drupal Association continues to operate the drupal.org domain, Dries continues to own the Drupal trademark, and the Drupal community continues to set the technical direction of the Drupal project.

What is Dries' role at Acquia and how does his involvement in Acquia influence his project leadership?

Dries is the co-founder and CTO of Acquia, and he is obviously working to make the company successful.

However, the entire team at Acquia strongly believes that Dries **must** be able to effectively lead the Drupal project where the community wants it to go - and not negatively affect the project due to Acquia's needs. He must be able to continue to make technical decisions independent of Acquia's commercial interests to preserve the overall health of the community and the project.

Therefore, Dries is expressly permitted to make decisions within the Drupal project that may not always be in Acquia's best commercial interest. Additionally, a portion of Dries' time is spent on activities associated with the project at large (vs. Acquia's own software development). In essence, since the health and vitality of the Drupal project at large is extremely important to us, we've taken great pains to make sure that Dries continues to act for the best interests of the Drupal community at large as he has from the beginning.

What is the relationship between Acquia and the Drupal Association?

Acquia is an organizational member of the Drupal Association, but otherwise has no formal relationship with the Association. The statutes of the Drupal Association say that only individuals, not companies, can become a member of the Drupal Association's Board of Directors. Board members can't be a proxy for their company and are liable as individuals. Individuals in the employ of Acquia may be Board members of the Association but their fiduciary obligation is to the Drupal Association, not to Acquia.

How does Acquia participate in and give back to the Drupal community?

Our engineers work with the Drupal community to fix bugs, to implement missing features, to write documentation or to help sponsor and organize community events. We are in a unique position: our business requires Drupal to be a great software platform. Because Acquia’s success is driven by the overall success of the Drupal project at large, rather than the demands of any one customer, we are able to look broadly across Drupal to identify gaps we can fill that others are not. We hope in this way we can simply be a "strong contributor" within the community's overall effort to make Drupal better.

Furthermore, we provide commercial support to those users for whom Drupal is becoming mission-critical software infrastructure. This is important to help the Drupal community reach out to new and different users. To do this, we may have to dive deep into some particularly thorny issues. Fortunately, having engineers working full-time on Drupal means we can devote resources to hard problems without being constrained by the needs of a single website customer, and work to solve problems everybody needs addressed. But we rarely have either the resources or expertise to do this alone; we're always be seeking to work with the community on such hard problems.

Does Acquia compete with developers and consultants for web development projects?

Our main goal is to be a product company, not a professional services company. So, no - we do not compete with web development shops and consultants for site development projects. Instead, Acquia's professional services organization is focused in other areas: helping organizations get started with Drupal, integrating Drupal with other enterprise and web applications, and providing technical assistance on large Drupal implementations.

Will Acquia build my web site?

No, but we will provide services that can help you to get started on working with Drupal. To build out your site, we will refer you to one or more Acquia Partners who you can trust to complete your project on time and on budget.

What professional services are available to help me get started?

Acquia's services are described in the Products and Services section of this web site.

Where can I see the roadmap for Acquia products and services?

See the Acquia Drupal Projects Discussion in the Community section of the website.

How does Acquia make code contributions to the community and Drupal.org for modules it supports?

If Acquia determines a broad enough customer need to include a module in its distributions, but an available module does not meet Acquia's standards for functionality, stability, scalability and security, Acquia's engineering organization actively adds the code we believe is needed to fill any such gaps.

In practice, Acquia seeks to work with the module's maintainer to integrate these enhancements and fixes into the drupal.org code repository.

Alternately, if a module simply does not exist to meet a need, Acquia will create the needed module, and contribute it to drupal.org.

Acquia is NOT seeking to replace current module maintainers. Acquia seeks to provide help, code, and resources to selected modules and module maintainers to make these selected modules better for everyone.

To what degree are Drupal community members who become Acquia employees able to maintain their independence?

We've already described how Dries is able to continue to lead the community in the direction it seeks to go. As we hire other Drupal community members for various roles, their daily activities are generally devoted to meeting Acquia's business needs. However, any code we contribute, or any activities we perform, need to pass muster with the community in the same way any other community member's activities must be acceptable. We believe the Drupal community is healthy enough to be self-correcting.

What does Acquia mean for organizations who are using Drupal for critical projects?

It means that these organizations are able to get access to integrated Drupal configurations that are supported in the same manner as other software they rely on. They are able to leverage value-added services that make Drupal even more powerful, reliable, and easy to use. And they can look forward to us offering an increasing array of ancillary products or services that will make Drupal an even more effective tool for building great social publishing websites.

How do I pronounce the company's name?

Long-ah, accent on first syllable. AH-kwee-uh .

 

Acquia Drupal

What are the system requirements and supported platforms for Acquia Drupal?

See Acquia Drupal Supported Platforms.

Will Acquia support contributed modules, third party themes or custom code that is not included in Acquia Drupal?

Yes. Acquia supports all Drupal 6.x modules, themes, and custom code.

What is the difference between Acquia Drupal and the software I can download from Drupal.org?

There is no difference between the Drupal software that is included in Acquia Drupal and the Drupal software downloaded from Drupal.org. Acquia works continuously to ensure that the versions of Drupal core and contributed modules that ship with Acquia Drupal are appropriately up-to-date without compromising stability, security, performance, and compatibility.

Is Acquia Drupal a fork of Drupal?

No, and Acquia works continuously to ensure that such a thing never occurs. All Acquia created patches are submitted back to the Drupal project in a timely fashion. Acquia engineers work closely with core maintainers and contributed module maintainers to ensure that there is little or no divergence between Acquia Drupal source code and the source code of available on Drupal.org. Given that source code divergence creates costly duplicated effort for the Acquia engineering team, Acquia is highly motivated to minimize or eliminate it.

Under what license is Acquia Drupal released?

Acquia Drupal is released under the GPL license. Acquia reserves all rights to the Acquia trademark, logo, and trade dress.

Is Acquia Drupal free?

Yes. Acquia Drupal is free as in "free beer" and free as in "free speech." You may download and use Acquia Drupal at no charge regardless of whether you have a paid Acquia Network subscription. Because the Acquia Drupal source code is released under a GPL license, you may modify or redistribute the source code as you see fit, as long as you comply with the terms of the GPL.

Acquia reserves all rights to the Acquia trademark, logo, and trade dress and their derivatives as they appear in Acquia Drupal. Other parties similarly reserve all rights to their respective trademarks and their derivatives as they appear in Acquia Drupal.

Can I get support from Acquia for Drupal 5?

No. Acquia provides commercial support for all Drupal 6.x modules, themes, and custom code. Acquia Professional Services and Acquia Solution Provider partners can provide expert assistance in migrating your site to Drupal 6.x. The new features, improved usability, stability, and performance and the ability to obtain commercial support are well worth the investment. Please contact Acquia Sales for more information about how to get started with your migration.

How soon after a major release of Drupal.org Drupal will Acquia release a corresponding release of Acquia Drupal?

The interval will vary from release to release, but it may take several months to port contributed modules and provide a supported distribution. Acquia will coordinate with the core maintainer and work closely with module maintainers to help accelerate the porting and integration process.

How will Acquia keep up with the rapid evolution of Drupal core and modules?

It's simply our job to do it, and we'll make it work. That said, there are practical things that will help assure we can keep up. For example, testing. During the Drupal 7 development period Acquia will be actively participating in Dries' vision to develop a strong testing foundation for Drupal. For us, this means contributing as many core tests as we can. As the strong testing framework matures, our efficiency in examining (and testing) new patches / modules will increase many-fold, which will go along way towards this goal.

We'll also think carefully about what new modules we add to our distribution, examining data such as module popularity, module code quality, the depth of relationship we can form with a module maintainer, etc. All of these can help us focus our efforts where we, the maintainer, and our customer all win.

Will Acquia backport new functionality from newer releases of Drupal into older supported releases?

We have no plans to do so. Such a move would be inconsistent with the long-established Drupal Project development philosophy and culture. Our practice and strong preference is to align with, seek leverage from, and provide leverage to the Drupal community. Back-porting new features into an older version without the overwhelming support of the Drupal community would be tantamount to forking Drupal, with all the associated redundant effort and diffusion of scarce resources. Acquia opposes the forking of Drupal, so no back-porting is planned.

How does Acquia work with contributed module maintainers?

Acquia works hard to cultivate shared vision, strong working relationships, and a common development philosophy/discipline with the maintainers of the contributed modules. Acquia works closely with the maintainers to deliver timely patches to Acquia Network subscribers in the course of delivering support.

In order to preserve the spirit of volunteerism and integrity that is so essential to the health of the Drupal community, Acquia avoids direct compensation relationships with module maintainers who are not Acquia employees.

How does Acquia handle new security vulnerabilities in Drupal?

Acquia participates in the Drupal security team to continuously monitor and address a variety of sources for news of new security vulnerabilities.

When a new vulnerability is discovered, Acquia works closely with the Drupal community to verify and fix the vulnerability and disseminate information about countermeasures and patches that address the problem.

Does Acquia offer indemnification against third party claims of intellectual property ownership for the Acquia Drupal software?

In general, no. However, it may possible in some instance, depending on the specific details of your situation. Please contact Acquia Sales for assistance.

 

Acquia Network Subscriptions

What kind of site would be a good match for the Elite subscription?

If your international brand reputation, more than a million dollars of revenue, or company-wide employee productivity rely on Drupal, you should probably have an Elite subscription. As the open source equivalent of an enterprise-wide site license, the Elite subscription gives you 24X7 high priority access to senior Drupal experts with custom options tailored to meet the specific needs of your organization.

What kind of site would be a good match for the Enterprise subscription?

If you invest more than $50,000 (approx. two half time employees) annually on the design, development, administration, and hosting of your Drupal site, you should protect your investment and maximize your return by having an Enterprise subscription. Most organizations using Drupal to power an online business, all or part of a corporate/organizational web site, or a large-scale internal application would fall into this category.

The Enterprise subscription gives you 24X7 emergency coverage, telephone and email access to world-class Drupal expertise and services to eliminate development roadblocks and reduce the risk and impact of system downtime.

What kind of site would be a good match for the Professional subscription?

A Professional subscription offers electronic access to the Drupal expertise and services you need to rapidly get your site into production and operating with maximum efficiency and uptime.

If your organization uses Drupal to power departmental social publishing applications such as document sharing, team blogs, wiki collaboration, policy portals, knowledge management, and e-learning, the Professional subscription is a great fit. These applications may not be mission critical, but they do have significant internal visibility and can have a large impact on employee productivity.

Beyond internal applications, the Professional subscription is also an excellent fit for medium sized small web businesses, local governments, and blogs and online communities with 10,000-25,000 unique visitors per month.

What kind of site would be a good match for the Basic subscription?

Personal blogs, micro-communities, family sites, small non-profit groups and religious organizations would benefit from a Basic Subscriptions. These sites often operate on a small budget and suffer no significant business impact from downtime. But they are still at risk for security vulnerabilities, upgrade incompatibilities, and user-generated content spam and abuse that can consume scarce resources and frustrate site visitors.

The Basic subscription provides smaller sites with access to peer-led guidance and assistance through the Acquia Subscriber forums. It also offers a full range of Acquia Network services to help these smaller sites keep up to date, secure, and spam free. When a need for more complete support emerges, a quick upgrade to the Standard or Professional subscription is always available.

At what point in my site's life cycle should I buy a subscription?

In order to get the most value, you should purchase a subscription as early as possible in the site life cycle. The emergence of issues that require support is unpredictable by its very nature, so attempting to artfully time the purchase of a subscription is a futile exercise that can lead to costly and wasteful delays.

Most Drupal web sites are never truly “done”. They iterate continuously through user story creation, experience design, development and content creation, testing, staging, release to production, and optimization. And even if development were theoretically declared to be “complete”, original content and user-generated content are always growing and interlinking in an organic fashion. This can impact site performance and stability and create new intersections with previously dormant software defects.

In this dynamic environment, there is no one point in time which is more likely than any other to generate the need for support and network services. Though the complexion of emerging issues may change over time, there is always a flow. The need to isolate and resolve software defects, upgrade the Drupal core and contributed modules, and implement best practices for security, performance, and architecture is continuous.

Why would I need Acquia Network subscriptions if I have considerable Drupal expertise in my organization?

The Acquia Network subscriptions have two essential elements of value. The first element is technical support to help you efficiently resolve problems that inevitably occur while building and operating your site. The second element is the network services that streamline maintenance tasks and add valuable new functionality to your site.

If you have considerable Drupal expertise in your organization, you may be able to self-support instead of relying on Acquia for support. However, you owe it to yourself to examine whether internal technical support is the best use of time for your limited internal resources. It may be that their time is better spent building new functionality to delight your users rather than troubleshooting defects, isolating root causes, and finding or developing patches.

The subscriptions are priced on a per site basis. How do you define a "site" for subscription pricing purposes?

We define a site the same way Drupal does. When you set up a Drupal site, you give the site a name. Each such site needs a separate subscription so that it can be referenced and supported individually. This is true even if Drupal core and contributed module code, databases, content, user bases, etc. are configured to be wholly or partly shared across multiple sites on the same server.

The reason that we price our subscriptions on a per site basis is that the cost of support increases in rough proportion to the complexity of the supported environment and that complexity increases as the number of sites increases. We recognize that this is not strictly true in all situations, and there will certainly be edge cases were this pricing model breaks down. Our direct sales team offers substantial volume discounts for organizations who desire Acquia Network subscription coverage for multiple sites and we are very willing to structure custom subscription pricing tailored to meet the needs of special situations. If you feel that our standard pricing approach doesn't work well for you, please call our sales team to explain your situation. Chances are good that we will be able to find a mutually agreeable solution.

How do you define multisite installation? How are multisite installations priced?

Multisite installations enable you to simplify the maintenance of Drupal sites when running many sites that are similar in structure. These sites can act as completely unique sites using independent or shared modules and themes, however they must run from a single Drupal directory instance.

A multisite installation that shares modules across all sites - meaning that all the modules are stored in the sites/all/modules directory - is supported at the a Professional level subscription and higher. A Professional level multisite installation can have different themes installed at each site and counts as a single site when calculating subscription pricing.

A multisite installation that includes different modules and themes for each site requires an Enterprise level subscription, due to the resulting technical support complexity. An Enterprise multisite installation counts as a single site when calculating subscription pricing.

Why does your subscription price vary by the number of servers?

Our costs go up as the complexity and operational criticality of the supported environment increases. Sites running on more servers are inherently more complex and are most often more operationally critical than sites running on fewer servers. This is only true up to a point, however. Supporting a cluster running 5 servers is not qualitatively different than supporting a site running 15 servers. In order to reflect this reality, rather than pricing on a strictly per-server basis, we've created two price bands that correspond to substantial increases in support burden: a single server or multiple servers.

Pricing the subscriptions based on the number of servers allows us to charge lower prices for sites that cost less to support, expanding the aggregate accessibility of support to include more sites.

Which servers do I count and which do I exclude in selecting a subscription level?

You count all Drupal servers that are delivering the site associated with the subscription. You exclude all other separate servers, including database servers, email servers, video servers, directory servers, or any other kind of server that is associated with the site but is not running Drupal.

Some low to medium traffic sites run Drupal and their database and other servers all on one box. In this case, since there is only one server running Drupal, you would purchase a single server subscription. Sites with high traffic or high up-time requirements may run Drupal on 2 or more cluster servers and have a separate cluster of servers for their database and a number of other separate ancillary servers. In this case, you only need subscriptions for the servers running Drupal.

Because Acquia Network subscriptions are priced in only two bands, you need only determine the band that corresponds to your number of servers: a single server or multiple servers.

How does Acquia subscription pricing apply to cloud computing environments like Amazon EC2 and similar services?

In a cloud computing environment, virtual servers (sometimes called "instances") can be brought online and taken down quickly, affording additional flexibility in scaling and administering server infrastructure. As far as Acquia Network is concerned, cloud computing instances are equivalent to servers, and are counted the same way as described elsewhere in this FAQ. Because Acquia Network subscriptions are priced in two bands, you just need to determine the band that corresponds to your number of instances running your site: one instance or multiple instances.

Some cloud computing environments can be configured to automatically add servers when load exceeds the capacity of the baseline server infrastructure. This typically occurs during temporary and sometimes unpredictable spikes in traffic. In order to accommodate short-lived and unplanned spikes in traffic that create the need for more servers, we offer a 30 day grace period for clusters that exceed the number of servers or instances supported by your subscription. You do not need to upgrade your subscription as long as the number of servers returns to the number allowed by your subscription within 30 days.

If your site naturally grows to exceed the capacity of your current servers, and you add servers that are going to be running for more than 30 days, you need to upgrade your subscription in order to remain supported and eligible to receive network services. The best strategy is to purchase the appropriate subscription in advance of the actual need in order to ensure continuous access to support and network services.

Can I get a refund if I decide I don’t want my subscription any longer?

No. But you can choose to not renew.

Can I transfer my subscription to another site or another organization?

You may transfer a subscription to another site owned by you or your organization if the original site is no longer operational. You may not transfer a subscription from one live site to another live site during the subscription period. You may not transfer your subscription to a site owned by another individual or another organization.

Can I upgrade to a higher level subscription?

Yes. You will pay the difference between the full price of the new subscription and the unused portion (rounded to the nearest day) of your current subscription. The expiration date of your subscription will be reset to one year from the date of your upgrade. You may purchase your upgrade in the Acquia Online Store or through Acquia Sales.

Can I downgrade to a lower level subscription?

Not during the current subscription period. However, you may choose to let your subscription lapse instead of renewing and purchase a new subscription at a lower level. In doing so, you will lose the data history from your previous subscription.

Can I consolidate my subscriptions purchased at various times to make them end on the same date?

Yes. Contact the Acquia sales team for assistance.

Do you offer volume discounts?

Yes. Contact the Acquia sales team for assistance.

Do you offer subscriptions that are shorter than one year?

In general, we do not offer subscriptions shorter than one year. If you have a special situation that requires a shorter subscription period, please contact Acquia Sales for assistance.

Do you offer subscriptions that are longer than one year?

Yes. We offer a two or three year subscription term to qualified customers purchasing Enterprise and Elite subscriptions. Please contact Acquia Sales for assistance.

Can I roll over unused support tickets at the end of the subscription period?

No. Unused tickets expire at the end of the subscription period. Doing otherwise creates accounting complexity that we must avoid.

How do I renew my subscription?

Your subscription will automatically renew unless you upgrade or cancel at the end of your term. You will receive an email message 30 days prior to the end of your term notifying you of the renewal of your subscription. The message will also provide instructions for upgrading your subscription and for canceling your subscription.

What kinds of things does Acquia do under the optional Custom Software Engineering?

Acquia Professional Services can complete custom software engineering engagements to implement and maintain customer-specific software modifications that fall outside normal defect resolution. These engagements are handled on a case-by-case basis and are billable at standard Acquia Professional Services hourly rates.

What’s the relationship between Mollom and Acquia?

Acquia and Mollom are separate companies, both co-founded by Dries Buytaert. Acquia distributes and resells Mollom spam-blocking services through Acquia Network subscriptions.

How accurate is Mollom?

On average, Mollom blocks more than 98% of attempted spam. The more people use Mollom, the more accurate the service becomes. We believe that Mollom accuracy compares favorably with other spam blocking services.

What does Mollom mean for my site privacy policy?

You must include appropriate information about Mollom in your privacy policy and inform your users and secure their permission in order to comply with applicable laws. Mollom intercepts, analyzes, and stores the content types you specify before it is posted to your site. This may include private information associated with member profiles including names, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, etc. The Mollom Terms of Service clearly specify the ways that Mollom handles this information.

 

Acquia Support

What is the scope of coverage for technical support under Acquia Network Subscriptions?

Customers with active subscriptions to the Acquia Network are entitled to technical support for Drupal 6.x - including all modules, themes, and custom code - and the Acquia Network itself as described elsewhere in this FAQ. Support channel access and response times are determined by the subscription and any additional services purchased. See the Acquia Network Subscriptions matrix for coverage details on each subscription level.

What are the hours of operation for the Technical Assistance Center?

The Technical Assistance Center operates Monday through Friday from 8am to 8pm Eastern Time (UTC -5) except for United States national holidays. The Technical Assistance Center accepts new tickets electronically from all regions at all hours of day and responds during normal business hours. Live phone support is provided during normal business hours.

We plan to expand our team to eventually provide global coverage during the normal business hours of each major geographic region. In the interim, we encourage customers in under-served geographic regions to seek telephone support during the hours that mostly closely match their normal business hours and to utilize electronic support as their primary channel for accessing support.

In what languages can I get technical support?

Acquia technical support is currently available in English only. We have the DNA of a thoroughly international organization with employees who are fluent in Dutch, German, French, Hungarian, Italian, and Japanese. However, we do not have sufficient coverage to guarantee sustained support in these languages at the present time. We plan to add additional support languages over time.

What’s the difference between posting a question in the Acquia Subscriber Forums and submitting a ticket to the Technical Assistance Center?

Submitting a ticket to the Technical Assistance Center guarantees that you will get a response within your response time window and that the issue will be worked through to resolution. There is no such guarantee with the Acquia subscriber forums. Although Technical Assistance Center staff members do participate in the Subscriber Forums, they do so on an as-available basis based on the condition of their ticket queue, so their responsiveness will vary.

Fellow subscribers may also provide assistance in the Subscriber Forums, but they do so on a voluntary basis so there is no guarantee that they will respond in a timely fashion or that the topic thread will continue to resolution. It’s best to think of the Subscriber Forums as a place to seek general advice and assistance with issues that are not time-critical.

Where do you draw the line between the “Advisory support” subscription entitlements and what I would get through a separate professional services engagement?

Advisory support entitles you a live conversation with an expert about best practices for specific topic areas including security, migration, performance tuning, module development, and architecture. Advisory support is limited to existing knowledge that can be transferred in the moment in a live conversation. Customer-specific background research and/or creation of any new deliverable are out of scope for advisory support. Additionally, advisory support is limited to 8 hours per subscription per year.

Professional services engagements offer services that lie beyond the scope of the standard Acquia subscription offerings. These engagements may be completed by Acquia Professional Services or by Acquia Partners through referral. These engagements are billed on an hourly basis with no pre-set time limit, may cover an unlimited range of topics, and may include customer-specific background research and deliverables.

How does the 24X7 support work?

24X7 support provides Enterprise subscription customers with access to the Technical Assistance Center outside normal business hours, including weekends and national holidays. 24X7 support is available only for tickets that are classified with Critical or High Urgency. If your subscription includes this option, you will receive instructions for reaching senior Technical Assistance Center staff members who are assigned to be “on call” and available outside normal business hours. Upon submission of a ticket classified with Critical or High Urgency, the Technical Assistance Center staff member on call will be contacted and will call you back within your defined initial response window to begin working toward a resolution.

What is Technical Account Management and how does it work?

A Technical Account Manager (TAM) is a senior support engineer who is dedicated to providing personalized elite-grade support to a handful of customers. A TAM can take the time to learn the details of your operating environment and function as a virtual member of your team. Your TAM may join your team conference calls and/or make regular on site visits to build relationships with your team, review your environment, and share information in person.

All web tickets submitted for subscriptions with an active Technical Account Management option will be immediately routed to your assigned TAM. When you contact the Technical Assistance Center via chat or telephone, your session will automatically be routed directly to your assigned TAM.

Specific entitlements for Technical Account Management are tailored to match your particular requirements and the pricing scales in parallel with your expected time commitment for your TAM. Contact Acquia Sales for details.

What are the Urgency Levels for support tickets?

Critical - Customer's system is down; or customer’s business operations or productivity are severely impacted with no available workaround; or is critical security issue.
High - Customer's system is operating but issue is causing significant disruption of customer's business operations; workaround is unavailable or inadequate.
Medium - Customer’s system is operating and issue’s impact on the customer’s business operations is moderate to low; a workaround or alternative is available.
Low - Issue is a minor inconvenience and does not impact business operations in any significant way; issues with little or no time sensitivity.

Acquia Search

Who can use Acquia Search?

Anyone who is running a Drupal 6 site. All you need to get is a free Acquia Network subscription to get started and use the Acquia Search.

Why should I used Acquia Search over Drupal's Native Search?

Supports much larger site sizes
Faster, more relevant and configurable search
Moves indexing and search load off of your servers
Faceted search - let users narrow down a big set of results from common keywords
Faceted site navigation (coming soon or with minimal custom code)
Easy to set up

Why should I use Acquia Search over my own Apache Solr server and the Drupal.org Apache Solr modules?

  • Acquia has assembled all the client code, and the Acquia Search module provides some automatic configuration of Apache Solr
  • Acquia will manage server performance, backups, and master-slave replication
  • Acquia's search offering is highly available which means it can survive a single search server failure. This is important for organizations which require their search service as a critical part of their website experience. A failure to provide a single search result means your users are going to a search engine, like google, to find their answer and possibly away from your site.
  • Acquia's search service is secure and private. Acquia understands that some content should remain private, and that confidential content should be guaranteed delivery. Acquia's search service uses a secure protocol to make sure the search results on your site are secure and are an accurate representation of the content on your site.
  • Acquia's search service is scalable on demand. You never know when your site is going to suddenly get a burst of traffic, and your visitors will put a load on your search service. Acquia's hosted search provides many search servers in the cloud and can respond to sudden surges in search queries at no additional cost to you.
  • Acquia's search service indexes quickly, when burst's of new content is added to your site. With a single search server your site can slow down when trying to index content and respond to search queries at the same time, Acquia's hosted search service has many servers in the cloud that can meet sudden increases for indexing or querying. If your someone tweets content on your site, you want to be sure that the latest comments are included your search results.
  • Acquia actively follows and contributes to the development of the Solr application

Is Acquia planning to add new features to Acquia Search?

Yes, there are many new features we want to add and we want your feedback to help determine which features have the most demand. Please add a comment to the Acquia Search Roadmap product page with your thoughts.

Does Acquia support custom search needs?

Yes. Please contact sales@acquia.com and we can put you in touch with our professional services team.

What does Acquia Search cost?

Acquia Search is included for no additional cost in an Acquia Network subscription. Allocation per subscription level is outlined here: http://acquia.com/product-matrix. A Slice includes the processing power to index your site, do near real-time index updates, and process your site visitors' search queries. Each Slice includes the processing power for a site with between 1,000 - 2,000 nodes with an index of 10MB. Customers who exceed the level included with their subscription may purchase a Search Upgrade Slice for $5000/year, which will cover an additional 50,000 - 100,000 nodes with an index of 500MB.

How does Acquia Search work?

Every five or ten minutes, our module finds all the content which has been recently updated or not yet indexed by Acquia Search. This content is then sent to our indexing servers in the Acquia Network where it is then disseminated to multiple searching servers. When your visitors search on your site or view content recommendations, a request is sent in the background to our search servers. They do the hard work, and pass the results back to our module on your site, and the module outputs the results. Note that this implies that there may be a slight delay between the time your content is created, and the time it appears in the index (and search results).

Can I set up Apache Solr on my site without using Acquia Search?

Yes, however it is not for everyone. The installation and maintenance will require special expertise and perhaps additional hardware. In addition, you will have to keep up with security releases, bug fixes and performance concerns on your own. See the Apache Solr Module documentation for more detail.

How is my data secured?

Your site index is protected in transit by SSL and by HMAC authentication in the Acquia Network. Plain english? The data is encrypted so anyone snooping in the middle can't read it and the request is Authenticated which means that the Acquia Network knows you sent the request you claimed to, and you know that messages received from the network are legitimate.

Will Acquia Search respect my site's access controls?

Yes. Acquia Search respects the access controls that you have set up on your site so that content that is restricted to specific user roles wil only be seen by users in those roles.

Privacy: How will Acquia use my data?

Acquia uses the search activity on your site to present you with search statistics in the Acquia Network on the Search tab. We plan to offer a larger set of search statistics over time. Please add a comment on the Acquia Search product overview to tell us about statistics that you are interested in seeing. Acquia uses aggregate search activity data from all sites to monitor and improve the performance of, and create activity metrics regarding the Search service.

Does Acquia Search offer a service level agreement (SLA)?

Acquia provides a 99.9% uptime SLA to paid subscribers. Read the SLA agreement for details.