src/main/java/eu/openaire/api/config/health/SolrStartupHealthCheck.java

@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ public class SolrStartupHealthCheck implements ApplicationRunner {
 	private SolrRepository solrRepository;
 
 	@Override
-	public void run(ApplicationArguments args) throws Exception {
+	public void run(ApplicationArguments args) throws RuntimeException {
 		try {
 			if (solrRepository.ping().getStatus() != 0) {
 				throw new RuntimeException("Could not ping Solr cluster at startup");

src/main/java/eu/openaire/api/solr/SolrConnectionManager.java

@@ -43,16 +43,15 @@ public class SolrConnectionManager {
         // create SolrClient with ZooKeeper hosts
         // TODO: add socket (or connection) timeout?
         solrClient = new CloudSolrClient.Builder(zkHosts, Optional.empty())
-                .withConnectionTimeout(15000)
-                .withSocketTimeout(1000)
+                // time to wait when trying to establish a connection
+                .withConnectionTimeout(3000)
+                // time to wait for data to be read from the socket
+                .withSocketTimeout(30000)
                 .build();
 
         // set the appropriate Solr collection
         ((CloudSolrClient) solrClient).setDefaultCollection(solrProperties.getCollection());
 
-        // uncomment ping below, to crash app on startup if Solr is not available
-//        this.ping();
-
     }
 
     public SolrPingResponse ping() throws IOException, SolrServerException {