Adding a server

Go to Search API's adminstration page at Administration > Configuration > Search and metadata > Search API (or http://example.com/admin/config/search/search-api).

Click Add server to go to the server creation form. Here, you have to enter some information for your new server:

Server name

Any human-readable name by which your server will be future referenced. Specifying the service class the server uses is usually sufficient—e.g., Database server, Solr server, etc. This name can later be changed and is only used internally, so mistakes don't matter much.

ID

This machine name will be used as a unique internal identifier for the server (e.g., in administration paths) and cannot be changed afterwards. It is usually automatically created based on the human-readable name you choose, but you can also manually edit it by clicking Edit next to the created name (once you entered something in the Server name field). It is usually only used internally and in the admin UI. The ID cannot be changed after a server has been created.

Enabled

Here you can select whether the server will initially be enabled. Nothing will be written to or read from disabled servers. Also, indexes lying on a disabled server will automatically be disabled as well.

Description

This can help you make some notes on the server's purpose, e.g., for other administrators or for future reference. It will only be displayed on the server's main page in the admin UI and can also be left empty.

Backend

This is the most important setting, as it decides how data indexed with the new server will really be stored. The Search API module itself doesn't provide any backends – if you don't see any options here, you will have to install some module providing a backend plugin. (In Drupal 8+, the Search API project download does however already include the “Database Search” module which provides the “Database” backend, so this would be the simplest way of getting started.) The currently known backends (and the modules by which they are provided) are listed under Server backends and features.

Once you select a backend, an additional box will appear containing additional backend-specific settings (unless there aren't any).

Click Save to finish the process and create the new server. You can now move indexes onto it.