diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index a9cbb7ebe..736c82b53 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -95,4 +95,4 @@ media
 whoosh/
 postgres-data/
 data/
-solr-4.10.2
\ No newline at end of file
+solr-*/
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/sapl/settings.py b/sapl/settings.py
index 8443c9cd3..f6814440f 100644
--- a/sapl/settings.py
+++ b/sapl/settings.py
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ INSTALLED_APPS = (
 HAYSTACK_CONNECTIONS = {
     'default': {
         'ENGINE': 'haystack.backends.solr_backend.SolrEngine',
-        'URL': 'http://127.0.0.1:8983/solr'
+        'URL': config('SOLR_URL', cast=str)
         # ...or for multicore...
         # 'URL': 'http://127.0.0.1:8983/solr/mysite',
     },