diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/CoreDescriptor.java b/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/CoreDescriptor.java
index 2fde131ec21..1fdfee8599c 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/CoreDescriptor.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/CoreDescriptor.java
@@ -17,6 +17,11 @@
 
 package org.apache.solr.core;
 
+import org.xml.sax.SAXException;
+
+import javax.xml.parsers.ParserConfigurationException;
+import java.io.IOException;
+
 /**
  * A Solr core descriptor
  * @since solr 1.3
@@ -27,9 +32,12 @@ public class CoreDescriptor implements Cloneable {
   protected String configName;
   protected String schemaName;
   protected SolrCore core = null;
+  private final MultiCore multiCore;
+
+  public CoreDescriptor(MultiCore multiCore) {
+    this.multiCore = multiCore;
+  }
 
-  public CoreDescriptor() {}
-  
   /** Initialize defaults from instance directory. */
   public void init(String name, String instanceDir) {
     if (name == null) {
@@ -50,6 +58,7 @@ public class CoreDescriptor implements Cloneable {
     this.instanceDir = descr.instanceDir;
     this.configName = descr.configName;
     this.schemaName = descr.schemaName;
+    multiCore = descr.multiCore;
   }
   
   /**@return the default config name. */
@@ -92,13 +101,13 @@ public class CoreDescriptor implements Cloneable {
   /**@return the core configuration resource name. */
   public String getConfigName() {
     return this.configName;
-  }  
+  }
 
   /**Sets the core schema resource name. */
   public void setSchemaName(String name) {
     if (name == null || name.length() == 0)
       throw new IllegalArgumentException("name can not be null or empty");
-    this.schemaName = name; 
+    this.schemaName = name;
   }
   
   /**@return the core schema resource name. */
@@ -113,4 +122,19 @@ public class CoreDescriptor implements Cloneable {
   public void setCore(SolrCore core) {
     this.core = core;
   }
+
+  public void reloadCore() throws IOException, ParserConfigurationException, SAXException {
+    SolrCore old = core;
+    if (multiCore != null) {
+      multiCore.create(this);
+    } else {
+      SolrConfig cfg = new SolrConfig(old.getConfigResource());
+      core = new SolrCore(null, null, cfg, null, this);
+    }
+    old.close(); 
+  }
+
+  public MultiCore getMultiCore() {
+    return multiCore;
+  }
 }
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/MultiCore.java b/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/MultiCore.java
index c3afcadbc2e..e3f4407f723 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/MultiCore.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/MultiCore.java
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ public class MultiCore
         for (int i=0; i<nodes.getLength(); i++) {
           Node node = nodes.item(i);
           try {
-            CoreDescriptor p = new CoreDescriptor();
+            CoreDescriptor p = new CoreDescriptor(this);
             p.init(DOMUtil.getAttr(node, "name", null), DOMUtil.getAttr(node, "instanceDir", null));
             // deal with optional settings
             String opt = DOMUtil.getAttr(node, "config", null);
@@ -252,7 +252,7 @@ public class MultiCore
     SolrResourceLoader solrLoader = new SolrResourceLoader(instanceDir, libLoader);
     SolrConfig config = new SolrConfig(solrLoader, dcore.getConfigName(), null);
     IndexSchema schema = new IndexSchema(config, dcore.getSchemaName(), null);
-    SolrCore core = new SolrCore(dcore.getName(), null, config, schema);
+    SolrCore core = new SolrCore(dcore.getName(), null, config, schema, dcore);
     dcore.setCore(core);
     
     // Register the new core
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/SolrCore.java b/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/SolrCore.java
index 5c7c7c8ddfd..c756760d296 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/SolrCore.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/SolrCore.java
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ public final class SolrCore {
 
   private String name;
   private String logid; // used to show what name is set
+  private final CoreDescriptor coreDescriptor;
   
   private final SolrConfig solrConfig;
   private final IndexSchema schema;
@@ -336,7 +337,7 @@ public final class SolrCore {
       if( instance == null ) {
         try {
           // sets 'instance' to the latest solr core
-          instance = new SolrCore( null, null, new SolrConfig(), null);
+          instance = new SolrCore( null, null, new SolrConfig(), null, null);
         } catch(Exception xany) {
           throw new SolrException( SolrException.ErrorCode.SERVER_ERROR,
               "error creating core", xany );
@@ -346,8 +347,18 @@ public final class SolrCore {
     return instance;
   }
   
+  /**
+   * 
+   * @param dataDir
+   * @param schema
+   * @throws SAXException 
+   * @throws IOException 
+   * @throws ParserConfigurationException 
+   * 
+   * @since solr 1.0
+   */
   public SolrCore(String dataDir, IndexSchema schema) throws ParserConfigurationException, IOException, SAXException {
-    this( null, dataDir, new SolrConfig(), schema );
+    this( null, dataDir, new SolrConfig(), schema, null );
   }
   
   /**
@@ -356,9 +367,12 @@ public final class SolrCore {
    *@param dataDir the index directory
    *@param config a solr config instance
    *@param schema a solr schema instance
+   *
+   *@since solr 1.3
    */
-  public SolrCore(String name, String dataDir, SolrConfig config, IndexSchema schema) {
+  public SolrCore(String name, String dataDir, SolrConfig config, IndexSchema schema, CoreDescriptor cd) {
     synchronized (SolrCore.class) {
+      coreDescriptor = cd;
       // this is for backward compatibility (and also the reason
       // the sync block is needed)
       instance = this;   // set singleton
@@ -1200,7 +1214,11 @@ public final class SolrCore {
   public ValueSourceParser getValueSourceParser(String parserName) {
     return valueSourceParsers.get(parserName);
   }
-  
+
+
+  public CoreDescriptor getCoreDescriptor() {
+    return coreDescriptor;
+  }
 }
 
 
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/solr/handler/admin/MultiCoreHandler.java b/src/java/org/apache/solr/handler/admin/MultiCoreHandler.java
index ffb96765c45..e1eb64eaf90 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/solr/handler/admin/MultiCoreHandler.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/solr/handler/admin/MultiCoreHandler.java
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ public abstract class MultiCoreHandler extends RequestHandlerBase
     // Handle a core creation
     //---------------------------------------------------------
     if (action == MultiCoreAction.CREATE) {
-      CoreDescriptor dcore = new CoreDescriptor();
+      CoreDescriptor dcore = new CoreDescriptor(manager);
       dcore.init(params.get(MultiCoreParams.NAME),
                 params.get(MultiCoreParams.INSTANCE_DIR));
       
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/solr/util/TestHarness.java b/src/java/org/apache/solr/util/TestHarness.java
index 95bea192f16..8ee6ee0eef8 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/solr/util/TestHarness.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/solr/util/TestHarness.java
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ public class TestHarness {
                       SolrConfig solrConfig,
                       IndexSchema indexSchema) {
     try {
-      core = new SolrCore( null, dataDirectory, solrConfig, indexSchema);
+      core = new SolrCore( null, dataDirectory, solrConfig, indexSchema, null);
       builder = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance().newDocumentBuilder();
       
       updater = new XmlUpdateRequestHandler();
diff --git a/src/webapp/src/org/apache/solr/servlet/DirectSolrConnection.java b/src/webapp/src/org/apache/solr/servlet/DirectSolrConnection.java
index 8a4fc904fba..d38abcba0dc 100644
--- a/src/webapp/src/org/apache/solr/servlet/DirectSolrConnection.java
+++ b/src/webapp/src/org/apache/solr/servlet/DirectSolrConnection.java
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ public class DirectSolrConnection
 
       // If the Data directory is specified, initialize SolrCore directly
       IndexSchema schema = new IndexSchema(config, instanceDir+"/conf/schema.xml", null);
-      core = new SolrCore( null, dataDir, config, schema );
+      core = new SolrCore( null, dataDir, config, schema, null );
       parser = new SolrRequestParsers( config );
     } 
     catch (Exception ee) {
diff --git a/src/webapp/src/org/apache/solr/servlet/SolrDispatchFilter.java b/src/webapp/src/org/apache/solr/servlet/SolrDispatchFilter.java
index 20aaec28d4c..edf9ea92b8a 100644
--- a/src/webapp/src/org/apache/solr/servlet/SolrDispatchFilter.java
+++ b/src/webapp/src/org/apache/solr/servlet/SolrDispatchFilter.java
@@ -35,12 +35,8 @@ import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
 import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
 
 import org.apache.solr.common.SolrException;
-import org.apache.solr.common.util.NamedList;
 import org.apache.solr.common.params.CommonParams;
-import org.apache.solr.core.MultiCore;
-import org.apache.solr.core.SolrConfig;
-import org.apache.solr.core.SolrCore;
-import org.apache.solr.core.SolrResourceLoader;
+import org.apache.solr.core.*;
 import org.apache.solr.request.*;
 import org.apache.solr.servlet.cache.HttpCacheHeaderUtil;
 import org.apache.solr.servlet.cache.Method;
@@ -54,7 +50,8 @@ public class SolrDispatchFilter implements Filter
 {
   final Logger log = Logger.getLogger(SolrDispatchFilter.class.getName());
 
-  protected SolrCore singlecore;
+  protected CoreDescriptor singleCoreDescriptor;
+
   protected MultiCore multicore;
   protected String pathPrefix = null; // strip this from the beginning of a path
   protected String abortErrorMessage = null;
@@ -76,7 +73,7 @@ public class SolrDispatchFilter implements Filter
 
       if(multicore != null && multicore.isEnabled() ) {
         abortOnConfigurationError = false;
-        singlecore = null;
+        singleCoreDescriptor = null;
         // if any core aborts on startup, then abort
         for( SolrCore c : multicore.getCores() ) {
           if( c.getSolrConfig().getBool( "abortOnConfigurationError",false) ) {
@@ -87,7 +84,10 @@ public class SolrDispatchFilter implements Filter
       }
       else {
         SolrConfig cfg = this.solrConfigFilename == null? new SolrConfig() : new SolrConfig(this.solrConfigFilename);
-        singlecore = new SolrCore( null, null, cfg, null );
+        singleCoreDescriptor = new CoreDescriptor((MultiCore)null);
+        singleCoreDescriptor.init("",cfg.getResourceLoader().getInstanceDir());
+        SolrCore singlecore = new SolrCore( null, null, cfg, null, singleCoreDescriptor);
+        singleCoreDescriptor.setCore(singlecore);
         abortOnConfigurationError = cfg.getBool(
                 "abortOnConfigurationError", abortOnConfigurationError);
       }
@@ -155,9 +155,9 @@ public class SolrDispatchFilter implements Filter
     multicore.shutdown();
       multicore = null;
     }
-    if( singlecore != null ) {
-      singlecore.close();
-      singlecore = null;
+    if( singleCoreDescriptor != null ) {
+      singleCoreDescriptor.getCore().close();
+      singleCoreDescriptor = null;
     }
   }
 
@@ -216,7 +216,7 @@ public class SolrDispatchFilter implements Filter
           }
         }
         else {
-          core = singlecore;
+          core = singleCoreDescriptor.getCore();
         }
 
         // With a valid core...
@@ -309,7 +309,7 @@ public class SolrDispatchFilter implements Filter
           else {
             req.setAttribute("org.apache.solr.SolrCore", core);
             // Modify the request so each core gets its own /admin
-            if( singlecore == null && path.startsWith( "/admin" ) ) {
+            if( singleCoreDescriptor == null && path.startsWith( "/admin" ) ) {
               req.getRequestDispatcher( pathPrefix == null ? path : pathPrefix + path ).forward( request, response );
               return;
             }