diff --git a/docker/cli.assetstore.yml b/docker/cli.assetstore.yml
index 592194a752..c2846286d7 100644
--- a/docker/cli.assetstore.yml
+++ b/docker/cli.assetstore.yml
@@ -22,7 +22,8 @@ services:
     networks:
       dspacenet: {}
     environment:
-      - LOADASSETS=https://www.dropbox.com/s/v3ahfcuatklbmi0/assetstore-2019-11-28.tar.gz?dl=1
+      # This assetstore zip is available from https://github.com/DSpace-Labs/AIP-Files/releases/tag/demo-entities-data
+      - LOADASSETS=https://github.com/DSpace-Labs/AIP-Files/releases/download/demo-entities-data/assetstore.tar.gz
     entrypoint:
       - /bin/bash
       - '-c'
diff --git a/docker/db.entities.yml b/docker/db.entities.yml
index d39eedc5c6..3d4831e151 100644
--- a/docker/db.entities.yml
+++ b/docker/db.entities.yml
@@ -19,4 +19,5 @@ services:
     image: dspace/dspace-postgres-pgcrypto:loadsql
     environment:
       # This LOADSQL should be kept in sync with the URL in DSpace/DSpace
-      - LOADSQL=https://www.dropbox.com/s/4ap1y6deseoc8ws/dspace7-entities-2019-11-28.sql?dl=1
+      # This SQL is available from https://github.com/DSpace-Labs/AIP-Files/releases/tag/demo-entities-data
+      - LOADSQL=https://github.com/DSpace-Labs/AIP-Files/releases/download/demo-entities-data/dspace7-entities-2021-04-14.sql
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/docker/docker-compose-ci.yml b/docker/docker-compose-ci.yml
index ec2d0912cf..5397e15a8b 100644
--- a/docker/docker-compose-ci.yml
+++ b/docker/docker-compose-ci.yml
@@ -8,9 +8,13 @@
 
 # Docker Compose for running the DSpace backend for e2e testing in a CI environment
 # This is used by our GitHub CI at .github/workflows/build.yml
+# It is based heavily on the Backend's Docker Compose:
+# https://github.com/DSpace/DSpace/blob/main/docker-compose.yml
+version: '3.7'
 networks:
   dspacenet:
 services:
+  # DSpace (backend) webapp container
   dspace:
     container_name: dspace
     depends_on:
@@ -26,12 +30,26 @@ services:
     volumes:
     - assetstore:/dspace/assetstore
     - "./local.cfg:/dspace/config/local.cfg"
+    # Ensure that the database is ready BEFORE starting tomcat
+    # 1. While a TCP connection to dspacedb port 5432 is not available, continue to sleep
+    # 2. Then, run database migration to init database tables
+    # 3. Finally, start Tomcat
+    entrypoint:
+    - /bin/bash
+    - '-c'
+    - |
+      while (!</dev/tcp/dspacedb/5432) > /dev/null 2>&1; do sleep 1; done;
+      /dspace/bin/dspace database migrate
+      catalina.sh run
+  # DSpace database container
+  # NOTE: This is customized to use our loadsql image, so that we are using a database with existing test data
   dspacedb:
     container_name: dspacedb
     environment:
       # This LOADSQL should be kept in sync with the LOADSQL in
       # https://github.com/DSpace/DSpace/blob/main/dspace/src/main/docker-compose/db.entities.yml
-      LOADSQL: https://www.dropbox.com/s/4ap1y6deseoc8ws/dspace7-entities-2019-11-28.sql?dl=1
+      # This SQL is available from https://github.com/DSpace-Labs/AIP-Files/releases/tag/demo-entities-data
+      LOADSQL: https://github.com/DSpace-Labs/AIP-Files/releases/download/demo-entities-data/dspace7-entities-2021-04-14.sql
       PGDATA: /pgdata
     image: dspace/dspace-postgres-pgcrypto:loadsql
     networks:
@@ -40,9 +58,11 @@ services:
     tty: true
     volumes:
     - pgdata:/pgdata
+  # DSpace Solr container
   dspacesolr:
     container_name: dspacesolr
-    image: dspace/dspace-solr
+    # Uses official Solr image at https://hub.docker.com/_/solr/
+    image: solr:8.8
     networks:
       dspacenet:
     ports:
@@ -50,16 +70,27 @@ services:
       target: 8983
     stdin_open: true
     tty: true
+    working_dir: /var/solr/data
     volumes:
-    - solr_authority:/opt/solr/server/solr/authority/data
-    - solr_oai:/opt/solr/server/solr/oai/data
-    - solr_search:/opt/solr/server/solr/search/data
-    - solr_statistics:/opt/solr/server/solr/statistics/data
-version: '3.7'
+    # Mount our local Solr core configs so that they are available as Solr configsets on container
+    - ./dspace/solr/authority:/opt/solr/server/solr/configsets/authority
+    - ./dspace/solr/oai:/opt/solr/server/solr/configsets/oai
+    - ./dspace/solr/search:/opt/solr/server/solr/configsets/search
+    - ./dspace/solr/statistics:/opt/solr/server/solr/configsets/statistics
+    # Keep Solr data directory between reboots
+    - solr_data:/var/solr/data
+    # Initialize all DSpace Solr cores using the mounted local configsets (see above), then start Solr
+    entrypoint:
+    - /bin/bash
+    - '-c'
+    - |
+      init-var-solr
+      precreate-core authority /opt/solr/server/solr/configsets/authority
+      precreate-core oai /opt/solr/server/solr/configsets/oai
+      precreate-core search /opt/solr/server/solr/configsets/search
+      precreate-core statistics /opt/solr/server/solr/configsets/statistics
+      exec solr -f
 volumes:
   assetstore:
   pgdata:
-  solr_authority:
-  solr_oai:
-  solr_search:
-  solr_statistics:
+  solr_data:
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/docker/docker-compose-rest.yml b/docker/docker-compose-rest.yml
index e6668f3f58..9797bd26e9 100644
--- a/docker/docker-compose-rest.yml
+++ b/docker/docker-compose-rest.yml
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ version: '3.7'
 networks:
   dspacenet:
 services:
+  # DSpace (backend) webapp container
   dspace:
     container_name: dspace
     image: dspace/dspace:dspace-7_x-test
@@ -40,6 +41,7 @@ services:
       while (!</dev/tcp/dspacedb/5432) > /dev/null 2>&1; do sleep 1; done;
       /dspace/bin/dspace database migrate
       catalina.sh run
+  # DSpace database container    
   dspacedb:
     container_name: dspacedb
     environment:
@@ -54,9 +56,11 @@ services:
     tty: true
     volumes:
     - pgdata:/pgdata
+  # DSpace Solr container  
   dspacesolr:
     container_name: dspacesolr
-    image: dspace/dspace-solr
+    # Uses official Solr image at https://hub.docker.com/_/solr/
+    image: solr:8.8
     networks:
       dspacenet:
     ports:
@@ -64,15 +68,27 @@ services:
       target: 8983
     stdin_open: true
     tty: true
+    working_dir: /var/solr/data
     volumes:
-    - solr_authority:/opt/solr/server/solr/authority/data
-    - solr_oai:/opt/solr/server/solr/oai/data
-    - solr_search:/opt/solr/server/solr/search/data
-    - solr_statistics:/opt/solr/server/solr/statistics/data
+    # Mount our local Solr core configs so that they are available as Solr configsets on container
+    - ./dspace/solr/authority:/opt/solr/server/solr/configsets/authority
+    - ./dspace/solr/oai:/opt/solr/server/solr/configsets/oai
+    - ./dspace/solr/search:/opt/solr/server/solr/configsets/search
+    - ./dspace/solr/statistics:/opt/solr/server/solr/configsets/statistics
+    # Keep Solr data directory between reboots
+    - solr_data:/var/solr/data
+    # Initialize all DSpace Solr cores using the mounted local configsets (see above), then start Solr
+    entrypoint:
+    - /bin/bash
+    - '-c'
+    - |
+      init-var-solr
+      precreate-core authority /opt/solr/server/solr/configsets/authority
+      precreate-core oai /opt/solr/server/solr/configsets/oai
+      precreate-core search /opt/solr/server/solr/configsets/search
+      precreate-core statistics /opt/solr/server/solr/configsets/statistics
+      exec solr -f
 volumes:
   assetstore:
   pgdata:
-  solr_authority:
-  solr_oai:
-  solr_search:
-  solr_statistics:
+  solr_data: