By Mateusz Papiernik and Hazel Virdó
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Introduction
MongoDB is a free and open-source NoSQL document database used commonly in modern web applications. This tutorial will help you set up MongoDB on your server for a production application environment.
Prerequisites
To follow this tutorial, you will need:
- One Ubuntu 16.04 server set up by following this initial server setup tutorial, including a sudo non-root user and a firewall.
Step 1 — Adding the MongoDB Repository
MongoDB is already included in Ubuntu package repositories, but the official MongoDB repository provides most up-to-date version and is the recommended way of installing the software. In this step, we will add this official repository to our server.
Ubuntu ensures the authenticity of software packages by verifying that they are signed with GPG keys, so we first have to import they key for the official MongoDB repository.
After successfully importing the key, you will see:
OK
Next, we have to add the MongoDB repository details so apt will know where to download the packages from.
Issue the following command to create a list file for MongoDB.
After adding the repository details, we need to update the packages list.
Step 2 — Installing and Verifying MongoDB
Now we can install the MongoDB package itself.
This command will install several packages containing latest stable version of MongoDB along with helpful management tools for the MongoDB server.
Next, start MongoDB with systemctl.
You can also use systemctl to check that the service has started properly.
● mongodb.service - High-performance, schema-free document-oriented database
Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/mongodb.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Mon 2016-04-25 14:57:20 EDT; 1min 30s ago
Main PID: 4093 (mongod)
Tasks: 16 (limit: 512)
Memory: 47.1M
CPU: 1.224s
CGroup: /system.slice/mongodb.service
└─4093 /usr/bin/mongod --quiet --config /etc/mongod.conf
The last step is to enable automatically starting MongoDB when the system starts.
The MongoDB server is now configured and running, and you can manage the MongoDB service using the systemctl command (e.g. sudo systemctl stop mongod, sudo systemctl start mongod).
Step 3 — Adjusting the Firewall (Optional)
Assuming you have followed the initial server setup tutorial instructions to enable the firewall on your server, MongoDB server will be inaccessible from the internet.
If you intend to use the MongoDB server only locally with applications running on the same server, it is a recommended and secure setting. However, if you would like to be able to connect to your MongoDB server from the internet, we have to allow the incoming connections in ufw.
To allow access to MongoDB on its default port 27017 from everywhere, you could use sudo ufw allow 27017. However, enabling internet access to MongoDB server on a default installation gives unrestricted access to the whole database server.
in most cases, MongoDB should be accessed only from certain trusted locations, such as another server hosting an application. To accomplish this task, you can allow access on MongoDB’s default port while specifying the IP address of another server that will be explicitly allowed to connect.
You can verify the change in firewall settings with ufw.
You should see traffic to 27017 port allowed in the output.If you have decided to allow only a certain IP address to connect to MongoDB server, the IP address of the allowed location will be listed instead of Anywhere in the output.
Status: active
To Action From
-- ------ ----
27017 ALLOW Anywhere
OpenSSH ALLOW Anywhere
27017 (v6) ALLOW Anywhere (v6)
OpenSSH (v6) ALLOW Anywhere (v6)
More advanced firewall settings for restricting access to services are described in UFW Essentials: Common Firewall Rules and Commands.
Conclusion
You can find more in-depth instructions regarding MongoDB installation and configuration in these DigitalOcean community articles.
Thanks for learning with the DigitalOcean Community. Check out our offerings for compute, storage, networking, and managed databases.
About the author(s)
Creating bespoke software ◦ CTO & co-founder at Makimo. I'm a software enginner & a geek. I like making impossible things possible. And I need tea.
hi! i write do.co/docs now, but i used to be the senior tech editor publishing tutorials here in the community.
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I get an error message that says:
Failed to start mongodb.service: Unit mongodb.service is masked.
when I run:
sudo systemctl start mongodb
If I just run:
sudo mongod
it works
When I try to enable for system start with
sudo systemctl enable mongodb
I get
Failed to execute operation: Invalid argument
Help is much appreciated. Ben
when i try add content to /etc/systemd/system/mongodb.service, it said “/etc/systemd/system/mongodb.service” is not a normal file ", and i cannot add content. Help me :(
In my case I get this error.
sudo systemctl status mongodb
● mongodb.service - High-performance, schema-free document-oriented database
Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/mongodb.service; disabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Fri 2016-05-27 12:38:13 EDT; 4s ago
Process: 6729 ExecStart=/usr/bin/mongod --quiet --config /etc/mongod.conf (code=exited, status=100)
Main PID: 6729 (code=exited, status=100)
May 27 12:38:13 ubuntu systemd[1]: Started High-performance, schema-free document-oriented database.
May 27 12:38:13 ubuntu systemd[1]: mongodb.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=100/n/a
May 27 12:38:13 ubuntu systemd[1]: mongodb.service: Unit entered failed state.
May 27 12:38:13 ubuntu systemd[1]: mongodb.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Hi, How to set different path to dbdata and log file? I try set path to /home/user/folder and my server return fail.
Paul
they already have repo for xenial here
"deb http://repo.mongodb.org/apt/ubuntu xenial/mongodb-org/3.2 multiverse"
We encountered a lot of issues related to the systemd configuration on a busy mongod - and improved a bit on it which can be found here: https://gist.github.com/hofmeister/a4706604c3b899eb0288f0442be5f6c4
Most important part is the TasksAccounting=false since that’ll default to true and limit the mongod service to 512 threads / sub processes
The errors we were seeing was :
NETWORK [initandlisten] pthread_create failed: errno:11 Resource temporarily unavailable
What was messing me up is that some docs refer to mongod.service and this one uses mongodb.service. Is the name up to the user? Can we call it anything we want, as long as it’s unique?
I tried this tutorial, getting ACTIVE as failed
mongodb.service - High-performance, schema-free document-oriented database Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/mongodb.service; disabled; vendor preset: Active: failed (running) since Fri 2016-05-13 10:33:52 IST; 1min 48s ago Main PID: 7078 (mongod) Tasks: 16 (limit: 512) CGroup: /system.slice/mongodb.service └─7078 /usr/bin/mongod --quiet --config /etc/mongod.conf
May 13 10:33:52 linux systemd[1]: Started High-performance, schema-free document lines 1-9/9 (END)
If using a volume to store data, what or where do I specify the storage path?
There is an error above;
ExecStart=/usr/bin/mongod --quiet --config /etc/mongod.conf
should be
ExecStart=/usr/bin/mongod --quiet --config /etc/mongodb.conf
After startin mongodb I get:
Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Die 2016-09-06 21:38:05 CEST; 22s ago Process: 20153 ExecStart=/usr/bin/mongod --quiet --config /etc/mongod.conf (code=exited, status=14) Main PID: 20153 (code=exited, status=14)
Sep 06 21:38:05 machina8 systemd[1]: Started High-performance, schema-free document-oriented database. Sep 06 21:38:05 machina8 systemd[1]: mongodb.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=14/n/a Sep 06 21:38:05 machina8 systemd[1]: mongodb.service: Unit entered failed state. Sep 06 21:38:05 machina8 systemd[1]: mongodb.service: Failed with result ‘exit-code’.
Thanks for starting out the tutorial with an explanation that MongoDB doesn’t yet use SystemD. This has confused me for months about why getting MongoDB running on a Ubuntu 16.04 install has been overly complex. Your three simple steps solve the problem. Thanks!
I have Ubuntu 16.04 x32 dev-machine from DO. I try to install mongodb for ubuntu following this tutorial, but I get error: The repository ‘http://repo.mongodb.org/apt/ubuntu xenial/mongodb-org/3.0 Release’ does not have a Release file screenshot
I get this error after: echo “deb http://repo.mongodb.org/apt/ubuntu xenial/mongodb-org/3.2 multiverse” | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mongodb-org-3.2.list and sudo apt-get update
Then I fire command: sudo apt-get install -y mongodb-org
And I get error: Unable to locate package mongodb-org
How to fix it?
Hello, I’ve a machine Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS
when i ran this command sudo systemctl enable mongodb
I’m getting this error Synchronizing state of mongodb.service with SysV init with /lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install… Executing /lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install enable mongodb Failed to execute operation: File exists
Need your help!
when after: sudo ufw allow from your_other_server_ip/32 to any port 27017 sudo ufw status I get error message that says: ERROR: Bad source address Status: inactive
Just got the service working by executing the following command:
sudo service mongodb start
sudo apt-get install -y --allow-unauthenticated mongodb-org
this works for me --allow-unauthenticated
Just a minor error in the otherwise great tutorial:
“The MongoDB server now configured and running, and you can manage the MongoDB service using the systemctl command (e.g. sudo systemctl mongodb stop, sudo systemctl mongodb start).”
The mongodb stop and mongodb start should be another way around, like:
“The MongoDB server now configured and running, and you can manage the MongoDB service using the systemctl command (e.g. sudo systemctl stop mongodb, sudo systemctl start mongodb).”
Otherwise the following error is produced:
$ sudo systemctl mongodb stop
Unknown operation mongodb.
you know that was bad right? Only open it to specific private machines or the private subnet. Opening mongo (or anything) for world access is naughty. You could also only have 22 open and tunnel in to access mongo via 127.0.0.1. This provides transport encryption and stops world-attacks, and fits in quite well with DigitalOcean deployment as it allows you to use a few SSH public keys so you can traverse tunnels remotely without too much fear of others
@mati @hazelnut The official tutorial says to create the service file at /lib/systemd/system/mongod.service (which already exists for me) whereas this tutorial says to create it at /etc/systemd/system/mongodb.service (which doesn’t exist for me). Note that besides the lib/etc difference, there’s also mongod vs mongodb. Perhaps things have changed since this tutorial was written? Just thought I’d let you know. Cheers
Edit: I just read this forum post which might be relevant:
service operates on the files in /etc/init.d and was used in conjunction with the old init system. systemctl operates on the files in /lib/systemd . If there is a file for your service in /lib/systemd it will use that first and if not it will fall back to the file in /etc/init.d
Hi, I really like the digitalocean one click apps - but they seem to lack a lot of documentation.
How do I know what decisions and trade-offs were made in order to make the MongoDB one click app? Do I really have to trawl all the config files to understand how it was configured?
Building on a Mongo one click app, I published something to help someone set up a Replica Set in just a few minutes.
http://undefinedbehaviour.xyz/2016/12/21/mongodb-replica-set/
I needed to run
sudo apt-get install -y mongodb
instead of
sudo apt-get install -y mongodb-org
I had to use
sudo apt-get install -y mongodb
(without “-org” suffix)
also config file in service file should be
mongodb.conf
not “mongod.conf”
For me the first 2 steps works ok today, but I think the order of the outputs shown and the commands executed at the end of Step 2 are this way:
1 - First time you get the step to check the systemctl status mongodb
sudo systemctl status mongodb
Output:
● mongodb.service - High-performance, schema-free document-oriented database
Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/mongodb.service; disabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: inactive (dead)
2 - Enable mongodb:
sudo systemctl enable mongodb.service
Output:
● mongodb.service - High-performance, schema-free document-oriented database
Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/mongodb.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: inactive (dead)
3 - Start mongodb:
sudo systemctl start mongodb
Output:
● mongodb.service - High-performance, schema-free document-oriented database
Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/mongodb.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Thu 2017-01-12 07:10:46 UTC; 2s ago
Main PID: 12623 (mongod)
Tasks: 16
Memory: 50.4M
CPU: 252ms
CGroup: /system.slice/mongodb.service
└─12623 /usr/bin/mongod --quiet --config /etc/mongod.conf
But, if you check the status of the jobs by using:
systemctl list-unit-files --type=service
I can see there still is a mongod.service disabled…
mongod.service disabled
mongodb.service enabled
Any idea if it is needed or I should remove it? What step should be changed to avoid it?
I am able to run sudo systemctl enable mongod without creating mongodb.service in 16.04!
It creates /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/mongod.service
Perhaps i missed it, but if you want to be able to connect to this mongo instance externally, you’ll need to add your ip address (the same one you added in the ufw settings) to the mongodb configuration file (/etc/mongod.conf) like so:
# network interfaces
net:
port: 27017
bindIp: 127.0.0.1,YOUR_EXTERAL_IP
I’m trying to install at least mongodb 3.2 on ubuntu 16.10 because I really need the $sample command.
I can’t seem to get this working. Any help would be appreciated.
Oh man, you should have mentioned that we should change “bind_ip” in /etc/mongod.conf to the other server’s ip address as well. The ufw config is useless without this. I banged my head against the wall but ended up being able to search it out in another thread.
Hi to all!
I am experiencing this error at the end of step 2:
Apr 17 13:14:40 ubuntu-512mb-ams2-01 systemd[1]: Started High-performance, schema-free document-oriented database. Apr 17 13:14:40 ubuntu-512mb-ams2-01 systemd[2359]: mongodb.service: Failed at step USER spawning /usr/bin/mongod: No such process Apr 17 13:14:40 ubuntu-512mb-ams2-01 systemd[1]: mongodb.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=217/USER Apr 17 13:14:40 ubuntu-512mb-ams2-01 systemd[1]: mongodb.service: Unit entered failed state. Apr 17 13:14:40 ubuntu-512mb-ams2-01 systemd[1]: mongodb.service: Failed with result ‘exit-code’.
Has anyone also encountered this and maybe found a solution for it? Thanks!
Hello, thanks for this helpful article.
I got mongo to work the first time I followed this tutorial. However, today is the day after and I can’t seem to make it work anymore. Now I get the below:
root@texasbros:~# sudo systemctl start mongodb
root@texasbros:~# sudo systemctl status mongodb
mongodb.service - High-performance, schema-free document-oriented database
Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/mongodb.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Sun 2017-04-23 14:27:07 UTC; 11s ago
Process: 16643 ExecStart=/usr/bin/mongod --quiet --config /etc/mongod.conf (code=exited, status=14)
Main PID: 16643 (code=exited, status=14)
Apr 23 14:27:07 texasbros systemd[1]: Started High-performance, schema-free document-oriented database.
Apr 23 14:27:07 texasbros systemd[1]: mongodb.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=14/n/a
Apr 23 14:27:07 texasbros systemd[1]: mongodb.service: Unit entered failed state.
Apr 23 14:27:07 texasbros systemd[1]: mongodb.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Great article. One note though: there’s no need to create a unit file (/etc/systemd/system/mongodb.service) for MongoDB. It’s easier to simply enable the unit provided by package (Note that below the correct is mongod, not to be confused with mongodb)
sudo systemctl enable mongod
Installing MongoDB on Ubuntu steps provided here http://www.amazonwebservicesforum.com/2017/08/installing-mongodb.html
I’m receiving an error stating that it cannot find the configuration file.
systemd[1]: Started High-performance, schema-free document-oriented database. mongod[2205]: Error reading config file: No such file or directory mongod[2205]: try ‘/usr/bin/mongod --help’ for more information ystemd[1]: mongodb.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=2/INVALIDARGUMENT systemd[1]: mongodb.service: Unit entered failed state. systemd[1]: mongodb.service: Failed with result ‘exit-code’. systemd[1]: Stopped High-performance, schema-free document-oriented database.
However when I run the following command the file exists.
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/mongodb.service
Is there another config file I should be creating? If so I did not see it in the tutorial.
Since you start the service with
sudo systemctl start mongod
Shouldn’t you check the status with
sudo systemctl status mongod
Bogus article. Didn’t even work.
● mongodb.service Loaded: not-found (Reason: No such file or directory) Active: inactive (dead) root@ITHERAEL:~# sudo systemctl enable mongodb Failed to execute operation: No such file or directory
I get this message : ```mongodb.service - High-performance, schema-free document-oriented database Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/mongodb.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled) Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Tue 2017-12-05 13:30:01 UTC; 38s ago Main PID: 6387 (code=exited, status=48)
Dec 05 13:30:01 ubuntu-512mb-fra1-01 systemd[1]: Started High-performance, schema-free document-oriented database. Dec 05 13:30:01 ubuntu-512mb-fra1-01 systemd[1]: mongodb.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=48/n/a Dec 05 13:30:01 ubuntu-512mb-fra1-01 systemd[1]: mongodb.service: Unit entered failed state. Dec 05 13:30:01 ubuntu-512mb-fra1-01 systemd[1]: mongodb.service: Failed with result ‘exit-code’.```
when i run sudo systemctl status mongodb
I have uninstall and reinstall mongo db and followed the steps twice but can’t seem to find a way to solve it. Please does anyone know what to do?
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