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Install MongoDB Community Edition on Amazon Linux

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MongoDB Atlas is a hosted MongoDB service option in the cloud which requires no installation overhead and offers a free tier to get started.

Overview

Use this tutorial to install MongoDB 4.4 Community Edition on Amazon Linux using the yum package manager.

Verify Linux Distribution

You can verify which Linux distribution you are running by running the following command on the command-line:

grep ^NAME  /etc/*release

The result should be Amazon Linux. If using a different Linux distribution, please see the install instructions for your platform.

MongoDB Version

This tutorial installs MongoDB 4.4 Community Edition. To install a different version of MongoDB Community, use the version drop-down menu in the upper-left corner of this page to select the documentation for that version.

Considerations

Platform Support

EOL Notice

  • MongoDB 4.4 Community Edition removes support for Amazon Linux 2013.03 on x86_64

MongoDB 4.4 Community Edition supports the following 64-bit Amazon Linux release on x86_64 architecture:

  • Amazon Linux 2

MongoDB only supports the 64-bit versions of this platform.

See Supported Platforms for more information.

Production Notes

Before deploying MongoDB in a production environment, consider the Production Notes document which offers performance considerations and configuration recommendations for production MongoDB deployments.

Install MongoDB Community Edition

Follow these steps to install MongoDB Community Edition using the yum package manager. Select the tab for your version of Amazon Linux:

1

Configure the package management system (yum).

Create a /etc/yum.repos.d/mongodb-org-4.4.repo file so that you can install MongoDB directly using yum:

[mongodb-org-4.4]
name=MongoDB Repository
baseurl=https://repo.mongodb.org/yum/amazon/2/mongodb-org/4.4/x86_64/
gpgcheck=1
enabled=1
gpgkey=https://www.mongodb.org/static/pgp/server-4.4.asc

You can also download the .rpm files directly from the MongoDB repository. Downloads are organized by Amazon Linux version (e.g. 2), then MongoDB release version (e.g. 4.4), then architecture (e.g. x86_64). Odd-numbered MongoDB release versions, such as 4.3, are development versions and are unsuitable for production deployment.

2

Install the MongoDB packages.

To install the latest stable version of MongoDB, issue the following command:

sudo yum install -y mongodb-org

Alternatively, to install a specific release of MongoDB, specify each component package individually and append the version number to the package name, as in the following example:

sudo yum install -y mongodb-org-4.4.1 mongodb-org-server-4.4.1 mongodb-org-shell-4.4.1 mongodb-org-mongos-4.4.1 mongodb-org-tools-4.4.1

You can specify any available version of MongoDB. However yum upgrades the packages when a newer version becomes available. To prevent unintended upgrades, pin the package. To pin a package, add the following exclude directive to your /etc/yum.conf file:

exclude=mongodb-org,mongodb-org-server,mongodb-org-shell,mongodb-org-mongos,mongodb-org-tools
1

Configure the package management system (yum).

Create a /etc/yum.repos.d/mongodb-org-4.4.repo file so that you can install MongoDB directly using yum:

[mongodb-org-4.4]
name=MongoDB Repository
baseurl=https://repo.mongodb.org/yum/amazon/2013.03/mongodb-org/4.4/x86_64/
gpgcheck=1
enabled=1
gpgkey=https://www.mongodb.org/static/pgp/server-4.4.asc

You can also download the .rpm files directly from the MongoDB repository. Downloads are organized by Amazon Linux version (e.g. 2013.03), then MongoDB release version (e.g. 4.4), then architecture (e.g. x86_64). Odd-numbered MongoDB release versions, such as 4.3, are development versions and are unsuitable for production deployment.

2

Install the MongoDB packages.

To install the latest stable version of MongoDB, issue the following command:

sudo yum install -y mongodb-org

Alternatively, to install a specific release of MongoDB, specify each component package individually and append the version number to the package name, as in the following example:

sudo yum install -y mongodb-org-4.4.1 mongodb-org-server-4.4.1 mongodb-org-shell-4.4.1 mongodb-org-mongos-4.4.1 mongodb-org-tools-4.4.1

You can specify any available version of MongoDB. However yum upgrades the packages when a newer version becomes available. To prevent unintended upgrades, pin the package. To pin a package, add the following exclude directive to your /etc/yum.conf file:

exclude=mongodb-org,mongodb-org-server,mongodb-org-shell,mongodb-org-mongos,mongodb-org-tools

Run MongoDB Community Edition

ulimit Considerations

Most Unix-like operating systems limit the system resources that a process may use. These limits may negatively impact MongoDB operation, and should be adjusted. See UNIX ulimit Settings for the recommended settings for your platform.

Note

Starting in MongoDB 4.4, a startup error is generated if the ulimit value for number of open files is under 64000.

Directories

By default, MongoDB instance stores:

  • its data files in /var/lib/mongo
  • its log files in /var/log/mongodb

If you installed via the package manager, these default directories are created during the installation.

If you installed manually by downloading the tarballs, you can create the directories using mkdir -p <directory> or sudo mkdir -p <directory> depending on the user that will run MongoDB. (See your linux man pages for information on mkdir and sudo.)

By default, MongoDB runs using the mongod user account. If you change the user that runs the MongoDB process, you must also modify the permission to the /var/lib/mongo and /var/log/mongodb directories to give this user access to these directories.

To specify a different log file directory and data file directory, edit the systemLog.path and storage.dbPath settings in the /etc/mongod.conf. Ensure that the user running MongoDB has access to these directories.

Procedure

Follow these steps to run MongoDB Community Edition. These instructions assume that you are using the default settings.

Init System

To run and manage your mongod process, you will be using your operating system’s built-in init system. Recent versions of Linux tend to use systemd (which uses the systemctl command), while older versions of Linux tend to use System V init (which uses the service command).

If you are unsure which init system your platform uses, run the following command:

ps --no-headers -o comm 1

Then select the appropriate tab below based on the result:

  • systemd - select the systemd (systemctl) tab below.
  • init - select the System V Init (service) tab below.

1

Start MongoDB.

You can start the mongod process by issuing the following command:

sudo systemctl start mongod

If you receive an error similar to the following when starting mongod:

Failed to start mongod.service: Unit mongod.service not found.

Run the following command first:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

Then run the start command above again.

2

Verify that MongoDB has started successfully.

You can verify that the mongod process has started successfully by issuing the following command:

sudo systemctl status mongod

You can optionally ensure that MongoDB will start following a system reboot by issuing the following command:

sudo systemctl enable mongod
3

Stop MongoDB.

As needed, you can stop the mongod process by issuing the following command:

sudo systemctl stop mongod
4

Restart MongoDB.

You can restart the mongod process by issuing the following command:

sudo systemctl restart mongod

You can follow the state of the process for errors or important messages by watching the output in the /var/log/mongodb/mongod.log file.

5

Begin using MongoDB.

Start a mongo shell on the same host machine as the mongod. You can run the mongo shell without any command-line options to connect to a mongod that is running on your localhost with default port 27017:

mongo

For more information on connecting using the mongo shell, such as to connect to a mongod instance running on a different host and/or port, see The mongo Shell.

To help you start using MongoDB, MongoDB provides Getting Started Guides in various driver editions. For the driver documentation, see Start Developing with MongoDB.

1

Start MongoDB.

You can start the mongod process by issuing the following command:

sudo service mongod start
2

Verify that MongoDB has started successfully

You can verify that the mongod process has started successfully by checking the contents of the log file at /var/log/mongodb/mongod.log for a line reading

[initandlisten] waiting for connections on port <port>

where <port> is the port configured in /etc/mongod.conf, 27017 by default.

You can optionally ensure that MongoDB will start following a system reboot by issuing the following command:

sudo chkconfig mongod on
3

Stop MongoDB.

As needed, you can stop the mongod process by issuing the following command:

sudo service mongod stop
4

Restart MongoDB.

You can restart the mongod process by issuing the following command:

sudo service mongod restart

You can follow the state of the process for errors or important messages by watching the output in the /var/log/mongodb/mongod.log file.

5

Begin using MongoDB.

Start a mongo shell on the same host machine as the mongod. You can run the mongo shell without any command-line options to connect to a mongod that is running on your localhost with default port 27017:

mongo

For more information on connecting using the mongo shell, such as to connect to a mongod instance running on a different host and/or port, see The mongo Shell.

To help you start using MongoDB, MongoDB provides Getting Started Guides in various driver editions. For the driver documentation, see Start Developing with MongoDB.

Uninstall MongoDB Community Edition

To completely remove MongoDB from a system, you must remove the MongoDB applications themselves, the configuration files, and any directories containing data and logs. The following section guides you through the necessary steps.

Warning

This process will completely remove MongoDB, its configuration, and all databases. This process is not reversible, so ensure that all of your configuration and data is backed up before proceeding.

1

Stop MongoDB.

Stop the mongod process by issuing the following command:

sudo service mongod stop
2

Remove Packages.

Remove any MongoDB packages that you had previously installed.

sudo yum erase $(sudo rpm -qa | grep mongodb-org)
3

Remove Data Directories.

Remove MongoDB databases and log files.

sudo rm -r /var/log/mongodb
sudo rm -r /var/lib/mongo

Additional Information

Localhost Binding by Default

By default, MongoDB launches with bindIp set to 127.0.0.1, which binds to the localhost network interface. This means that the mongod can only accept connections from clients that are running on the same machine. Remote clients will not be able to connect to the mongod, and the mongod will not be able to initialize a replica set unless this value is set to a valid network interface.

This value can be configured either:

  • in the MongoDB configuration file with bindIp, or
  • via the command-line argument --bind_ip

Warning

Before binding to a non-localhost (e.g. publicly accessible) IP address, ensure you have secured your cluster from unauthorized access. For a complete list of security recommendations, see Security Checklist. At minimum, consider enabling authentication and hardening network infrastructure.

For more information on configuring bindIp, see IP Binding.

MongoDB Community Edition Packages

MongoDB Community Edition is available from its own dedicated repository, and contains the following officially-supported packages:

Package Name Description
mongodb-org A metapackage that automatically installs the component packages listed below.
mongodb-org-server Contains the mongod daemon, associated init script, and a configuration file (/etc/mongod.conf). You can use the initialization script to start mongod with the configuration file. For details, see Run MongoDB Community Edition.
mongodb-org-mongos Contains the mongos daemon.
mongodb-org-shell Contains the mongo shell.
mongodb-org-tools

A metapackage that automatically installs the component packages listed below:

Package Name Description
mongodb-database-tools

Contains the following MongoDB database tools:

mongodb-org-database-tools-extra Contains the install_compass script