Using MongoDB on a Managed Flex Server

MongoDB is a document-oriented NoSQL database management system. This guide explains how to run MongoDB on your Managed Flex Server.

Requirements

MongoDB can be used with a Managed Flex Server M, L, XL or XXL.

Setting up MongoDB

Hostpoint provides you with the appropriate MongoDB tool collection for your Managed Flex Server operating system. Links to the standard version can be found at /usr/local/bin/. Specific versions can be found at /usr/local/mongodbXX. The XX stands for the version. We recommend using the standard version whenever possible.

We will notify you of changes to available versions by e-mail. We recommend that you read these informational e-mails carefully at all times, so that you can find out about any maintenance work you need and can plan and carry it out accordingly.

Please also read section “3. Maintenance” in this guide.

Creating a data directory

For the MongoDB server to save your database, you need a corresponding folder on your home page.

To complete these steps, you must be logged into your Managed Flex Server via SSH.

As an example in this guide, we use the hidden folder ~/.mongod/data/db/ on your home page. Create this folder as follows:

[username@flex:~] 1 $ mkdir -p ~/.mongod/data/db

Manual startup of MongoDB

For the setup, start the MongoDB server manually in a shell with the following command:

[username@flex:~] 1 $ /usr/local/bin/mongod --dbpath ~/.mongod/data/db

The MongoDB server initializes the previously created data directory and then waits for connections. In your terminal, you will see various text outputs about the current status as well as possible problems during start-up and operation. Do not cancel the command and continue setting up the database user with the next step.

(You can find out how to start the service as usual for operation on your web server in the section “2.4 Integration of MongoDB into Custom Service Control (CSC)” below in this guide.

Installation of mongosh

These steps are necessary to install the CLI application mongosh so that you can communicate with MongoDB via CLI.

First you need to create or edit these 2 files and insert the appropriate content:

NPM_PACKAGES="${HOME}/.npm-packages"
NODE_PATH="$NPM_PACKAGES/lib/node_modules:$NODE_PATH"
export PATH="$NPM_PACKAGES/bin:$PATH"

prefix=${HOME}/.npm-packages

These entries allow you to install global packages with NPM.

In order for the changes in the .profile file to become active, you would now have to log out and log back in, or run the source command:

source ~/.profile

Finally, you would need to install the mongosh package with NPM:

npm install -g @mongosh/cli-repl

Creating a database user

In the next step, you need to create a user with a password for protected access to your MongoDB server.

To do this, start an additional shell session and run the mongosh command on your flex server to connect to the MongoDB process you started before:

[username@flex:~] 1 $ mongosh
MongoDB shell version v5.0.12

connecting to: mongodb://127.0.0.1:27017/[..]

>

Please note: Mongosh is the CLI application for MongoDB 6.0 which is currently the default. If you are working with MongoDB 5.0, you would need to use /usr/local/mongodb50/bin/mongo and not mongosh.

Tell the MongoDB server that you now want to use the database admin:

use admin

Now you can create the user. The following example shows how to create an admin user with access to all databases. For more information about the different roles, refer to the MongoDB Role-Based Access Control documentation.

db.createUser(
{ user: "User",
	 pwd: "password",
			
	 roles:[{role: "userAdminAnyDatabase" , db:"admin"}]})

Once you have set up the database user, you have created the prerequisites for the regular operation of your MongoDB server. You can exit the MongoDB server in your first terminal with Ctrl+C and continue with the next step.

Integration of MongoDB into Custom Service Control (CSC)

Custom Service Control (CSC) takes care of the operation and automatic management of your application (e.g. start and stop during maintenance work).

Configuring MongoDB in the CSC is fairly simple. Set up a new custom service for MongoDb as follows:

[username@flex:~] 1 $ hpservices supervisord add mongodb

A configuration framework is created in the file ~/.services/supervisord/mongodb/service.conf . Open this file in a text editor. For MongoDB you essentially have to change the command, otherwise, you can accept the suggested values and comment out the lines accordingly (remove semicolons at the beginning of the line for all lines except the directory line):

~/.services/supervisord/mongodb/service.conf

[program:mongodb]
command=/usr/local/bin/mongod --auth --dbpath %(ENV_HOME)s/.mongod/data/db
;directory=%(ENV_HOME)s/app/mongodb/       ; directory to cwd to before exec (default no cwd)
autostart=true                ; start application at supervisord start (default: true)
stopwaitsecs=10               ; max num secs to wait before SIGKILL (default 10)
stdout_logfile=%(ENV_HOME)s/.services/supervisord/mongodb/log/default.log
stdout_logfile_maxbytes=1MB   ; filesize at which to rotate logfiles (default ist 50MB)
stdout_logfile_backups=10     ; number of stdout logfile backups (0 means none, default 10)
stderr_logfile=%(ENV_HOME)s/.services/supervisord/mongodb/log/default.err
stderr_logfile_maxbytes=1MB   ; filesize at which to rotate logfiles (default is 50MB)
stderr_logfile_backups=10     ; number of stderr logfile backups (0 means none, default 10)

If you are using CSC for the first time, you must now activate it. If this is the case, we also recommend that you read the detailed documentation on Custom Service Control.

[username@flex:~] 1 $ hpservices supervisord start

If you are already using CSC for other services, use supervisorctl update update to add and activate the new configuration for MongoDB. With the above service definition, MongoDB starts automatically:

[username@flex:~] 1 $ supervisorctl update
mongodb: added process group

[username@flex:~] 1 $ supervisorctl status
mongodb RUNNING pid 92108, uptime 1:13:39

The output of the MongoDB server can now be found in the stdout_logfile, which you previously defined for the service.

Testing MongoDB instance

Your MongoDB server is now ready to accept connections. You can test this with the MongoDB-CLI:

[username@flex:~] 1 $ mongosh

If everything is configured correctly, you will get the following output:

MongoDB shell version vX.X.X
connecting to: mongodb://127.0.0.1:27017/?compressors=disabled&gssapiServiceName=mongodb
Implicit session: session { "id" : UUID("[..]") }
MongoDB server version: X.X.X
>

Maintenance

With updates of the MongoDB version, you may have to carry out some maintenance work. We will notify you by e-mail about upcoming software updates for your Managed Flex Server. Read these carefully and check in the Release Notes of the MongoDB project if you need to perform maintenance work on your database when upgrading the MongoDB version.

Backup

MongoDB stores the data in a binary format in the folder you specify.

The selected folder is located on your home page, which means that the data is generally collected by your regular file backup. However, since this data is structured DB data with an application-specific change pattern and backup requirements, you should consider a suitable backup strategy. For more on this, read the MongoDB documentation.

Additional information

MongoDB
Guide: Custom Service Control

Please use this form only to provide feedback on the above guide.
For support requests please use this form instead.