Setting up a MongoDB database

In this article I will explain how to set up a MongoDB database. This article will be split in two main steps:

• Install MongoDB
• Run MongoDB and set up authentication
• Make a simple NodeJS connection

Install MongoDB

Most of the repositories have MongoDB however I do not recommend install it this way because usually the repositories do not have the most recent stable version.

Instead of installing with the repository you should download it from the MongoDB website. There you can select the version, OS and package, in package you should choose the TGZ option.

After download the tar file extract it with:

tar xf <file>

After extract go inside it and copy all the binaries that are in the folder bin to a folder of your choice. If you are the only user I would recommend to copy these file to: ~/.local/bin/mongodb

After copy the files you should add the path to your PATH variable, you can do this by copying the following line to /etc/environment or ~/.bashrc:

export PATH=$PATH:~/.local/bin/mongodb

Run MongoDB and set up authentication

To run MongoDB open a terminal and type:

mongod --dbpath <path_to_database>

The <path_to_database> can be any path of your choice, all the files of database will be stored in this path. Note that the path/folders need to be created before running the command. Example:

mongod --dbpath ~/mongodb

After start MongoDB is time to create authentication credentials, to enter the database open a new terminal and type the command:

mongo

This command will open a console to interact with the database. Note that for localhost connections you do not need authentication.

To set up authentication credentials you need to create a database to store them. To create a database simply type in the console use admin, this will create a database inside MongoDB called admin.

In the console to create the credentials type the command:

db.createUser({user:"username", pwd:passwordPrompt(), roles:["userAdminAnyDatabase"]})

This create a user for the database called username, the passwordPrompt() will ask for a password, the database stores the hash and not the password itself.

Make a simple NodeJS connection

First install the MogoDB drivers with npm, then follow the next code example to make a connection:

const MongoClient = require('mongodb').MongoClient;
MongoClient.connect("mongodb://username:passwordn@localhost:27017/v2?authMechanism=DEFAULT&authSource=admin", function(err, db) {
  if(err) { return console.dir(err); }

  const collection = db.collection('test');
  const doc1 = {'hello':'doc1'};

  collection.insert(doc1);

});

Substitute username and password with the ones used to create the MongoDB user in the process of create the authentication credentials.