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Install MongoDB Community Edition on Red Hat Enterprise or CentOS Linux

Overview

Use this tutorial to install MongoDB Community Edition on Red Hat Enterprise Linux or CentOS Linux versions 6 and 7 using .rpm packages. While some of these distributions include their own MongoDB packages, the official MongoDB Community Edition packages are generally more up to date.

Platform Support

This installation guide only supports 64-bit systems. See Platform Support for details.

MongoDB 3.2 deprecates support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.

Packages

MongoDB provides officially supported packages in their own repository. This repository contains the following packages:

mongodb-org A metapackage that will automatically install the four component packages listed below.
mongodb-org-server Contains the mongod daemon and associated configuration and init scripts.
mongodb-org-mongos Contains the mongos daemon.
mongodb-org-shell Contains the mongo shell.
mongodb-org-tools Contains the following MongoDB tools: mongoimport bsondump, mongodump, mongoexport, mongofiles, mongooplog, mongoperf, mongorestore, mongostat, and mongotop.

The default /etc/mongod.conf configuration file supplied by the packages have bind_ip set to 127.0.0.1 by default. Modify this setting as needed for your environment before initializing a replica set.

Init Scripts

The mongodb-org package includes various init scripts, including the init script /etc/rc.d/init.d/mongod. You can use these scripts to stop, start, and restart daemon processes.

The package configures MongoDB using the /etc/mongod.conf file in conjunction with the init scripts. See the Configuration File reference for documentation of settings available in the configuration file.

There are no init scripts for mongos. You can use the mongod init script to derive your own mongos init script for use in such environments. See the mongos reference for configuration details.

The default /etc/mongod.conf configuration file supplied by the packages have bind_ip set to 127.0.0.1 by default. Modify this setting as needed for your environment before initializing a replica set.

Install MongoDB Community Edition

Note

To install a version of MongoDB prior to 3.2, please refer to that version’s documentation. For example, see version 3.0.

This installation guide only supports 64-bit systems. See Platform Support for details.

1

Configure the package management system (yum).

Create a /etc/yum.repos.d/mongodb-org-3.2.repo file so that you can install MongoDB directly, using yum.

Changed in version 3.0: MongoDB Linux packages are in a new repository beginning with 3.0.

For the latest stable release of MongoDB

Use the following repository file:

[mongodb-org-3.2]
name=MongoDB Repository
baseurl=https://repo.mongodb.org/yum/redhat/$releasever/mongodb-org/3.2/x86_64/
gpgcheck=1
enabled=1
gpgkey=https://www.mongodb.org/static/pgp/server-3.2.asc

You can find .repo files for each release in the repository itself. Remember that odd-numbered minor release versions (e.g. 2.5) are development versions and are unsuitable for production use.

2

Install the MongoDB packages and associated tools.

When you install the packages, you choose whether to install the current release or a previous one. This step provides the commands for both.

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

sudo yum install -y mongodb-org

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-3.2.22 mongodb-org-server-3.2.22 mongodb-org-shell-3.2.22 mongodb-org-mongos-3.2.22 mongodb-org-tools-3.2.22

You can specify any available version of MongoDB. However yum will upgrade 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

Prerequisites

Directory Paths

To Use Default Directories

By default, MongoDB runs using the mongod user account and uses the following default directories:

  • /var/lib/mongo (the data directory)
  • /var/log/mongodb (the log directory)
➤ If you installed via the package manager,
The default directories are created, and the owner and group for these directories are set to mongod.
➤ If you installed by downloading the tarballs,

The default MongoDB directories are not created. To create the MongoDB data and log directories:

Tip

Depending on your user permission, you may need to use sudo to perform these operations.

mkdir -p /var/lib/mongo
mkdir -p /var/log/mongodb

By default, MongoDB runs using the mongod user account. Once created, set the owner and group of these directories to mongod:

chown -R mongod:mongod <directory>
To Use Non-Default Directories

To use a data directory and/or log directory other than the default directories:

Tip

Depending on your user permission, you may need to use sudo to perform these operations.

  1. Create the new directory or directories.

  2. Edit the the configuration file /etc/mongod.conf and modify the following fields accordingly:

    • storage.dbPath to specify a new data directory path (e.g. /some/data/directory)
    • systemLog.path to specify a new log file path (e.g. /some/log/directory/mongod.log)
  3. Ensure that the user running MongoDB has access to the directory or directories:

    chown -R mongod:mongod <directory>
    

    If you change the user that runs the MongoDB process, you must give the new user access to these directories.

  4. Configure SELinux if enforced. See Configure SELinux.

Configure SELinux

Important

If SELinux is in enforcing mode, you must configure SELinux for MongoDB if:

  • You are not using the default MongoDB directories (for RHEL 7.0), and/or
  • You are not using default MongoDB ports.
Non-Default MongoDB Directory Path(s)
  1. Update the SELinux policy to allow the mongod service to use the new directory:

    semanage fcontext -a -t <type> </some/MongoDB/directory.*>
    

    where specify one of the following types as appropriate:

    • mongod_var_lib_t for data directory
    • mongod_log_t for log file directory
    • mongod_var_run_t for pid file directory

    Note

    Be sure to include the .* at the end of the directory.

  2. Update the SELinux user policy for the new directory:

    chcon -Rv -u system_u -t <type> </some/MongoDB/directory>
    

    where specify one of the following types as appropriate:

    • mongod_var_lib_t for data directory
    • mongod_log_t for log directory
    • mongod_var_run_t for pid file directory
  3. Apply the updated SELinux policies to the directory:

    restorecon -R -v </some/MongoDB/directory>
    

For examples:

Tip

  • Depending on your user permission, you may need to use sudo to perform these operations.
  • Be sure to include the .* at the end of the directory for the semanage fcontext operations.
  • If using a non-default MongoDB data path of /mongodb/data:

    semanage fcontext -a -t mongod_var_lib_t '/mongodb/data.*'
    chcon -Rv -u system_u -t mongod_var_lib_t '/mongodb/data'
    restorecon -R -v '/mongodb/data'
    
  • If using a non-default MongoDB log directory of /mongodb/log (e.g. if the log file path is /mongodb/log/mongod.log):

    semanage fcontext -a -t mongod_log_t '/mongodb/log.*'
    chcon -Rv -u system_u -t mongod_log_t '/mongodb/log'
    restorecon -R -v '/mongodb/log'
    
Non-Default MongoDB Ports

Tip

Depending on your user permission, you may need to use sudo to perform the operation.

semanage port -a -t mongod_port_t -p tcp <portnumber>

Procedure

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.

To help you start using MongoDB, MongoDB provides Getting Started Guides in various driver editions. See Getting Started for the available editions.

Before deploying MongoDB in a production environment, consider the Production Notes document.

Later, to stop MongoDB, press Control+C in the terminal where the mongod instance is running.

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 $(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