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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, CentOS Linux, or Oracle Linux [1] versions 6 and 7 using .rpm packages.

Platform Support

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

MongoDB 3.4 removes support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.

[1]MongoDB only supports Oracle Linux running the Red Hat Compatible Kernel (RHCK). MongoDB does not support the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK).

Packages

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

Package Name Description
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 mongodb-org-server package provides an initialization script that starts mongod with the /etc/mongod.conf configuration file.

See Run MongoDB Community Edition for details on using this initialization script.

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 different version of MongoDB, please refer to that version’s documentation. For example, see version 3.2.

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-3.4.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-3.4]
name=MongoDB Repository
baseurl=https://repo.mongodb.org/yum/redhat/$releasever/mongodb-org/3.4/x86_64/
gpgcheck=1
enabled=1
gpgkey=https://www.mongodb.org/static/pgp/server-3.4.asc

For versions of MongoDB earlier than 3.0

To install the packages from an earlier release series, such as 2.4 or 2.6, you can specify the release series in the repository configuration. For example, to restrict your system to the 2.6 release series, create a /etc/yum.repos.d/mongodb-org-2.6.repo file to hold the following configuration information for the MongoDB 2.6 repository:

[mongodb-org-2.6]
name=MongoDB 2.6 Repository
baseurl=http://downloads-distro.mongodb.org/repo/redhat/os/x86_64/
gpgcheck=0
enabled=1

You can also download the .rpm files directly from the MongoDB repository. Downloads are organized by Red Hat / CentOS version (e.g. 7), then MongoDB release version (e.g. 3.4), then architecture (e.g. x86_64). Odd-numbered MongoDB release versions, such as 3.5, are development versions and are unsuitable for production deployment.

2

Install the MongoDB packages and associated tools.

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

sudo yum install -y mongodb-org

Run MongoDB Community Edition

Prerequisites

ulimit

Most Unix-like operating systems limit the system resources that a session may use. These limits may negatively impact MongoDB operation. See UNIX ulimit Settings for more information.

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