Deploy MongoDB on RamNode VPS | NoSQL Database Guide

Prerequisites & VPS Selection

Development

• 2GB RAM
• 2 vCPU
• Small datasets

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Production

• 4GB+ RAM
• 4 vCPU
• Medium workloads

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High Performance

• 8GB+ RAM
• 8 vCPU
• Large datasets

→ Premium VPS

What You'll Need

Ubuntu 22.04/24.04 or Debian 11/12
Root or sudo access
Adequate disk space for your data
Basic understanding of database concepts

Install MongoDB

Install MongoDB Community Edition from the official repository:

Import MongoDB GPG Key

sudo apt-get install -y gnupg curl
curl -fsSL https://www.mongodb.org/static/pgp/server-7.0.asc | \
   sudo gpg -o /usr/share/keyrings/mongodb-server-7.0.gpg --dearmor

Add MongoDB Repository (Ubuntu 22.04)

echo "deb [ arch=amd64,arm64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/mongodb-server-7.0.gpg ] https://repo.mongodb.org/apt/ubuntu jammy/mongodb-org/7.0 multiverse" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mongodb-org-7.0.list

💡 For Ubuntu 24.04: Replace jammy with noble in the repository URL.

Install MongoDB

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y mongodb-org

Start and Enable MongoDB

sudo systemctl start mongod
sudo systemctl enable mongod
sudo systemctl status mongod

Verify Installation

mongod --version
mongosh --eval 'db.runCommand({ connectionStatus: 1 })'

Configure MongoDB

Configure MongoDB for your environment:

/etc/mongod.conf

# mongod.conf

# Data storage
storage:
  dbPath: /var/lib/mongodb
  journal:
    enabled: true
  wiredTiger:
    engineConfig:
      cacheSizeGB: 1  # Adjust based on RAM (50% of available)

# Network interfaces
net:
  port: 27017
  bindIp: 127.0.0.1  # Change to 0.0.0.0 for remote access

# Process Management
processManagement:
  timeZoneInfo: /usr/share/zoneinfo

# Security
security:
  authorization: enabled

# Operation Profiling
operationProfiling:
  mode: slowOp
  slowOpThresholdMs: 100

# Logging
systemLog:
  destination: file
  logAppend: true
  path: /var/log/mongodb/mongod.log

⚠️ WiredTiger Cache: Set cacheSizeGB to about 50% of your available RAM minus 1GB for optimal performance.

Apply Configuration Changes

sudo systemctl restart mongod

Security Setup

Create an admin user and enable authentication:

Connect to MongoDB Shell

mongosh

Create Admin User

use admin
db.createUser({
  user: "admin",
  pwd: passwordPrompt(),  // Prompts for password
  roles: [
    { role: "userAdminAnyDatabase", db: "admin" },
    { role: "readWriteAnyDatabase", db: "admin" },
    { role: "dbAdminAnyDatabase", db: "admin" },
    { role: "clusterAdmin", db: "admin" }
  ]
})

Create Application Database User

use myapp
db.createUser({
  user: "appuser",
  pwd: passwordPrompt(),
  roles: [
    { role: "readWrite", db: "myapp" }
  ]
})

✅ Best Practice: Create separate users for each application with minimal required permissions.

Test Authentication

# Exit mongosh and reconnect with authentication
mongosh -u admin -p --authenticationDatabase admin

Firewall Configuration

Configure UFW to protect MongoDB:

Configure Firewall

# Install UFW if not present
sudo apt install -y ufw

# Allow SSH first!
sudo ufw allow 22/tcp

# Allow MongoDB only from specific IPs (recommended)
sudo ufw allow from YOUR_APP_SERVER_IP to any port 27017

# Or allow from any (less secure)
# sudo ufw allow 27017/tcp

# Enable firewall
sudo ufw enable
sudo ufw status

⚠️ Security Warning: Never expose MongoDB port 27017 to the public internet without authentication and IP restrictions!

Connect to MongoDB

Various ways to connect to your MongoDB instance:

MongoDB Shell

Local Connection

mongosh -u admin -p --authenticationDatabase admin

Connection String

mongodb://admin:password@localhost:27017/admin

Basic MongoDB Operations

# Show databases
show dbs

# Use a database (creates if doesn't exist)
use myapp

# Insert a document
db.users.insertOne({
  name: "John Doe",
  email: "john@example.com",
  created: new Date()
})

# Find documents
db.users.find()

# Create an index
db.users.createIndex({ email: 1 }, { unique: true })

Enable Remote Access

Configure MongoDB for secure remote connections:

Update mongod.conf for Remote Access

# In /etc/mongod.conf, change:
net:
  port: 27017
  bindIp: 0.0.0.0  # Listen on all interfaces
  # Or specific IPs: 127.0.0.1,192.168.1.100

Restart MongoDB

sudo systemctl restart mongod

Remote Connection String

mongodb://appuser:password@YOUR_SERVER_IP:27017/myapp

💡 TLS/SSL: For production, configure TLS encryption for connections. See MongoDB documentation for certificate setup.

Replica Set Setup (Optional)

Set up a replica set for high availability (requires multiple servers):

Enable Replication in mongod.conf

# Add to /etc/mongod.conf on all nodes:
replication:
  replSetName: "rs0"

Initialize Replica Set

# On the primary node, connect to mongosh:
rs.initiate({
  _id: "rs0",
  members: [
    { _id: 0, host: "mongo1.example.com:27017" },
    { _id: 1, host: "mongo2.example.com:27017" },
    { _id: 2, host: "mongo3.example.com:27017" }
  ]
})

# Check replica set status
rs.status()

Replica Set Benefits

• High Availability: Automatic failover if primary goes down
• Data Redundancy: Data replicated across nodes
• Read Scaling: Distribute reads across secondaries

Backup Strategy

Implement a robust backup strategy:

mongodump Backup

# Backup all databases
mongodump --uri="mongodb://admin:password@localhost:27017" \
  --authenticationDatabase=admin \
  --out=/backups/mongodb/$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)

# Backup specific database
mongodump --uri="mongodb://admin:password@localhost:27017/myapp" \
  --authenticationDatabase=admin \
  --out=/backups/mongodb/myapp_$(date +%Y%m%d)

Automated Backup Script

#!/bin/bash
# /opt/mongodb/backup.sh

BACKUP_DIR="/backups/mongodb"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)
MONGO_USER="admin"
MONGO_PASS="your_password"

# Create backup directory
mkdir -p $BACKUP_DIR

# Run backup
mongodump --uri="mongodb://$MONGO_USER:$MONGO_PASS@localhost:27017" \
  --authenticationDatabase=admin \
  --out=$BACKUP_DIR/$DATE

# Compress backup
tar -czf $BACKUP_DIR/$DATE.tar.gz -C $BACKUP_DIR $DATE
rm -rf $BACKUP_DIR/$DATE

# Keep only last 7 days of backups
find $BACKUP_DIR -name "*.tar.gz" -mtime +7 -delete

echo "Backup completed: $DATE.tar.gz"

Setup Automated Backups

chmod +x /opt/mongodb/backup.sh
mkdir -p /backups/mongodb

# Add to crontab (daily at 2 AM)
(crontab -l 2>/dev/null; echo "0 2 * * * /opt/mongodb/backup.sh") | crontab -

Restore from Backup

# Extract backup
tar -xzf /backups/mongodb/20241217_020000.tar.gz -C /tmp

# Restore
mongorestore --uri="mongodb://admin:password@localhost:27017" \
  --authenticationDatabase=admin \
  /tmp/20241217_020000

Performance Tuning

Optimize MongoDB for better performance:

Index Optimization

Analyze Query Performance

# Explain a query
db.collection.find({ field: "value" }).explain("executionStats")

# Find slow queries
db.system.profile.find({ millis: { $gt: 100 } }).sort({ ts: -1 })

# List all indexes
db.collection.getIndexes()

# Create compound index
db.users.createIndex({ status: 1, created: -1 })

System Optimizations

Linux System Settings

# Disable Transparent Huge Pages
echo 'never' | sudo tee /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/enabled
echo 'never' | sudo tee /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/defrag

# Increase file descriptors
echo "mongod soft nofile 64000" | sudo tee -a /etc/security/limits.conf
echo "mongod hard nofile 64000" | sudo tee -a /etc/security/limits.conf

# Set swappiness
echo "vm.swappiness = 1" | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
sudo sysctl -p

WiredTiger Cache

Adjust cache size based on your workload:

• 4GB RAM → 1.5GB cache
• 8GB RAM → 3.5GB cache
• 16GB RAM → 7GB cache

Monitoring

Monitor MongoDB health and performance:

Built-in Monitoring Commands

# Server status
db.serverStatus()

# Current operations
db.currentOp()

# Database stats
db.stats()

# Collection stats
db.collection.stats()

# Replication status (replica sets)
rs.status()

# Connection pool stats
db.serverStatus().connections

Key Metrics to Monitor

• Connections (current/available)
• Operations per second
• Query execution time
• Replication lag

• Memory usage
• Cache hit ratio
• Disk I/O
• Index usage

💡 Pro Tip: Consider using MongoDB Compass (GUI) or integrate with Prometheus + Grafana for comprehensive monitoring dashboards.

Troubleshooting

MongoDB Won't Start

Check Logs and Status

sudo systemctl status mongod
sudo journalctl -u mongod -f
sudo tail -100 /var/log/mongodb/mongod.log

# Check for lock file issues
sudo rm /var/lib/mongodb/mongod.lock
sudo mongod --repair --dbpath /var/lib/mongodb
sudo chown -R mongodb:mongodb /var/lib/mongodb

Connection Refused

Debug Connection Issues

# Check if MongoDB is listening
sudo netstat -tlnp | grep 27017

# Check bindIp in config
grep bindIp /etc/mongod.conf

# Test local connection
mongosh --eval "db.adminCommand('ping')"

# Check firewall
sudo ufw status

Authentication Failed

Reset Admin Password

# Temporarily disable auth in mongod.conf
# Comment out: authorization: enabled
sudo systemctl restart mongod

# Connect and update password
mongosh
use admin
db.changeUserPassword("admin", "newpassword")

# Re-enable auth and restart
sudo systemctl restart mongod

High Memory Usage

Check Memory Stats

# Check WiredTiger cache usage
db.serverStatus().wiredTiger.cache

# Reduce cache size in mongod.conf
# storage.wiredTiger.engineConfig.cacheSizeGB: 1

MongoDB Deployed Successfully!

Your MongoDB database is now running securely. Start building your applications with flexible document storage.

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Self-Hosted MongoDB

📋 Guide Contents

Prerequisites & VPS Selection

Development

Production

High Performance

What You'll Need

Install MongoDB

Configure MongoDB

Security Setup

Firewall Configuration

Connect to MongoDB

MongoDB Shell

Connection String

Enable Remote Access

Remote Connection String

Replica Set Setup (Optional)

Replica Set Benefits

Backup Strategy

Performance Tuning

Index Optimization

System Optimizations

WiredTiger Cache

Monitoring

Key Metrics to Monitor

Troubleshooting

MongoDB Won't Start

Connection Refused

Authentication Failed

High Memory Usage

MongoDB Deployed Successfully!