MongoDB 8.0

MongoDB is a general-purpose, document-oriented NoSQL database that stores data as flexible JSON-like documents. It is well suited for applications that need rich queries, horizontal scaling, or schemas that evolve over time.

Software included

Component	Version
MongoDB Community	8.0.x
Ubuntu	24.04 LTS

Environment variables

You can optionally set these when deploying MongoDB from the marketplace. Leave any field blank to have a secure random value generated automatically.

Variable	Description
`MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_USERNAME`	MongoDB root username
`MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_PASSWORD`	MongoDB root password

Getting started

1. Connect to your VM

ssh ubuntu@<your-vm-ip>

2. Wait for first-boot configuration

On the first boot, a setup script runs automatically. It creates the superuser defined by MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_USERNAME, which defaults to admin, using the configured or generated password, and enables authentication. This takes under 60 seconds.

Track progress:

journalctl -u mongodb-first-boot.service -f

Wait for the service to exit, then disconnect and reconnect. On login, the MOTD reports the MongoDB version with a READY status once setup is complete.

3. Retrieve credentials

sudo cat /etc/mongodb/credentials.txt

This file contains the admin username, password, and connection instructions. It is only readable by root. The following command reads the configured username from the file. mongosh then prompts for the password so it does not appear in the process list.

4. Connect to MongoDB

MONGO_USER=$(sudo awk '/^Username:/{print $NF}' /etc/mongodb/credentials.txt)
mongosh -u "$MONGO_USER" --authenticationDatabase admin

Expected output:

test>

Managing MongoDB

# Check service status
systemctl status mongod

# Restart
sudo systemctl restart mongod

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u mongod -f

Configuration file: /etc/mongod.conf

Security

Port 27017 is not open externally by default. UFW is enabled and allows SSH (port 22) only.

To allow access from a specific IP:

sudo ufw allow from <trusted-ip> to any port 27017

To connect without opening the firewall (recommended), use an SSH tunnel:

# Run this on your local machine
ssh -L 27017:localhost:27017 ubuntu@<your-vm-ip>

# Then connect locally using the username from /etc/mongodb/credentials.txt
mongosh -u <username> --authenticationDatabase admin