Install MongoDB Community on Red Hat or CentOS Using .tgz Tarball

Overview

Although the recommended procedure to install is through thepackage manager, you can alsoinstall by directly downloading the .tgz file. The followingtutorial downloads the .tgz tarball directly to install MongoDB4.2 Community Edition on Red Hat Enterprise Linux, CentOS Linux,or Oracle Linux [1] versions 6, 7, and 8.

This installation guide only supports 64-bit systems. SeeSupported Platforms for more information.

Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) - Unsupported

MongoDB does not support WSL, and users on WSL have encounteredvarious issues installing on WSL. For examples, see:

• https://github.com/Microsoft/WSL/issues/3286
• https://github.com/Microsoft/WSL/issues/796

Production Notes

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

Install MongoDB Community Edition

Note

To install a different version of MongoDB, please refer to thatversion’s documentation. To install the previous version, seethe tutorial for version 4.0.

This installation guide only supports 64-bit systems. SeeSupported Platforms for more information.

Prerequisites

MongoDB .tar.gz tarballs require installing the followingdependencies:

sudo yum install libcurl openssl

Procedure

Download the MongoDB .tgz tarball.

Download the tarball for your system from the MongoDB Download Center.

Extract the files from the downloaded archive.

For example, from a system shell, you can extract using the tar command:

tar -zxvf mongodb-linux-*-4.2.1.tgz

Ensure the binaries are in a directory listed in your PATH environment variable.

The MongoDB binaries are in the bin/ directory of the tarball.You can either:

• Copy the binaries into a directory listed in your PATHvariable, such as /usr/local/bin (Update/path/to/the/mongodb-directory/ with your installationdirectory as appropriate)

sudo cp /path/to/the/mongodb-directory/bin/* /usr/local/bin/

• Create symbolic links to the binaries from a directory listed inyour PATH variable, such as /usr/local/bin (Update/path/to/the/mongodb-directory/ with your installationdirectory as appropriate):

sudo ln -s  /path/to/the/mongodb-directory/bin/* /usr/local/bin/

Run MongoDB Community Edition

Prerequisites

ulimit

Most Unix-like operating systems limit the system resources that asession 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 anduses 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 forthese directories are set to mongod.
• ➤ If you installed by downloading the tarballs,
• The default MongoDB directories are not created. To create theMongoDB data and log directories:

Tip

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

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

By default, MongoDB runs using the mongod user account. Oncecreated, 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 defaultdirectories:

Tip

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

• Create the new directory or directories.

• Edit the the configuration file /etc/mongod.conf and modify thefollowing 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)
• Ensure that the user running MongoDB has access to the directory ordirectories:

chown -R mongod:mongod <directory>

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

• Configure SELinux if enforced. See Configure SELinux.

Configure SELinux

Important

If SELinux is in enforcing mode, you must customize your SELinuxpolicy for MongoDB.

The current SELinux Policy does not allow the MongoDB process toaccess /sys/fs/cgroup, which is required to determinethe available memory on your system. If you intend to run SELinux inenforcing mode, you will need to make the following adjustmentto your SELinux policy:

• Ensure your system has the checkpolicy package installed:

sudo yum install checkpolicy

• Create a custom policy file mongodb_cgroup_memory.te:

cat > mongodb_cgroup_memory.te <<EOF
module mongodb_cgroup_memory 1.0;
 
require {
    type cgroup_t;
    type mongod_t;
    class dir search;
    class file { getattr open read };
}
 
#============= mongod_t ==============
allow mongod_t cgroup_t:dir search;
allow mongod_t cgroup_t:file { getattr open read };
EOF

• Once created, compile and load the custom policy module byrunning these three commands:

checkmodule -M -m -o mongodb_cgroup_memory.mod mongodb_cgroup_memory.te
semodule_package -o mongodb_cgroup_memory.pp -m mongodb_cgroup_memory.mod
sudo semodule -i mongodb_cgroup_memory.pp

The MongoDB process is now able to access the correct files withSELinux set to enforcing.

Important

You will also need to further customize your SELinux policy in thefollowing two cases if SELinux is in enforcing mode:

• 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)

• Update the SELinux policy to allow the mongod serviceto 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.

• 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
  • 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 sudoto perform these operations.
• Be sure to include the .* at the end of the directory for thesemanage 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 toperform the operation.

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

Optional. Suppress FTDC Warnings

The current SELinux Policy does not allow the MongoDB process to openand read /proc/net/netstat for Diagnostic Parameters (FTDC). As such,the audit log may include numerous messages regarding lack of accessto this path.

To track the proposed fix, see https://github.com/fedora-selinux/selinux-policy-contrib/pull/79.

Optionally, as a temporary fix, you can manually adjust the SELinuxPolicy:

• Ensure your system has the checkpolicy package installed:

sudo yum install checkpolicy

• Create a custom policy file mongodb_proc_net.te:

cat > mongodb_proc_net.te <<EOF
module mongodb_proc_net 1.0;
 
require {
    type proc_net_t;
    type mongod_t;
    class file { open read };
}
 
#============= mongod_t ==============
allow mongod_t proc_net_t:file { open read };
EOF

• Once created, compile and load the custom policy module byrunning these three commands:

checkmodule -M -m -o mongodb_proc_net.mod mongodb_proc_net.te
semodule_package -o mongodb_proc_net.pp -m mongodb_proc_net.mod
sudo semodule -i mongodb_proc_net.pp

Procedure

Create the data and log directories.

Note

Depending on user permissions, you may need to sudo mkdir -p<directory> instead of mkdir -p <directory>. Use or omitsudo as appropriate. See your linux man pages for informationon mkdir and sudo.

Create a directory where the MongoDB instance stores its data. Forexample:

sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/mongo

Create a directory where the MongoDB instance stores its log. For example:

sudo mkdir -p /var/log/mongodb

The user that starts the MongoDB process must have read and writepermission to these directories. For example, if you intend to runMongoDB as yourself:

sudo chown `whoami` /var/lib/mongo     # Or substitute another user
sudo chown `whoami` /var/log/mongodb   # Or substitute another user

Run MongoDB.

To run MongoDB, run the mongod process at the system prompt.

mongod --dbpath /var/lib/mongo --logpath /var/log/mongodb/mongod.log --fork

For details on the command-line options —dbpath and —logpath, seeOptions.

Verify that MongoDB has started successfully.

Verify that MongoDB has started successfully bychecking the process output for the following line in thelog file /var/log/mongodb/mongod.log:

[initandlisten] waiting for connections on port 27017

You may see non-critical warnings in the processoutput. As long as you see the log line shown above, you can safelyignore these warnings during your initial evaluation of MongoDB.

Begin using MongoDB.

Start a mongo shell on the same host machine as themongod. You can run the mongo shellwithout any command-line options to connect to amongod that is running on your localhost with defaultport 27017:

mongo

For more information on connecting using the mongoshell, such as to connect to a mongod instance runningon a different host and/or port, see The mongo Shell.

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