A Step-By-Step Guide to Installing MongoDB Using DomainIndia.com VPS

MongoDB is a document database that stores data as JSON-like documents, and it is the "M" in the MERN stack. This guide installs the current MongoDB 8.0 Community Edition on your own VPS running AlmaLinux 9, Rocky Linux 9 or Ubuntu 24.04, then secures it, connects an app and sets up backups. It applies to a VPS where you have root access, not to shared hosting.

1. Before you start

You need:

• A VPS with root or sudo access, running AlmaLinux 9, Rocky Linux 9 or Ubuntu 24.04. MongoDB 8.0 also supports the version 8 releases of AlmaLinux and Rocky and Ubuntu 22.04; check MongoDB's platform list for anything else.
• At least 2 GB of RAM for a small production database; MongoDB uses about half of the RAM for its cache by default.
• A CPU that supports AVX. MongoDB 5.0 and later won't start without it on x86_64 servers. Check first:

grep -qw avx /proc/cpuinfo && echo "AVX OK" || echo "No AVX: MongoDB 5+ will not start"

If AVX is missing, don't install the old 4.4 series as a workaround: it is end of life and gets no security fixes. Ask support about the VPS CPU, or run MongoDB somewhere else.

Update the system first: sudo dnf upgrade -y on AlmaLinux or Rocky, sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y on Ubuntu.

2. Install on AlmaLinux 9 or Rocky Linux 9

Create the repository file:

sudo tee /etc/yum.repos.d/mongodb-org-8.0.repo > /dev/null <<'EOF'
[mongodb-org-8.0]
name=MongoDB Repository
baseurl=https://repo.mongodb.org/yum/redhat/9/mongodb-org/8.0/x86_64/
gpgcheck=1
enabled=1
gpgkey=https://pgp.mongodb.com/server-8.0.asc
EOF

On a version 8 system, change redhat/9 to redhat/8. Then install and start MongoDB:

sudo dnf install -y mongodb-org
sudo systemctl enable --now mongod

If SELinux is enforcing and mongod fails to start, follow the SELinux steps in MongoDB's installation manual rather than turning SELinux off.

3. Install on Ubuntu 24.04

sudo apt install -y gnupg curl
curl -fsSL https://pgp.mongodb.com/server-8.0.asc | \
  sudo gpg -o /usr/share/keyrings/mongodb-server-8.0.gpg --dearmor
echo "deb [ arch=amd64,arm64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/mongodb-server-8.0.gpg ] https://repo.mongodb.org/apt/ubuntu noble/mongodb-org/8.0 multiverse" | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mongodb-org-8.0.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y mongodb-org
sudo systemctl enable --now mongod

On Ubuntu 22.04, replace noble with jammy.

4. Check that it runs

systemctl status mongod
mongosh --eval 'db.runCommand({ ping: 1 })'

{ ok: 1 } means the server answers. The shell is now mongosh; the old mongo shell was removed in MongoDB 6.0. The log is /var/log/mongodb/mongod.log, and the configuration file is /etc/mongod.conf.

5. Secure it before adding data

A fresh install has no password. Create an administrator while access is still open. passwordPrompt() asks for the password so it doesn't land in your shell history:

mongosh admin --eval 'db.createUser({user: "admin", pwd: passwordPrompt(), roles: [{role: "root", db: "admin"}]})'

Then edit /etc/mongod.conf. It is YAML, so indentation matters (two spaces, no tabs):

net:
  port: 27017
  bindIp: 127.0.0.1

security:
  authorization: enabled

Restart and log in with the new user:

sudo systemctl restart mongod
mongosh -u admin -p --authenticationDatabase admin

If another server genuinely needs direct access, bind to the VPS's private address, allow only that server's IP in the firewall, and turn on TLS.

6. Create an app user and connect

Give each application its own user with rights on its own database only:

// in mongosh, logged in as admin
use appdb
db.createUser({ user: "appuser", pwd: passwordPrompt(), roles: [{ role: "readWrite", db: "appdb" }] })

The connection string for an app on the same VPS:

mongodb://appuser:[email protected]:27017/appdb?authSource=appdb

Keep it in an environment variable or a .env file outside your web root, never in code you commit. If the password contains @, : or /, URL-encode it. For a complete MERN deployment with Nginx, PM2 and SSL, see Running MERN or MEAN on a clean VPS.

7. Backups, updates and monitoring

Back up with mongodump, which ships with the database tools installed alongside mongodb-org. As root:

mkdir -p /root/backups
mongodump --uri="mongodb://[email protected]:27017/?authSource=admin" --gzip --archive=/root/backups/mongo-$(date +%F).gz

It asks for the password. For a cron job, put password: YOUR_PASSWORD in a file only root can read (chmod 600) and add --config=/root/.mongodump.yaml. Run it daily, keep several days of archives, and copy them off the VPS: a backup on the same disk doesn't survive losing the server. Test a restore with mongorestore --gzip --archive=FILE on a spare database now and then.

Update within the 8.0 series with sudo dnf upgrade mongodb-org or sudo apt upgrade, then sudo systemctl restart mongod. A major upgrade (for example 7.0 to 8.0) goes one version at a time and needs the feature compatibility version set; follow MongoDB's upgrade notes and back up first.

Watch it with mongostat (operations per second) and mongotop (time spent per collection). Add indexes for the fields you query, and check slow queries with .explain("executionStats").

Remove it, if you ever need to: stop mongod, remove the mongodb-org packages, then delete /var/lib/mongo (AlmaLinux and Rocky) or /var/lib/mongodb (Ubuntu). Deleting that folder destroys all your data, so back up first.

8. Troubleshooting

9. Where Domain India fits

MongoDB needs a server you control. Our VPS is self-managed with full root access, KVM virtualisation and a choice of Linux distributions including AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux and Ubuntu, so everything above runs as written.

Prices on the cards are live and exclude 18% GST. If you are still choosing a database, Choosing between PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite and MongoDB compares them honestly. The App Platform includes a managed PostgreSQL database with every plan, not MongoDB.

Ready to run MongoDB? Compare VPS plans, then follow the MERN on a clean VPS playbook for the rest of the stack.