MongoDB: The Definitive Guide

Appendix A. Installing MongoDB

Installing MongoDB is a simple process on most platforms. Precompiled binaries are available for Linux, Mac OS X, Windows, and Solaris. This means that, on most platforms, you can download the archive from http://www.mongodb.org, inflate it, and run the binary. The MongoDB server requires a directory it can write database files to and a port it can listen for connections on. This section covers the entire install on the two variants of system: Windows and everything else (Linux, Max, Solaris).

When we speak of “installing MongoDB,” generally what we are talking about is setting up mongod, the core database server. mongod is used in a single-server setup as either master or slave, as a member of a replica sets, and as a shard. Most of the time, this will be the MongoDB process you are using. Other binaries that come with the download are covered in Chapter 8.

Choosing a Version

MongoDB uses a fairly simple versioning scheme: even-point releases are stable, and odd-point releases are development versions. For example, anything starting with 1.6 is a stable release, such as 1.6.0, 1.6.1, and 1.6.15. Anything starting with 1.7 is a development release, such as 1.7.0, 1.7.2, or 1.7.10. Let’s take the 1.6/1.7 release as a sample case to demonstrate how the versioning timeline works:

1. Developers release 1.6.0. This is a major release and will have an extensive changelog. Everyone in production is advised to upgrade as soon as possible.

2. After the developers start ...