Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
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 plat-
forms, 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 change-
log. Everyone in production is advised to upgrade as soon as possible.
2. After the developers start working on the milestones for 1.8, they release 1.7.0.
This is the new development branch that is fairly similar to 1.6.0, but probably
with an extra feature or two and maybe some bugs.
3. As the developers continue to add features, they will release 1.7.1, 1.7.2, and so on.
4. Any bug fixes or “nonrisky” features will be backported to the 1.6 branch, and
1.6.1, 1.6.2, and so on, will be released. Developers are conservative about what
