MongoDB Atlas - getfutureproof/fp_guides

For a deployed MongoDB solution, Atlas provides a free tier which is perfect for demo and small app usage.

Sign up for free (no credit card required), verify email
Name your org and a project (call them anything you like but make note!)
Select the free Shared Clusters option
Choose your provider & region - you can choose any but for region consider your proximity to users (consider researching carbon neutraility too! Save the planet!)
Stick with free defaults for provisions
Name your cluster (note this is not the name of your database, you can have multiple databases within a cluster)

From this point, Atlas provide a thorough Follow the Get Started walkthrough. Each step is detailed below with some tips.

This is important! You won't be able to connect to your database without it!

On the left hand side under SECURITY, click Database Access
Click Add New Database User button
Choose an auth method - we'll go with Password for this walkthrough
Enter a username and a password (recommended to use the Autogenerate Secure Password) and make note of them, you'll need them soon!
For user privileges, go for Read and write to any database (you can set up an Atlas admin if you like but for your app to access, read and write is sufficient)
Keep restrictions and temporary user settings switched off
Click Add User

This is also important! You won't be able to connect to your database without it!

On the left hand side under SECURITY, click Network Access
For a quick start, click ALLOW ACCESS FROM ANYWHERE - later on you can get more specific and add eg. just your host server IP / your dev machine IP
Click Confirm

This optional sample data set can be useful for testing out your new cluster

On the left hand side under DATA STORAGE click Clusters
In the sandbox, click the ... button in the info box
Click Load Sample Dataset and again in the modal
You'll see the cluster updating with the message 'Loading your sample dataset...'

On the left hand side under DATA STORAGE click Clusters
Click the CONNECT button
There are 3 options here - start with Connect with the mongo shell to make sure you can connect remotely without worrying about your driver setup

Connect from command line

If you have the mongo shell installed on your machine you don't need to do anything else
If you don't have the mongo shell installed and don't want to install it, use a docker container eg.:
- ➡️ docker run -it --name <new-container-name> -p 27017:27017 mongo bash (the port map is essential)
To connect, copy the provided link and switch out the MyFirstDatabase part with what you would like to call your database
- ➡️ mongo "mongodb+srv://<cluster-name>.fra7q.mongodb.net/<db-name>" --username <username>
You may get a startup warning if connecting from a non-admin account but it's okay!
Once your prompt changes to something like MongoDB Enterprise atlas-13bcv8-shard-0:PRIMARY>, you're in!

Connect from your own app Once you've confirmed you have access, try connecting from your own application.

Whereever your connection string belongs (check your driver docs for this!) use the following format:
- ➡️ mongodb+srv://<username>:<password>@<cluster-name>.fra7q.mongodb.net/<db-name>?retryWrites=true&w=majority

MongoDB Atlas - getfutureproof/fp_guides_wiki GitHub Wiki