MongoDB on Amazon Ec2

EC2 instances can be configured either with ephemeral storage or persistent storage using the Elastic Block Store (EBS). Ephemeral storage is lost when instances are terminated so it is generally not recommended for use unless you’re comfortable with the data-loss implications.

For almost all deployments EBS will be the better choice. For production systems we recommend using

• EBS-optimized EC2 instances
• Provisioned IOPS (PIOPS) EBS volumes

Storage configurations can vary from one deployment to the next but for the best performance we recommend one volume for each of the following: data directory, journal, and log. Each of those has different write behaviours and we use one volume for each to reduce IO contention. Different RAID levels such as RAID0, RAID1, or RAID10 can also be used to provide volume level redundancy or capacity. Different storage configurations will have different cost implications especially when combined with PIOPS EBS volumes.

Deploy from the AWS Marketplace

There are three officially maintained MongoDB AMIs on the AWS Marketplace. Each AMI comes pre-configured with individual PIOPS EBS volumes for data, journal, and the log.

• MongoDB 2.4 with 1000 IOPS - data: 200 GB @ 1000 IOPS, journal: 25 GB @ 250 IOPS, log: 10 GB @ 100 IOPS
• MongoDB 2.4 with 2000 IOPS - data: 200 GB @ 2000 IOPS, journal: 25 GB @ 250 IOPS, log: 15 GB @ 150 IOPS
• MongoDB 2.4 with 4000 IOPS - data: 400 GB @ 4000 IOPS, journal: 25 GB @ 250 IOPS, log: 20 GB @ 200 IOPS

For specific information about how each instance was configured, refer to Deploy MongoDB on EC2.

Deploy MongoDB on EC2

The following steps can be used to deploy MongoDB on EC2. The instances will be configured with the following characteristics:

• Amazon Linux
• MongoDB 2.4.x installed via Yum
• Individual PIOPS EBS volumes for data (1000 IOPS), journal (250 IOPS), and log (100 IOPS)
• Updated read-ahead values for each block device
• Update ulimit settings

Before continuing be sure to have the following:

• Install EC2 command line tools
• Generate an EC2 key pair for connecting to the instance via SSH
• Create a security group that allows SSH connections

Create the instance using the key pair and security group previously created and also include the --ebs-optimized flag and specify individual PIOPS EBS volumes (/dev/xvdf for data, /dev/xvdg for journal,/dev/xvdh for log). 

After login, update installed packages, add the MongoDB yum repo, and install MongoDB:

$ sudo yum -y update

$ echo "[MongoDB]

name=MongoDB Repository

baseurl=http://downloads-distro.mongodb.org/repo/redhat/os/x86_64

gpgcheck=0

enabled=1" | sudo tee -a /etc/yum.repos.d/mongodb.repo

$ sudo yum install -y mongodb-org-server mongodb-org-shell mongodb-org-tools

Next, create/configure the mount points, mount each volume, set ownership (MongoDB runs under themongod user/group), and set the /journal link

$ sudo mkdir /data /log /journal

$ sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/xvdf

$ sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/xvdg

$ sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/xvdh

$ echo '/dev/xvdf /data ext4 defaults,auto,noatime,noexec 0 0

/dev/xvdg /journal ext4 defaults,auto,noatime,noexec 0 0

/dev/xvdh /log ext4 defaults,auto,noatime,noexec 0 0' | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab

$ sudo mount /data

$ sudo mount /journal

$ sudo mount /log

$ sudo chown mongod:mongod /data /journal /log

$ sudo ln -s /journal /data/journal

Now configure the following MongoDB parameters by editing the configuration file /etc/mongod.conf

dbpath = /data

logpath = /log/mongod.log

By default Amazon Linux uses ulimit settings that are not appropriate for MongoDB. To setup ulimit to match the documented ulimit settings use the following steps:

$ sudo nano /etc/security/limits.conf

* soft nofile 64000

* hard nofile 64000

* soft nproc 32000

* hard nproc 32000

$ sudo nano /etc/security/limits.d/90-nproc.conf

* soft nproc 32000

* hard nproc 32000

sudo blockdev --setra 32 /dev/xvdf

To startup MongoDB, issue the following command:

sudo service mongod start