Installing MongoDB on Ubuntu
There are already a few installation tutorials for getting MongoDB up and running on an Ubuntu server, but each either left a step or two out, or their suggested setup wasn’t what I was looking for, so I’m sharing my own tips. But, a few notes first:
- These instructions are how I installed MongoDB on Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex)
- Many of the tutorials out there recommend putting MongoDB in
/opt/mongodb, but I chose/usr/localinstead - These instructions worked for me, and they probably will for you, but I can’t guarantee a thing
Initial user and directory setup
Before installing anything, I’m going to prepare some necessary directories and create the mongodb user:
sudo adduser mongodb
# for the mongodb data files:
sudo mkdir /var/lib/mongodb
# for the log files:
sudo mkdir /var/log/mongodb
sudo chown mongodb /var/lib/mongodb/
Install dependencies
Install the needed dependencies for building MongoDB from source:
sudo apt-get install curl tcsh scons g++ xulrunner-1.9-dev libpcre++-dev libboost-dev libmozjs-dev
Now, the Mozilla JavaScript libary. I normally install from my own temp directory (~/tmp), but download and compile from wherever you’re comfortable:
curl -O ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/js/js-1.7.0.tar.gz
tar zxvf js-1.7.0.tar.gz
cd js/src
export CFLAGS="-DJS_C_STRINGS_ARE_UTF8"
make -f Makefile.ref
sudo JS_DIST=/usr make -f Makefile.ref export
Build MongoDB
We’ll use git to clone the source from their GitHub repository. I’m also going to compile the 1.2.2 release instead of the current HEAD. Again, get the source and build from whichever temp directory you’re comfortable with.
git clone git://github.com/mongodb/mongo.git
cd mongo
# checkout the 1.2.2 release for building
git checkout -b build r1.2.2
# build:
scons all
# install:
sudo scons --prefix=/usr/local install
Now, create the init.d script file to have MongoDB start up on a reboot.
sudo vi /etc/init.d/MongoDB
# my version of this script is here: http://gist.github.com/291349
# make init script executable:
sudo chmod +x /etc/init.d/MongoDB
# set up runtime links:
sudo update-rc.d MongoDB defaults
And to get it up and running, just run the init script:
sudo /etc/init.d/MongoDB start
If all the steps above went without any problems, then MongoDB should now be up and running on your Ubuntu server.
Here are some references that helped a lot in getting my own setup working:
Now, what I’m using MongoDB for will have to wait a day or so. :)