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Connection Methods

Connect via mongosh

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  • Prerequisites
  • Connect to Your Cluster
  • Troubleshooting

The Connect dialog box for a cluster provides the details to connect to a cluster via the MongoDB shell, mongosh.

Prerequisites

TLS

Clients must support TLS to connect to an Atlas cluster.

Clients must support the SNI TLS extension to connect to an Atlas M0 free cluster or an M2/M5 shared cluster. MongoDB 4.0 and later shell supports the SNI TLS extension.

IP Access List

To access a cluster, you must connect from an IP address on the Atlas project's IP access list. If you need to add an IP address to the IP access list, you can do so in the Connect dialog box. You can also add the IP address from the Network Access tab.

Database User

To access a cluster, you must create a database user with access to the desired databases on your Atlas cluster. Database users are separate from Atlas users. Database users have access to MongoDB databases, while Atlas users have access to the Atlas application itself.

You can create a database user to access your Atlas cluster in the Connect dialog box. You can also add the database user from the Cluster view.

Connect to Your Cluster

1

In Atlas, go to the Clusters page for your project.

  1. If it is not already displayed, select the organization that contains your desired project from the Organizations menu in the navigation bar.

  2. If it is not already displayed, select your desired project from the Projects menu in the navigation bar.

  3. If the Clusters page is not already displayed, click Database in the sidebar.

2

Click Connect.

Click Connect for the cluster to which you want to connect.

3

Choose your Connection Security.

Choose Connection Type from the set of available buttons.

Note

Options Display if Feature Enabled

Atlas displays the connection type options after you enable Private IP for Peering, Private Endpoint, or both. If you haven't enabled either feature, no buttons display and Connection Type defaults to Standard.

Use this connection type for allowed public IP addresses.

Use this connection type if you enabled peering:

  • For Google Cloud or Azure and are connecting with {{connChoice}} from a peered network, or

  • For AWS and are connecting with {{connChoice}} from a peered network which uses a custom DNS service.

If neither of these apply, add your IP address to your IP access list and use the Standard Connection string. If you are connecting directly to Atlas from an office or home network, this might be the preferred option.

Note

Peer must be available

You can't select this option unless one of your peers is marked as AVAILABLE. To check the status of your peers:

In Atlas, go to the Network Access page for your project.

  1. If it's not already displayed, select the organization that contains your project from the Organizations menu in the navigation bar.

  2. If it's not already displayed, select your project from the Projects menu in the navigation bar.

  3. In the sidebar, click Network Access under the Security heading.

Note

Multi-Cloud Clusters

If your application isn't hosted on the same cloud service provider as your cluster's primary, the application can only perform secondary reads.

With multi-cloud clusters, consider adding the readPreference connection option to your connection string. Use one of the following values:

Use the connection string for the appropriate interface endpoint if you are connecting with {{connChoice}} over a Private Endpoint connection either because {{connChoice}}:

  • Runs inside your cloud provider network, or

  • Has transitive network access to your cloud provider network.

  • You want to use an optimized connection string.

If none of these apply, add your IP address to your IP access list and use the Standard Connection string. If you are connecting directly to Atlas from an office or home network, this might be the preferred option.

Note

You can't select this option unless your configured PrivateLink connection is ready to use. To check the status of your AWS PrivateLink:

In Atlas, go to the Network Access page for your project.

  1. If it's not already displayed, select the organization that contains your project from the Organizations menu in the navigation bar.

  2. If it's not already displayed, select your project from the Projects menu in the navigation bar.

  3. In the sidebar, click Network Access under the Security heading.

4

Choose how you want to limit connections to your cluster.

Add a Connection IP Address

Important

Skip this step if Atlas indicates in the Setup connection security step that you have already configured an IP access list entry in your cluster. To manage the IP access list, see Add Entries to the Access List.

Atlas allows standard client connections to the cluster from entries in the project's IP access list. The project IP access list differs from the API access list, which restricts API access to specific IP or CIDR addresses.

If the IP access list is empty, Atlas prompts you to add an IP address to the project's IP access list. You can either:

  • Click Add Your Current IP Address to allow access from your current IP address.

  • Click Add an IP Address to add a single IP address or a CIDR-notated range of addresses.

Provide an optional description for the newly added IP address or CIDR range. Click Add IP Address to add the address to the IP access list.

Add a Connection IP Address

Important

Skip this step if Atlas indicates in the Setup connection security step that you have already configured an IP access list entry in your cluster. To manage the IP access list, see Add Entries to the IP access list.

Atlas allows standard client connections to the cluster from entries in the project's IP access list. The project IP access list differs from the API access list, which restricts API access to specific IP or CIDR addresses.

If the IP access list is empty, Atlas prompts you to add an IP address to the project's IP access list. Click Add a Different IP Address to add a single IP address or a CIDR-notated range of addresses.

Provide an optional description for the newly added IP address or CIDR range. Click Add IP Address to add the address to the IP access list.

  1. Under Choose Connection Type, select Private Endpoint.

  2. If you see the Private Link Type options, select one of the following options:

    • Optimized SRV Connection for load-balanced connections.

    • Legacy SRV Connection for non-load-balanced connections.

    To learn more, see Improve Connection Performance for Sharded Clusters Behind a Private Endpoint.

  3. Under Choose Private Endpoint, select the endpoint you want to use.

5

Create a Database User.

Important

Skip this step if Atlas indicates in the Setup connection security step that you have at least one database user configured in your project. To manage existing database users, see Configure Database Users.

To access the cluster, you need a MongoDB user with access to the desired database or databases on the cluster in your project. If your project has no MongoDB users, Atlas prompts you to create a new user with the Atlas Admin role.

  1. Enter the new user's Username.

  2. Enter a Password for this new user or click Autogenerate Secure Password.

  3. Click Create Database User to save the user.

Use this user to connect to your cluster in the following step.

Once you have added an IP address to your IP access list and added a database user, click Choose Your Connection Method.

6

Connect to your Atlas cluster with mongosh.

Select Shell.

The next screen offers you options to proceed based on whether or not you already have mongosh installed on your system.

Select your OS from the dropdown menu.

  1. Download using one of the following options:

    • Click Download mongosh to begin the download.

    • Click Copy download URL to copy a download URL to your clipboard, then either:

      • Use curl to fetch the installer file from the URL, or

      • Paste the URL in a browser window.

  2. Extract the files from the downloaded archive.

  3. Add the mongosh binary to your PATH environment variable.

    Ensure that the extracted MongoDB Shell binary is in the desired location in your filesystem, then add that location to your PATH environment variable.

    1. Open the Control Panel.

    2. In the System and Security category, click System.

    3. Click Advanced system settings. The System Properties modal displays.

    4. Click Environment Variables.

    5. Select Path and click Edit.

    6. Click New and add the filepath to your mongosh binary.

    7. Step 3 of the Atlas modal displays a copyable connection string. This string includes the name of the MongoDB user that can authenticate with the cluster. Copy this string. To connect as a different MongoDB user, change the --username option.

    8. Paste the mongosh command and connection string into a terminal. Run the command. The shell prompts you for the password.

    Note

    If the input device is not a terminal, mongosh doesn't prompt for a password. Instead, mongosh interprets any input on stdin after the connection string as a password.

  1. Use the Homebrew command provided.

  2. Copy the Homebrew command from the Atlas UI window and run it in a terminal.

  3. Step 3 of the Atlas modal displays a copyable connection string. This string includes the name of the MongoDB user that can authenticate with the cluster. Copy this string. To connect as a different MongoDB user, change the --username option.

  4. Paste the mongosh command and connection string into a terminal. Run the command. The shell prompts you for the password.

Note

If the input device is not a terminal, mongosh doesn't prompt for a password. Instead, mongosh interprets any input on stdin after the connection string as a password.

  1. Download the installer using one of the following options:

    • Click Download mongosh to begin the download.

    • Click Copy download URL to copy a download URL to your clipboard, then either:

      • Use curl to fetch the installer file from the URL, or

      • Paste the URL in a browser window.

    Note

    The type of file you download depends on the operating system you selected. If you select a version of:

    • Ubuntu or Debian you receive a .deb package.

    • RHEL, Amazon Linux, or SUSE you receive an .rpm package.

    If your operating system isn't listed, see the .tgz installation instructions in the mongosh documentation.

  2. Install the mongosh package.

    Use dpkg to install mongosh:

    sudo dpkg -i mongodb-mongosh_<mongosh-version-and-platform>.deb

    Use rpm to install mongosh:

    sudo rpm -i mongodb-mongosh_<mongosh-version-and-platform>.rpm

  3. Step 3 of the Atlas modal displays a copyable connection string. This string includes the name of the MongoDB user that can authenticate with the cluster. Copy this string. To connect as a different MongoDB user, change the --username option.

  4. Paste the mongosh command and connection string into a terminal. Run the command. The shell prompts you for the password.

Note

If the input device is not a terminal, mongosh doesn't prompt for a password. Instead, mongosh interprets any input on stdin after the connection string as a password.

  1. Select mongosh from the dropdown menu. We recommend that you upgrade to the latest version of the shell. To check the installed version of the mongosh, run:

    mongosh --version

  2. Step 2 of the Atlas modal displays a copyable connection string that includes the name of the MongoDB user that can authenticate with the cluster. Copy this string. To connect as a different MongoDB user, change the --username option.

  3. Paste the mongosh command and connection string into a terminal. Run the command. The shell prompts you for the password.

Note

If the input device is not a terminal, mongosh doesn't prompt for a password. Instead, mongosh interprets any input on stdin after the connection string as a password.

Troubleshooting

If you are experiencing issues connecting to your cluster, see Troubleshoot Connection Issues.

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