Connection Settings

The Java driver has two ways of specifying the settings of a connection to a MongoDB server deployment.

Connection String

The connection string is the simplest way to specify the properties of a connection. . A connection string mostly follows RFC 3986, with the exception of the domain name. For MongoDB, it is possible to list multiple domain names separated by a comma. Below are some example connection strings.

• For a standalone mongod, mongos, or a direct connection to a member of a replica set:

  mongodb://host:27017
  

• To connect to multiple mongos or a replica set:

  mongodb://host1:27017,host2:27017
  

The authentication guide contains information on how to provide credentials in the connection string.

The Database Component

The database component is optional and is used to indicate which database to authenticate against. When the database component is not provided, the “admin” database is used.

mongodb://host:27017/mydb

Above, the database by the name of “mydb” is where the credentials are stored for the application.

Options

Many options can be provided via the connection string. The ones that cannot may be provided in a MongoClientOptions instance. To provide an option, append a ? to the connection string and separate options by an &.

mongodb://host:27017/?replicaSet=rs0&maxPoolSize=200

The above connection string sets the “replicaSet” value to “rs0” and the “maxPoolSize” to “200”.

For a comprehensive list of the available options, see the MongoClientURI documentation.

MongoClient

A MongoClient instance will be the root object for all interaction with MongoDB. It is all that is needed to handle connecting to servers, monitoring servers, and performing operations against those servers. Without any arguments, constructing a MongoClient instance will connect to “localhost” port 27017.

MongoClient client = new MongoClient();

Alternatively, a connection string may be provided:

MongoClient client = new MongoClient(new MongoClientURI("mongodb://host:27017,host2:27017/?replicaSet=rs0"));

Finally, the MongoClientOptions class provides an in-code way to set the same options from a connection string. This is sometimes necessary, as the connection string does not allow an application to configure as many properties of the connection as MongoClientOptions.
MongoClientOptions instances are immutable, so to create one an application uses a builder:

MongoClientOptions options = MongoClientOptions.builder().cursorFinalizerEnabled(false).build();
MongoClient client = new MongoClient(options);

It’s also possible to combine MongoClientOptions with MongoClientURI, for situations in which an application needs to set some options in code but others via the connection string:

MongoClientURI uri = new MongoClientURI("mongodb://host:27017,host2:27017/?replicaSet=rs0",
                                        MongoClientOptions.builder().cursorFinalizerEnabled(false))
MongoClient client = new MongoClient(uri);