Connect To MongoDB (Legacy)

Connecting to MongoDB using the driver is primarily done using the MongoClient.connect method and a URI. Let’s look at how we connect to a couple of different server topologies.

Single Server Connection

We have a single MongoDB server instance running on the port 27017 Let’s connect using the driver and MongoClient.connect

var MongoClient = require('mongodb').MongoClient
  , assert = require('assert');

// Connection URL
var url = 'mongodb://localhost:27017/myproject';
// Use connect method to connect to the Server
MongoClient.connect(url, function(err, db) {
  assert.equal(null, err);
  console.log("Connected correctly to server");

  db.close();
});

Let’s break down the URI string we passed as the first argument to MongoClient.connect.

Parameter	Description
mongodb://	is the protocol definition
localhost:27017	is the server we are connecting to
/myproject	is the database we wish to connect to

Replicaset Server Connection

We wish to connect to a ReplicaSet consisting of one primary and 1 or more secondaries. To Do this we need to supply the driver with a seedlist of servers and the name of the ReplicaSet we wish to connect to. Let’s take a look at a code example.

var MongoClient = require('mongodb').MongoClient
  , assert = require('assert');

// Connection URL
var url = 'mongodb://localhost:27017,localhost:27018/myproject?replicaSet=foo';
// Use connect method to connect to the Server
MongoClient.connect(url, function(err, db) {
  assert.equal(null, err);
  console.log("Connected correctly to server");

  db.close();
});

Let’s break down the URI string.

Parameter	Description
mongodb://	is the protocol definition
localhost:27017,localhost:27018	is the servers we are connecting to to discover the topology of the ReplicaSet.
/myproject	is the database we wish to connect to
replicaSet=foo	is the name of the ReplicaSet we are connecting to. This ensures we are connecting to the correct Replicaset. This is a required parameter when using the 2.0 driver

Mongos Proxy Connection

We wish to connect to a set of mongos proxies. Just as in the case of connecting to a ReplicaSet we can provide a seed list of mongos proxies. This allows the driver to perform failover between proxies automatically in case of a proxy process having been shut down. Let’s look at an example of code connecting to a set of proxies.

var MongoClient = require('mongodb').MongoClient
  , assert = require('assert');

// Connection URL
var url = 'mongodb://localhost:50000,localhost:50001/myproject';
// Use connect method to connect to the Server
MongoClient.connect(url, function(err, db) {
  assert.equal(null, err);
  console.log("Connected correctly to server");

  db.close();
});

Let’s break down the URI string.

Parameter	Description
mongodb://	is the protocol definition
localhost:50000,localhost:50001	is the mongos proxies we are connecting to.
/myproject	is the database we wish to connect to

Let’s break down the URI string.

Parameter	Description
mongodb://	is the protocol definition
dave:password	is the user name and password for the database
localhost:27017	is the server we are connecting to
/myproject	is the database we wish to connect to
authSource=admin	is the database we wish to authenticate against

MongoClient.connect Optional Parameters

The driver has many more options for tweaking than what’s available through the URI specification. These can be passed to the driver using an optional parameters object. The top level fields in the options object are.

Parameter	Description
db	Options that affect the Db instance returned by the MongoClient.connect method.
replSet	Options that modify the Replicaset topology connection behavior. This is a required parameter when using the 2.0 driver
mongos	Options that modify the Mongos topology connection behavior.
server	Options that modify the Server topology connection behavior.

A simple example connecting to a single server setting all returned queries to be raw BSON buffers and adjusting the poolSize to be 10 connections for this connection.

var MongoClient = require('mongodb').MongoClient
  , assert = require('assert');

// Connection URL
var url = 'mongodb://dave:password@localhost:27017/myproject';
// Use connect method to connect to the Server
MongoClient.connect(url, {
    db: {
      raw: true
    },
    server: {
      poolSize: 10
    }
  }, function(err, db) {
  assert.equal(null, err);
  console.log("Connected correctly to server");

  db.close();
});

Let’s look at the individual options for each of the top level fields.

Data base level options

Parameter	Type	Description
w	{Number/String, > -1 || ‘majority’}	the write concern for the operation where < 1 is no acknowledgment of write and w >= 1 or w = ‘majority’ acknowledges the write
wtimeout	{Number, 0}	set the timeout for waiting for write concern to finish (combines with w option)
fsync	(Boolean, default:false)	write waits for fsync before returning
j	(Boolean, default:false)	write waits for journal sync before returning
readPreference	{String}	the preferred read preference (ReadPreference.PRIMARY, ReadPreference.PRIMARY_PREFERRED, ReadPreference.SECONDARY, ReadPreference.SECONDARY_PREFERRED, ReadPreference.NEAREST).
readPreferenceTags	{Object, default:null}	the tags object {‘loc’:‘ny’} used with the readPreference.
native_parser	{Boolean, default:false}	use c++ bson parser.
forceServerObjectId	{Boolean, default:false}	force server to create _id fields instead of client.
pkFactory	{Object}	object overriding the basic ObjectID primary key generation.
serializeFunctions	{Boolean, default:false}	serialize functions.
raw	{Boolean, default:false}	perform operations using raw bson buffers.
bufferMaxEntries	{Number, default: -1}	sets a cap on how many operations the driver will buffer up before giving up on getting a working connection, default is -1 which is unlimited.

If you are connecting to a MongoDB replicaset, you pass the parameters using the replset options field.

var MongoClient = require('mongodb').MongoClient,
  f = require('util').format,
  fs = require('fs');

MongoClient.connect(f('mongodb://%s@server:27017/test'), {
  db: {
    w:1
  }
}, function(err, db) {
  db.close();
});

Individual Server Level Options

Parameter	Type	Description
poolSize	{Number, default: 5}	Number of connections in the connection pool for each server instance, set to 5 as default for legacy reasons.
ssl	{Boolean, default: false}	Use ssl connection (needs to have a mongod server with ssl support).
sslValidate	{Boolean, default: true}	Validate mongod server certificate against ca (needs to have a mongod server with ssl support, 2.4 or higher).
checkServerIdentity	{Boolean|Function, default: true}	Ensure we check server identify during SSL, set to false to disable checking. Only works for Node 0.12.x or higher. You can pass in a boolean or your own checkServerIdentity override function.
sslCA	{Buffer[]|string[], default: null}	Array of valid certificates either as Buffers or Strings (needs to have a mongod server with ssl support, 2.4 or higher).
sslCert	{Buffer|string, default: null}	String or buffer containing the certificate we wish to present (needs to have a mongod server with ssl support, 2.4 or higher).
sslKey	{Buffer|string, default: null}	String or buffer containing the certificate private key we wish to present (needs to have a mongod server with ssl support, 2.4 or higher).
sslPass	{Buffer|string, default: null}	String or buffer containing the certificate password (needs to have a mongod server with ssl support, 2.4 or higher).
autoReconnect	{Boolean, default: true}	Reconnect on error.
socketOptions.noDelay	{Boolean, default: true}	TCP Socket NoDelay option.
socketOptions.keepAlive	{Number, default: 30000}	The number of milliseconds to wait before initiating keepAlive on the TCP socket.
socketOptions.connectTimeoutMS	{Number, default: 30000}	TCP Connection timeout setting.
socketOptions.socketTimeoutMS	{Number, default: 360000}	TCP Socket timeout setting.

If you are connecting to a single MongoDB instance you pass the parameters using the server options field.

var MongoClient = require('mongodb').MongoClient,
  f = require('util').format,
  fs = require('fs');

MongoClient.connect(f('mongodb://%s@server:27017/test'), {
  server: {
      sslKey:key
    , sslCert:cert
  }
}, function(err, db) {
  db.close();
});

Replicaset Level Options

Parameter	Type	Description
ha	{Boolean, default:true}	Controls if the replicaset monitoring runs or not.
haInterval	{Number, default:10000}	The number of milliseconds between each ping of the replicaset members. The replicaset monitoring process, is the process monitoring the replicaset, detecting new members and reconnecting to existing members.
replicaSet	{String}	the name of the replicaset to connect to. This is a required parameter when using the 2.0 driver
secondaryAcceptableLatencyMS	{Number, default:15}	sets the range of servers to pick when using NEAREST (lowest ping ms + the latency fence, ex: range of 1 to (1 + 15) ms)
connectWithNoPrimary	{Boolean, default:false}	Sets if the driver should connect even if no primary is available.
poolSize	{Number, default: 5}	Number of connections in the connection pool for each server instance, set to 5 as default for legacy reasons.
ssl	{Boolean, default: false}	Use ssl connection (needs to have a mongod server with ssl support).
sslValidate	{Boolean, default: true}	Validate mongod server certificate against ca (needs to have a mongod server with ssl support, 2.4 or higher).
checkServerIdentity	{Boolean|Function, default: true}	Ensure we check server identify during SSL, set to false to disable checking. Only works for Node 0.12.x or higher. You can pass in a boolean or your own checkServerIdentity override function.
sslCA	{Buffer[]|string[], default: null}	Array of valid certificates either as Buffers or Strings (needs to have a mongod server with ssl support, 2.4 or higher).
sslCert	{Buffer|string, default: null}	String or buffer containing the certificate we wish to present (needs to have a mongod server with ssl support, 2.4 or higher).
sslKey	{Buffer|string, default: null}	String or buffer containing the certificate private key we wish to present (needs to have a mongod server with ssl support, 2.4 or higher).
sslPass	{Buffer|string, default: null}	String or buffer containing the certificate password (needs to have a mongod server with ssl support, 2.4 or higher).
socketOptions.noDelay	{Boolean, default: true}	TCP Socket NoDelay option.
socketOptions.keepAlive	{Number, default: 30000}	The number of milliseconds to wait before initiating keepAlive on the TCP socket.
socketOptions.connectTimeoutMS	{Number, default: 30000}	TCP Connection timeout setting.
socketOptions.socketTimeoutMS	{Number, default: 360000}	TCP Socket timeout setting.

If you are connecting to a MongoDB replicaset, you pass the parameters using the replset options field.

var MongoClient = require('mongodb').MongoClient,
  f = require('util').format,
  fs = require('fs');

MongoClient.connect(f('mongodb://%s@server:27017/test'), {
  replset: {
      sslKey:key
    , sslCert:cert
  }
}, function(err, db) {
  db.close();
});

Mongos Proxy Level Options

Parameter	Type	Description
ha	{Boolean, default:true}	turn on high availability.
haInterval	{Number, default:5000}	time between each replicaset status check.
secondaryAcceptableLatencyMS	{Number, default:15}	sets the range of servers to pick when using NEAREST (lowest ping ms + the latency fence, ex: range of 1 to (1 + 15) ms)
poolSize	{Number, default: 5}	Number of connections in the connection pool for each server instance, set to 5 as default for legacy reasons.
ssl	{Boolean, default: false}	Use ssl connection (needs to have a mongod server with ssl support).
sslValidate	{Boolean, default: true}	Validate mongod server certificate against ca (needs to have a mongod server with ssl support, 2.4 or higher).
checkServerIdentity	{Boolean|Function, default: true}	Ensure we check server identify during SSL, set to false to disable checking. Only works for Node 0.12.x or higher. You can pass in a boolean or your own checkServerIdentity override function.
sslCA	{Buffer[]|string[], default: null}	Array of valid certificates either as Buffers or Strings (needs to have a mongod server with ssl support, 2.4 or higher).
sslCert	{Buffer|string, default: null}	String or buffer containing the certificate we wish to present (needs to have a mongod server with ssl support, 2.4 or higher).
sslKey	{Buffer|string, default: null}	String or buffer containing the certificate private key we wish to present (needs to have a mongod server with ssl support, 2.4 or higher).
sslPass	{Buffer|string, default: null}	String or buffer containing the certificate password (needs to have a mongod server with ssl support, 2.4 or higher).
socketOptions.noDelay	{Boolean, default: true}	TCP Socket NoDelay option.
socketOptions.keepAlive	{Number, default: 30000}	The number of milliseconds to wait before initiating keepAlive on the TCP socket.
socketOptions.connectTimeoutMS	{Number, default: 30000}	TCP Connection timeout setting.
socketOptions.socketTimeoutMS	{Number, default: 360000}	TCP Socket timeout setting.

If you are connecting to a MongoDB replicaset, you pass the parameters using the mongos options field.

var MongoClient = require('mongodb').MongoClient,
  f = require('util').format,
  fs = require('fs');

MongoClient.connect(f('mongodb://%s@server:27017/test'), {
  mongos: {
      sslKey:key
    , sslCert:cert
  }
}, function(err, db) {
  db.close();
});