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Remote MongoDB Development Setup Guide

This guide will help you set up a remote MongoDB instance on your VPS for development, allowing you to access the same database from any device.

📖 Related Documentation:

Prerequisites

  • A VPS with SSH access
  • Root or sudo access on the VPS
  • MongoDB installed on the VPS (or ability to install it)

Step 1: Install MongoDB on Your VPS

Ubuntu/Debian

# Import MongoDB public GPG key
wget -qO - https://www.mongodb.org/static/pgp/server-7.0.asc | sudo apt-key add -

# Add MongoDB repository
echo "deb [ arch=amd64,arm64 ] https://repo.mongodb.org/apt/ubuntu jammy/mongodb-org/7.0 multiverse" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mongodb-org-7.0.list

# Update package list
sudo apt-get update

# Install MongoDB
sudo apt-get install -y mongodb-org

# Start MongoDB service
sudo systemctl start mongod
sudo systemctl enable mongod

CentOS/RHEL

# Create MongoDB repository file
sudo vi /etc/yum.repos.d/mongodb-org-7.0.repo

# Add the following content:
[mongodb-org-7.0]
name=MongoDB Repository
baseurl=https://repo.mongodb.org/yum/redhat/$releasever/mongodb-org/7.0/x86_64/
gpgcheck=1
enabled=1
gpgkey=https://www.mongodb.org/static/pgp/server-7.0.asc

# Install MongoDB
sudo yum install -y mongodb-org

# Start MongoDB service
sudo systemctl start mongod
sudo systemctl enable mongod

Step 2: Configure MongoDB for Remote Access

2.1 Edit MongoDB Configuration

Edit the MongoDB configuration file:

sudo nano /etc/mongod.conf

Update the net section to bind to all interfaces:

net:
  port: 27017
  bindIp: 0.0.0.0  # Change from 127.0.0.1 to allow remote connections

2.2 Create MongoDB Admin User

Connect to MongoDB:

mongosh

Create an admin user:

use admin
db.createUser({
  user: "admin",
  pwd: "your-secure-password-here",
  roles: [ { role: "userAdminAnyDatabase", db: "admin" }, "readWriteAnyDatabase" ]
})

Create a database-specific user for your POWERBACK application:

use powerback
db.createUser({
  user: "powerback_dev",
  pwd: "your-dev-password-here",
  roles: [ { role: "readWrite", db: "powerback" } ]
})

Exit MongoDB shell:

exit

2.3 Enable Authentication

Edit /etc/mongod.conf:

sudo nano /etc/mongod.conf

Add security section:

security:
  authorization: enabled

Restart MongoDB:

sudo systemctl restart mongod

Step 3: Configure Firewall

Ubuntu/Debian (UFW)

# Allow MongoDB port
sudo ufw allow 27017/tcp

# Or restrict to specific IP (more secure)
sudo ufw allow from YOUR_DEVICE_IP to any port 27017

CentOS/RHEL (firewalld)

# Allow MongoDB port
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=27017/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Or restrict to specific IP (more secure)
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-rich-rule="rule family='ipv4' source address='YOUR_DEVICE_IP' port port='27017' protocol='tcp' accept"
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

Step 4: Configure Your Local Development Environment

4.1 Update Your .env File

Create or update your .env file in the project root:

# Database - Remote MongoDB on VPS
MONGODB_URI=mongodb://powerback_dev:your-dev-password-here@your-vps-ip:27017/powerback?authSource=powerback

# Or with authentication options:
MONGODB_URI=mongodb://powerback_dev:your-dev-password-here@your-vps-ip:27017/powerback?authSource=powerback&retryWrites=true&w=majority

Connection String Format:

mongodb://[username]:[password]@[host]:[port]/[database]?[options]

4.2 Test Connection

Test the connection from your local machine:

# Install MongoDB shell tools locally (optional)
# Then test connection:
mongosh "mongodb://powerback_dev:your-dev-password-here@your-vps-ip:27017/powerback?authSource=powerback"

Or test from your Node.js application:

cd /home/jonathan/dev/powerback
npm run dev

Check the logs to confirm successful connection.

Step 5: Security Best Practices

5.1 Use SSH Tunnel (Recommended for Production-like Security)

Instead of exposing MongoDB directly, use an SSH tunnel:

# Create SSH tunnel (run this on your local machine)
ssh -L 27017:localhost:27017 user@your-vps-ip

# Then in another terminal, update .env to use localhost:
MONGODB_URI=mongodb://powerback_dev:your-dev-password-here@127.0.0.1:27017/powerback?authSource=powerback

5.2 Restrict Firewall to Your IPs Only

Only allow connections from your development IPs:

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo ufw delete allow 27017/tcp
sudo ufw allow from YOUR_DEVICE_IP to any port 27017

# CentOS/RHEL
sudo firewall-cmd --remove-port=27017/tcp --permanent
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-rich-rule="rule family='ipv4' source address='YOUR_DEVICE_IP' port port='27017' protocol='tcp' accept"
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

5.3 Use Strong Passwords

Generate strong passwords:

# Generate random password
openssl rand -base64 32

5.4 Enable MongoDB SSL/TLS (Advanced)

For production-like security, enable SSL/TLS encryption. See MongoDB documentation for SSL setup.

Step 6: Database Connection Options

The application has been updated to support remote connections with improved timeout settings:

  • serverSelectionTimeoutMS: 30000 - 30 seconds to select server (increased from 10s)
  • socketTimeoutMS: 45000 - 45 seconds for socket operations
  • maxPoolSize: 10 - Connection pool size

Troubleshooting

Connection Refused

  1. Check MongoDB is running: sudo systemctl status mongod
  2. Check firewall rules: sudo ufw status or sudo firewall-cmd --list-all
  3. Verify bindIp in /etc/mongod.conf is 0.0.0.0
  4. Check MongoDB logs: sudo tail -f /var/log/mongodb/mongod.log

Authentication Failed

  1. Verify username and password in connection string
  2. Check authSource parameter matches the database where user was created
  3. Verify user exists: mongosh -u admin -p admin-password --authenticationDatabase admin
  4. Check user roles: db.getUser("powerback_dev")

Timeout Issues

  1. Check network connectivity: ping your-vps-ip
  2. Verify port is open: telnet your-vps-ip 27017
  3. Check MongoDB logs for errors
  4. Increase timeout values if needed (already configured in db.js)

Connection String Examples

Without authentication (not recommended):

MONGODB_URI=mongodb://your-vps-ip:27017/powerback

With authentication:

MONGODB_URI=mongodb://username:password@your-vps-ip:27017/powerback?authSource=powerback

With multiple options:

MONGODB_URI=mongodb://username:password@your-vps-ip:27017/powerback?authSource=powerback&retryWrites=true&w=majority&ssl=false

Next Steps

  1. Update your .env file with the remote MongoDB connection string
  2. Test the connection by starting your development server
  3. Consider setting up an SSH tunnel for additional security
  4. Keep your MongoDB credentials secure and never commit them to git

Additional Resources