Configure MongoDB Sharded Cluster on CentOS, RHEL 7, 8

This tutorial will walk you through the steps to set up a highly available MongoDB sharded cluster on CentOS/RHEL 7/8.

A MongoDB sharded cluster consists of the following three components:

Shard that can be deployed as a replica set.
Config store metadata and configuration settings for the cluster.
Mongos acts as a query router, providing an interface between client applications and the sharded cluster.

Prerequisites

To follow this tutorial along, you will need at least 7 (physical or virtual) machines installed with CentOS/RHEL 7 or 8 having sudo non-root user privileges. Make sure you have completed basic network settings including hostname, timezone, and IP addresses on each of your servers.


We will use these 7 machines with the information (as described) for our sharded cluster throughout this tutorial. Make sure you substitute, hostname, ip address, domain and red highlighted text with yours wherever applicable. 

Create SSH Key-Pair

We will generate an ssh key-pair to set up passwordless authentication between the hosts in the cluster.

Log in to (cfg1.example.pk), and generate an ssh key-pair with below command:
ssh-keygen

This will return you the following prompts, press enter to select default location:
Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/home/administrator/.ssh/id_rsa):

Again press enter to leave the passphrase fields blank:
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
Enter same passphrase again:

You will see similar to the following output, confirms that the generating ssh key-pair succeeded under your user's home directory
Your identification has been saved in /home/administrator/.ssh/id_rsa.
Your public key has been saved in /home/administrator/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.

The key fingerprint is:
SHA256:DWWeuoSoQgHJnYkbrs8QoFs8oMjP0Sv8/3ehuN17MPE administrator@cfg1.example.pk
The key's randomart image is:
+---[RSA 2048]----+
|o.o o     o      |
|=+ +     + .     |
|B+o .   . o      |
|=+=. o . +   .   |
|.=+.o o S .   o  |
|=  * . . .   + E |
|.+. o   . . . +  |
| .o  .   ..o.. . |
|      ...oo..oo  |
+----[SHA256]-----+

Type below to create an authorized_keys file:
ssh-copy-id -i .ssh/id_rsa.pub localhost

Copy ~/.ssh directory with all its contents from cfg1.example.pk to each of your servers like below:
scp -r /home/administrator/.ssh/ cfg2.example.pk:~/
scp -r /home/administrator/.ssh/ cfg3.example.pk:~/

scp -r /home/administrator/.ssh/ shrd1.example.pk:~/
scp -r /home/administrator/.ssh/ shrd2.example.pk:~/
scp -r /home/administrator/.ssh/ shrd3.example.pk:~/

scp -r /home/administrator/.ssh/ qrt1.example.pk:~/
If everything set up correctly as demonstrated above, you can access any of your servers via ssh, and it won't prompt you for the password anymore.

Update Hosts File

If you are running a DNS server, you can create HOST-A records to resolve names against servers' IP addresses. For this guide, we will use /etc/hosts file to map each server's name against its IP address:

Log in to (cfg1.example.pk), edit /etc/hosts file:
sudo vi /etc/hosts

add each of your servers's name and IP addresses in the hosts file like below:
# Config Server Replica Set
192.168.10.1 cfg1.example.pk
192.168.10.2 cfg2.example.pk
192.168.10.3 cfg3.example.pk

# Shard Server Replica Set (rs0)
192.168.10.4 shrd1.example.pk
192.168.10.5 shrd2.example.pk
192.168.10.6 shrd3.example.pk

# Mongos (Query Router)
192.168.10.7 qrt1.example.pk

Save and close the file when you are finished.

Repeat the same on each of your remaining servers before proceeding to the next step.

Add MongoDB Repository

You need to add an official repository on each of your servers to install the latest stable release of mongodb like below:

On (cfg1.example.pk), create a file mongodb.repo under /etc/yum.repos.d like below:
sudo vi /etc/yum.repos.d/mongodb.repo

[mongodb-org-4.2]
name=MongoDB
baseurl=https://repo.mongodb.org/yum/redhat/$releasever/mongodb-org/4.2/x86_64/
gpgcheck=1
enabled=1
gpgkey=https://www.mongodb.org/static/pgp/server-4.2.asc

Save and close file when you are finished.

Repeat the same on each of your remaining servers before proceeding to next step.

Install MongoDB

On (cfg1.example.pk) install mongodb latest stable release like below:
sudo yum update
sudo yum -y install mongodb-org

For CentOS/RHEL 8, you can install mongodb using dng package manager like below:

sudo dnf update
sudo dnf -y install mongodb-org

When installation complete on your cfg1.example.pk, repeat the same on each of your remaining servers before proceeding to next step. 

Configure MongoDB

On (cfg1.example.pk) start mongod service and make it persistent on reboot with below command:
sudo systemctl start mongod
sudo systemctl enable mongod

Confirm that mongod service is active and running with below command:
sudo systemctl status mongod

You can see in the below output that mongod is active and running.
 mongod.service - MongoDB Database Server
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/mongod.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: active (running) since Wed 2020-03-25 21:20:40 PKT; 4s ago
     Docs: https://docs.mongodb.org/manual
  Process: 11330 ExecStart=/usr/bin/mongod $OPTIONS (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
  Process: 11328 ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/chmod 0755 /var/run/mongodb (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
  Process: 11326 ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/chown mongod:mongod /var/run/mongodb (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
  Process: 11325 ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/mkdir -p /var/run/mongodb (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
 Main PID: 11333 (mongod)
   CGroup: /system.slice/mongod.service
           └─11333 /usr/bin/mongod -f /etc/mongod.conf

Make sure you repeat the same on each of your remaining servers except (qrt1) before proceeding to next step.

Create a Administrative User

To Administer and manage mongodb sharded cluster,  we need to create an administrative user with root privileges.

On (cfg1.example.pk), type below command to access mongo shell:
mongo

You will see mongo shell prompt like below:
MongoDB shell version v4.2.3
connecting to: mongodb://127.0.0.1:27017/?compressors=disabled&gssapiServiceName=mongodb
Implicit session: session { "id" : UUID("8abb0c14-e2cf-4947-855b-d339279b52c9") }
MongoDB server version: 4.2.3
Welcome to the MongoDB shell.
>

On mongo shell, type below to switch to the default admin database:
use admin

Type below on mongo shell to create a user called "administrator", make sure you replace “password” with a strong password of your choice:
db.createUser({user: "administrator", pwd: "password", roles:[{role: "root", db: "admin"}]})

This will return similar to the following output:
Successfully added user: {
        "user" : "administrator",
        "roles" : [
                {
                        "role" : "root",
                        "db" : "admin"
                }
        ]
}

Type below to exit from mongo shell:
quit()

Repeat the same user creation step on (shrd1.example.pk) before proceeding to next step.

Set Up MongoDB Authentication

We will generate a key file that will be used to secure authentication between the members of replica set. While in this guide we’ll be using a key file generated with openssl, MongoDB recommends using an X.509 certificate to secure connections between production systems.

On (cfg1.example.pk), type below command to generate a key file and set appropriate permission:
openssl rand -base64 756 > ~/mongodb_key.pem
sudo cp ~/mongodb_key.pem /var/lib/mongo/
sudo chown -R mongod:mongod /var/lib/mongo/mongodb_key.pem
sudo chmod -R 400 /var/lib/mongo/mongodb_key.pem

As you can see, we have stored key file under (/var/lib/mongo), and set appropriate permission for mongod user. Make sure you copy monodb_key.pem file to each of your servers under /var/lib/mongo/ with identical permission.

Set Up Config Servers Replica Set

We will make few changes in mongod.conf file on (cfg1, cfg2, cfg3) servers:

Log in to your (cfg1.example.pk), edit mongod.conf like below:
sudo vi /etc/mongod.conf

Add, update following values, make sure you replace port value with 27019 and bindIp value with your server's name:
port: 27019
  bindIp: cfg1.example.pk

security:
  keyFile: /var/lib/mongo/mongodb_key.pem

replication:
  replSetName: configReplSet

sharding:
  clusterRole: configsvr

Save and close when you are finished.

Restart mongod service to take changes into effect:
sudo systemctl restart mongod
sudo systemctl status mongod

Make sure you repeat the same on each of your remaining config servers (cfg2.example.pk, cfg3.example.pk), before proceeding to next step.

Initiate the Config Replica Set.

Log in to your (cfg1.example.pk), connect to the MongoDB shell over port 27019 with the administrator user like below:
mongo --host cfg1.example.pk --port 27019 -u administrator --authenticationDatabase admin

This will prompt you for password:
MongoDB shell version v4.2.3
Enter password:

From the mongo shell, initiate the config server's replica set like below:
rs.initiate({ _id: "configReplSet", configsvr: true, members: [{ _id : 0, host : "cfg1.example.pk:27019"},{ _id : 1, host : "cfg2.example.pk:27019"},{ _id : 2, host : "cfg3.example.pk:27019"}]})

You will see a message like below indicating that operation succeeded:
{
        "ok" : 1,
        "$gleStats" : {
                "lastOpTime" : Timestamp(1584600261, 1),
                "electionId" : ObjectId("000000000000000000000000")
        },
        "lastCommittedOpTime" : Timestamp(0, 0)
}
configReplSet:SECONDARY>

Notice that the MongoDB shell prompt has also changed to configReplSet:SECONDARY> or configReplSet:PRIMARY>.

To make sure that each config server has been added to the replica set, type below on mongo shell:
rs.config()

If the replica set has been configured properly, you’ll see output similar to the following:
{
        "_id" : "configReplSet",
        "version" : 1,
        "configsvr" : true,
        "protocolVersion" : NumberLong(1),
        "writeConcernMajorityJournalDefault" : true,
        "members" : [
                {
                        "_id" : 0,
                        "host" : "cfg1.example.pk:27019",
                        "arbiterOnly" : false,
                        "buildIndexes" : true,
                        "hidden" : false,
                        "priority" : 1,
                        "tags" : {

                        },
                        "slaveDelay" : NumberLong(0),
                        "votes" : 1
                },
                {
                        "_id" : 1,
                        "host" : "cfg2.example.pk:27019",
                        "arbiterOnly" : false,
                        "buildIndexes" : true,
                        "hidden" : false,
                        "priority" : 1,
                        "tags" : {

                        },
                        "slaveDelay" : NumberLong(0),
                        "votes" : 1
                },
                {
                        "_id" : 2,
                        "host" : "cfg3.example.pk:27019",
                        "arbiterOnly" : false,
                        "buildIndexes" : true,
                        "hidden" : false,
                        "priority" : 1,
                        "tags" : {

                        },
                        "slaveDelay" : NumberLong(0),
                        "votes" : 1
                }
        ],
        "settings" : {
                "chainingAllowed" : true,
                "heartbeatIntervalMillis" : 2000,
                "heartbeatTimeoutSecs" : 10,
                "electionTimeoutMillis" : 10000,
                "catchUpTimeoutMillis" : -1,
                "catchUpTakeoverDelayMillis" : 30000,
                "getLastErrorModes" : {

                },
                "getLastErrorDefaults" : {
                        "w" : 1,
                        "wtimeout" : 0
                },
                "replicaSetId" : ObjectId("5e7314c4ba14c5d2412a1949")
        }
}

For maximum replica set configuration information, type below:
rs.status()

You’ll see output similar to the following:
{
        "set" : "configReplSet",
        "date" : ISODate("2020-03-19T06:47:14.266Z"),
        "myState" : 1,
        "term" : NumberLong(1),
        "syncingTo" : "",
        "syncSourceHost" : "",
        "syncSourceId" : -1,
        "configsvr" : true,
        "heartbeatIntervalMillis" : NumberLong(2000),
        "majorityVoteCount" : 2,
        "writeMajorityCount" : 2,
        "optimes" : {
                "lastCommittedOpTime" : {
                        "ts" : Timestamp(1584600433, 1),
                        "t" : NumberLong(1)
                },
                "lastCommittedWallTime" : ISODate("2020-03-19T06:47:13.490Z"),
                "readConcernMajorityOpTime" : {
                        "ts" : Timestamp(1584600433, 1),
                        "t" : NumberLong(1)
                },
                "readConcernMajorityWallTime" : ISODate("2020-03-19T06:47:13.490Z"),
                "appliedOpTime" : {
                        "ts" : Timestamp(1584600433, 1),
                        "t" : NumberLong(1)
                },
                "durableOpTime" : {
                        "ts" : Timestamp(1584600433, 1),
                        "t" : NumberLong(1)
                },
                "lastAppliedWallTime" : ISODate("2020-03-19T06:47:13.490Z"),
                "lastDurableWallTime" : ISODate("2020-03-19T06:47:13.490Z")
        },
        "lastStableRecoveryTimestamp" : Timestamp(1584600391, 1),
        "lastStableCheckpointTimestamp" : Timestamp(1584600391, 1),
        "electionCandidateMetrics" : {
                "lastElectionReason" : "electionTimeout",
                "lastElectionDate" : ISODate("2020-03-19T06:44:32.291Z"),
                "electionTerm" : NumberLong(1),
                "lastCommittedOpTimeAtElection" : {
                        "ts" : Timestamp(0, 0),
                        "t" : NumberLong(-1)
                },
                "lastSeenOpTimeAtElection" : {
                        "ts" : Timestamp(1584600261, 1),
                        "t" : NumberLong(-1)
                },
                "numVotesNeeded" : 2,
                "priorityAtElection" : 1,
                "electionTimeoutMillis" : NumberLong(10000),
                "numCatchUpOps" : NumberLong(0),
                "newTermStartDate" : ISODate("2020-03-19T06:44:33.110Z"),
                "wMajorityWriteAvailabilityDate" : ISODate("2020-03-19T06:44:34.008Z")
        },
        "members" : [
                {
                        "_id" : 0,
                        "name" : "cfg1.example.pk:27019",
                        "health" : 1,
                        "state" : 1,
                        "stateStr" : "PRIMARY",
                        "uptime" : 1013,
                        "optime" : {
                                "ts" : Timestamp(1584600433, 1),
                                "t" : NumberLong(1)
                        },
                        "optimeDate" : ISODate("2020-03-19T06:47:13Z"),
                        "syncingTo" : "",
                        "syncSourceHost" : "",
                        "syncSourceId" : -1,
                        "infoMessage" : "",
                        "electionTime" : Timestamp(1584600272, 1),
                        "electionDate" : ISODate("2020-03-19T06:44:32Z"),
                        "configVersion" : 1,
                        "self" : true,
                        "lastHeartbeatMessage" : ""
                },
                {
                        "_id" : 1,
                        "name" : "cfg2.example.pk:27019",
                        "health" : 1,
                        "state" : 2,
                        "stateStr" : "SECONDARY",
                        "uptime" : 173,
                        "optime" : {
                                "ts" : Timestamp(1584600421, 1),
                                "t" : NumberLong(1)
                        },
                        "optimeDurable" : {
                                "ts" : Timestamp(1584600421, 1),
                                "t" : NumberLong(1)
                        },
                        "optimeDate" : ISODate("2020-03-19T06:47:01Z"),
                        "optimeDurableDate" : ISODate("2020-03-19T06:47:01Z"),
                        "lastHeartbeat" : ISODate("2020-03-19T06:47:12.377Z"),
                        "lastHeartbeatRecv" : ISODate("2020-03-19T06:47:14.013Z"),
                        "pingMs" : NumberLong(0),
                        "lastHeartbeatMessage" : "",
                        "syncingTo" : "cfg1.example.pk:27019",
                        "syncSourceHost" : "cfg1.example.pk:27019",
                        "syncSourceId" : 0,
                        "infoMessage" : "",
                        "configVersion" : 1
                },
                {
                        "_id" : 2,
                        "name" : "cfg3.example.pk:27019",
                        "health" : 1,
                        "state" : 2,
                        "stateStr" : "SECONDARY",
                        "uptime" : 173,
                        "optime" : {
                                "ts" : Timestamp(1584600421, 1),
                                "t" : NumberLong(1)
                        },
                        "optimeDurable" : {
                                "ts" : Timestamp(1584600421, 1),
                                "t" : NumberLong(1)
                        },
                        "optimeDate" : ISODate("2020-03-19T06:47:01Z"),
                        "optimeDurableDate" : ISODate("2020-03-19T06:47:01Z"),
                        "lastHeartbeat" : ISODate("2020-03-19T06:47:12.377Z"),
                        "lastHeartbeatRecv" : ISODate("2020-03-19T06:47:14.020Z"),
                        "pingMs" : NumberLong(0),
                        "lastHeartbeatMessage" : "",
                        "syncingTo" : "cfg1.example.pk:27019",
                        "syncSourceHost" : "cfg1.example.pk:27019",
                        "syncSourceId" : 0,
                        "infoMessage" : "",
                        "configVersion" : 1
                }
        ],
        "ok" : 1,
        "$gleStats" : {
                "lastOpTime" : Timestamp(1584600261, 1),
                "electionId" : ObjectId("7fffffff0000000000000001")
        },
        "lastCommittedOpTime" : Timestamp(1584600433, 1),
        "$clusterTime" : {
                "clusterTime" : Timestamp(1584600433, 1),
                "signature" : {
                        "hash" : BinData(0,"5S/ou6ONJAUK+J4roPWAKmOf2nk="),
                        "keyId" : NumberLong("6805806349767671838")
                }
        },
        "operationTime" : Timestamp(1584600433, 1)
}

Now exit from mongo shell with below command:
quit()


Create the Shard Replica Set (rs0)

We will configure shard replica set (rs0) on (shrd1, shrd2, shrd3) servers.

Log in to (shrd1.example.pk), edit /etc/mongod.conf file like below:
sudo vi /etc/mongod.conf

Add, update the following values, make sure you replace port value with 27018 and bindIp value with your server's name:
net:
  port: 27018
  bindIp: shrd1.example.pk

security:
  keyFile: /var/lib/mongo/mongodb_key.pem

replication:
  replSetName: rs0

sharding:
  clusterRole: shardsvr

Save and close when you are finished.

Restart mongod service to take changes into effect:
sudo systemctl restart mongod
sudo systemctl status mongod

Make sure you repeat the same on (shrd2, shrd3) server before proceeding to next step.

Initiate the shard replica set (rs0)

Log in to (shrd1.example.pk), connect to mongo shell on port 27018 with administrator user like below:
mongo --host shrd1.example.pk --port 27018 -u administrator --authenticationDatabase admin

Type below on mongo shell to initiate shard replica set (rs0):
rs.initiate({ _id : "rs0", members:[{ _id : 0, host : "shrd1.example.pk:27018" },{ _id : 1, host : "shrd2.example.pk:27018" },{ _id : 2, host : "shrd3.example.pk:27018" }]})

This will return { "ok" : 1 } indicating that shard replica set rs0 initiated successfully.


Now exit from the mongo shell with below command:
quit()

Configure Mongos (Query Router)

We'll create a mongos service that needs to obtain data locks, so be sure mongod is stopped before proceeding:

Log in to (qrt1.example.pk), and deactivate mongod service with below command:
sudo systemctl stop mongod
sudo systemctl disable mongod

Confirm that mongod service is stopped with below command:
sudo systemctl status mongod

The output confirm that mongod is stopped:
mongod.service - MongoDB Database Server
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/mongod.service; disabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: inactive (dead)
     Docs: https://docs.mongodb.org/manual

Mar 25 23:48:38 qrt1.example.pk systemd[1]: Stopped MongoDB Database Server.

On (qrt1.example.pk), create mongos.conf file file like below:
sudo vi /etc/mongos.conf

Add the following configuration directives
systemLog:
  destination: file
  logAppend: true
  path: /var/log/mongodb/mongos.log

net:
  port: 27017
  bindIp: qrt1.example.pk

security:
  keyFile: /var/lib/mongo/mongodb_key.pem

sharding:
  configDB: configReplSet/cfg1.example.pk:27019,cfg2.example.pk:27019,cfg3.example.pk:27019

Save and close file.

Next, create a systemd service unit file for mongos like below:
sudo vi /usr/lib/systemd/system/mongos.service

Add the following parameters:
[Unit]
Description=Mongo Cluster Router
After=network.target

[Service]
User=mongod
Group=mongod

ExecStart=/usr/bin/mongos --config /etc/mongos.conf

LimitFSIZE=infinity
LimitCPU=infinity
LimitAS=infinity

LimitNOFILE=64000
LimitNPROC=64000

TasksMax=infinity
TasksAccounting=false

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Save and close.

Start mongos service with below command to activate query router.
sudo systemctl start mongos
sudo systemctl enable mongos

Confirm that mongos is active and running with below command:
sudo systemctl status mongos

You will see mongos status like below.
mongos.service - Mongo Cluster Router
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/mongos.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Wed 2020-03-25 23:52:25 PKT; 33s ago
 Main PID: 26985 (mongos)
   CGroup: /system.slice/mongos.service
           └─26985 /usr/bin/mongos --config /etc/mongos.conf

Mar 25 23:52:25 qrt1.example.pk systemd[1]: Started Mongo Cluster Router.

Add Shards to the Cluster

On (qrt1.example.pk), connect to mongo shell on port 27017 with administrative authentication like below:
mongo --host qrt1.example.pk --port 27017 -u administrator --authenticationDatabase admin

On mongo shell, type below to add shard replica set (rs0) in the cluster:
sh.addShard( "rs0/shrd1.example.pk:27018,shrd2.example.pk:27018,shrd2.example.pk:27018")

You will see the similar output indicating that shard replica set rs0 added successfully.


At this stage, your mongodb sharded cluster is active and running.

Enable Sharding

The last step is to enable sharding for database. This process takes place in stages due to the organization of data in MongoDB. Before you enable sharding, you’ll need to decide on a sharding strategy.

The two most common sharding strategies are:

Range-based sharding divides your data based on specific ranges of values in the shard key.
Hash-based sharding distributes data by using a hash function on your shard key for a more even distribution of data among the shards.

This is not a comprehensive explanation for choosing a sharding strategy. You may wish to consult with official resource of MongoDB’s documentation on sharding strategy.

For this guide, we’ve decided to use a hash-based sharding strategy, enabling sharding at the collections level. This allows the documents within a collection to be distributed among your shards.

Log in to (qrt1.example.pk), access the mongos shell:
mongo --host qrt1.example.pk --port 27017 -u administrator --authenticationDatabase admin

From the mongos shell, type below to create a test database called testDB
use testDB

Create a new collection called testCollection and hash its _id key. The _id key is already created by default as a basic index for new documents:
db.testCollection.ensureIndex( { _id : "hashed" } )

Type below to enable sharding for newly created database:
sh.enableSharding("testDB")
sh.shardCollection( "testDB.testCollection", { "_id" : "hashed" } )

This enables sharding across any shards that you added to your cluster.

To verify that the sharding was successfully enabled, type below to switch to the config database:
use config

Run below method:
db.databases.find()

If sharding was enabled properly, this will return useful information with the list of databases you have. Once you enable sharding for a database, MongoDB assigns a primary shard for that database where MongoDB stores all data in that database.

Test MongoDB Sharded Cluster

To ensure your data is being distributed evenly in the database, follow these steps to generate some dummy data in testDB and see how it is divided among the shards.

Connect to the mongos shell on any of your query routers:
mongo --host qrt1.example.pk --port 27017 -u administrator -p --authenticationDatabase admin

Switch to your newly created database (testDB) for example:
use testDB

Type the following code in the mongo shell to generate 10000 simple dummy documents and insert them into testCollection:
for (var i = 1; i <= 10000; i++) db.testCollection.insert( { x : i } )



Run following code to check your dummy data distribution:
db.testCollection.getShardDistribution()

The sections beginning with Shard give information about each shard in your cluster. Since we only added 1 shard rs0 with three members, there is only once section, but if you add more shards to the cluster, they’ll show up here as well.

The Totals section provides information about the collection as a whole, including its distribution among the shards.

When you’re finished, we recommend you to delete the testDB (because it has no use) with below command:
use testDB
db.dropDatabase()

Wrapping up

Now that you have successfully deployed a highly available sharded cluster ready to use for your production environment, we recommended you to configure firewall to limit ports 27018 and 27019 to only accept traffic between hosts within your cluster. 

You'll always make connection to the database in the sharded cluster via query routers.

No comments:

Powered by Blogger.