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Install MongoDB on macOS

Overview

Use this tutorial to install MongoDB on macOS systems.

Platform Support

Changed in version 3.0.16: MongoDB now requires macOS 10.8 or later.

MongoDB requires macOS version 10.8 (Mountain Lion) or later running on an x86_64 processor.

MongoDB is available through the popular macOS package manager Homebrew or through the MongoDB Download site.

Install MongoDB

You can install MongoDB with Homebrew or manually. This section describes both.

Install MongoDB with Homebrew

Homebrew installs binary packages based on published “formulae.” This section describes how to update brew to the latest packages and install MongoDB. Homebrew requires some initial setup and configuration, which is beyond the scope of this document.

1

Update Homebrew’s package database.

In a system shell, issue the following command:

brew update
2

Install MongoDB.

You can install MongoDB via brew with several different options. Use one of the following operations:

Install the MongoDB Binaries

To install the MongoDB binaries, issue the following command in a system shell:

brew install mongodb
Build MongoDB from Source with TLS/SSL Support

To build MongoDB from the source files and include TLS/SSL support, issue the following from a system shell:

brew install mongodb --with-openssl
Install the Latest Development Release of MongoDB

To install the latest development release for use in testing and development, issue the following command in a system shell:

brew install mongodb --devel

Install MongoDB Manually

Only install MongoDB using this procedure if you cannot use homebrew.

1

Download the binary files for the desired release of MongoDB.

Download the binaries from https://www.mongodb.org/downloads.

For example, to download the latest release through the shell, issue the following:

curl -O https://fastdl.mongodb.org/osx/mongodb-osx-x86_64-3.0.15.tgz
2

Extract the files from the downloaded archive.

For example, from a system shell, you can extract through the tar command:

tar -zxvf mongodb-osx-x86_64-3.0.15.tgz
3

Copy the extracted archive to the target directory.

Copy the extracted folder to the location from which MongoDB will run.

mkdir -p mongodb
cp -R -n mongodb-osx-x86_64-3.0.15/ mongodb
4

Ensure the location of the binaries is in the PATH variable.

The MongoDB binaries are in the bin/ directory of the archive. To ensure that the binaries are in your PATH, you can modify your PATH.

For example, you can add the following line to your shell’s rc file (e.g. ~/.bashrc):

export PATH=<mongodb-install-directory>/bin:$PATH

Replace <mongodb-install-directory> with the path to the extracted MongoDB archive.

Run MongoDB

1

Create the data directory.

Before you start MongoDB for the first time, create the directory to which the mongod process will write data. By default, the mongod process uses the /data/db directory. If you create a directory other than this one, you must specify that directory in the dbpath option when starting the mongod process later in this procedure.

The following example command creates the default /data/db directory:

mkdir -p /data/db
2

Set permissions for the data directory.

Before running mongod for the first time, ensure that the user account running mongod has read and write permissions for the directory.

3

Run MongoDB.

To run MongoDB, run the mongod process at the system prompt. If necessary, specify the path of the mongod or the data directory. See the following examples.

Run without specifying paths

If your system PATH variable includes the location of the mongod binary and if you use the default data directory (i.e., /data/db), simply enter mongod at the system prompt:

mongod

Specify the path of the mongod

If your PATH does not include the location of the mongod binary, enter the full path to the mongod binary at the system prompt:

<path to binary>/mongod

Specify the path of the data directory

If you do not use the default data directory (i.e., /data/db), specify the path to the data directory using the --dbpath option:

mongod --dbpath <path to data directory>
4

Begin using MongoDB.

To help you start using MongoDB, MongoDB provides Getting Started Guides in various driver editions. See Getting Started for the available editions.

Before deploying MongoDB in a production environment, consider the Production Notes document.

Later, to stop MongoDB, press Control+C in the terminal where the mongod instance is running.