How to Access Your MongoDB Database on Linux with Authentication: An Easy Guide

Learn how to specify a database on the Linux mongosh command line while ensuring proper authentication. This guide provides step-by-step instructions to help you successfully connect to your MongoDB database.
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How to Access Your MongoDB Database on Linux with Authentication: An Easy Guide

If you've ever tried to connect to your MongoDB database on a Linux system and encountered issues, you're not alone. Many users find it challenging to authenticate and access specific databases, especially when dealing with user roles and permissions. In this post, we'll tackle a common problem faced by MongoDB users on Ubuntu systems. We'll break down the solution into simple steps, so you can connect to your desired database without frustration.

The Problem

You are using Ubuntu with MongoDB version 5.0.3, and you have authentication enabled. When trying to connect to your specific database called db-name using the following command:

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You find yourself placed in the default test database. Upon further attempts to access db-name directly like this:

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You receive an error message indicating Authentication failed. This can be confusing, especially when you know your credentials are correct.

What Went Wrong?

The issue lies in how MongoDB handles authentication. When you provide a username and password, MongoDB expects you to specify the authentication database. If this is not correctly set, you will encounter authentication errors, even with the correct username and password.

The Solution: Specifying the Authentication Database

To resolve this problem, you need to provide an additional argument to your connection command. Here’s the correct way to connect to your db-name database while authenticating:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Breaking Down the Command

mongosh: This is the command to start the MongoDB shell.

mongodb://127.0.0.1/db-name: This part specifies the connection URI where:

127.0.0.1 is your localhost.

db-name is the database you want to access.

-u mongoAdmin: The username you are using to authenticate.

-p '<password>': The password associated with the mongoAdmin user (make sure to replace <password> with the actual password).

--authenticationDatabase admin: This parameter specifies that the authentication should take place against the admin database, where your user is configured.

Conclusion

By including the --authenticationDatabase admin parameter in your command, you can successfully connect to your specified database on MongoDB. This small change can save you from the frustrating errors of incorrect authentication.

Final Tip

Always ensure that the user you are trying to authenticate has the necessary roles and permissions on the database you are trying to access. If issues persist, double-check your user configurations in MongoDB.

Now you can confidently access your MongoDB databases on Linux with proper authentication. Happy coding!