How to secure MongoDB with username and password

I want to set up user name & password authentication for my MongoDB instance, so that any remote access will ask for the user name & password. I tried the tutorial from the MongoDB site and did following:

use admin
db.addUser('theadmin', '12345');
db.auth('theadmin','12345');

After that, I exited and ran mongo again. And I don't need password to access it. Even if I connect to the database remotely, I am not prompted for user name & password.

UPDATE Here is the solution I ended up using

1) At the mongo command line, set the administrator:

    use admin;
    db.addUser('admin','123456');

2) Shutdown the server and exit

    db.shutdownServer();
    exit

3) Restart mongod with --auth

  $ sudo ./mongodb/bin/mongod --auth --dbpath /mnt/db/

4) Run mongo again in 2 ways:

   i) run mongo first then login:

        $ ./mongodb/bin/mongo localhost:27017
        use admin
        db.auth('admin','123456');

  ii) run & login to mongo in command line.

        $ ./mongodb/bin/mongo localhost:27017/admin -u admin -p 123456

The username & password will work the same way for mongodump and mongoexport.

You need to start mongod with the --auth option after setting up the user.

From the MongoDB Site:

Run the database (mongod process) with the --auth option to enable security. You must either have added a user to the admin db before starting the server with --auth, or add the first user from the localhost interface.

MongoDB Authentication

Wow so many complicated/confusing answers here.

This is as of v3.4.

Short answer.

1) Start MongoDB without access control.

mongod --dbpath /data/db

2) Connect to the instance.

mongo

3) Create the user.

use some_db
db.createUser(
  {
    user: "myNormalUser",
    pwd: "xyz123",
    roles: [ { role: "readWrite", db: "some_db" },
             { role: "read", db: "some_other_db" } ]
  }
)

4) Stop the MongoDB instance and start it again with access control.

mongod --auth --dbpath /data/db

5) Connect and authenticate as the user.

use some_db
db.auth("myNormalUser", "xyz123")
db.foo.insert({x:1})
use some_other_db
db.foo.find({})

Long answer: Read this if you want to properly understand.

It's really simple. I'll dumb the following down https://docs.mongodb.com/manual/tutorial/enable-authentication/

If you want to learn more about what the roles actually do read more here: https://docs.mongodb.com/manual/reference/built-in-roles/

1) Start MongoDB without access control.

mongod --dbpath /data/db

2) Connect to the instance.

mongo

3) Create the user administrator. The following creates a user administrator in the admin authentication database. The user is a dbOwner over the some_db database and NOT over the admin database, this is important to remember.

use admin
db.createUser(
  {
    user: "myDbOwner",
    pwd: "abc123",
    roles: [ { role: "dbOwner", db: "some_db" } ]
  }
)

Or if you want to create an admin which is admin over any database:

use admin
db.createUser(
  {
    user: "myUserAdmin",
    pwd: "abc123",
    roles: [ { role: "userAdminAnyDatabase", db: "admin" } ]
  }
)

4) Stop the MongoDB instance and start it again with access control.

mongod --auth --dbpath /data/db

5) Connect and authenticate as the user administrator towards the admin authentication database, NOT towards the some_db authentication database. The user administrator was created in the admin authentication database, the user does not exist in the some_db authentication database.

use admin
db.auth("myDbOwner", "abc123")

You are now authenticated as a dbOwner over the some_db database. So now if you wish to read/write/do stuff directly towards the some_db database you can change to it.

use some_db
//...do stuff like db.foo.insert({x:1})
// remember that the user administrator had dbOwner rights so the user may write/read, if you create a user with userAdmin they will not be able to read/write for example.

More on roles: https://docs.mongodb.com/manual/reference/built-in-roles/

If you wish to make additional users which aren't user administrators and which are just normal users continue reading below.

6) Create a normal user. This user will be created in the some_db authentication database down below.

use some_db
db.createUser(
  {
    user: "myNormalUser",
    pwd: "xyz123",
    roles: [ { role: "readWrite", db: "some_db" },
             { role: "read", db: "some_other_db" } ]
  }
)

7) Exit the mongo shell, re-connect, authenticate as the user.

use some_db
db.auth("myNormalUser", "xyz123")
db.foo.insert({x:1})
use some_other_db
db.foo.find({})

First, un-comment the line that starts with #auth=true in your mongod configuration file (default path /etc/mongod.conf). This will enable authentication for mongodb.

Then, restart mongodb : sudo service mongod restart

This answer is for Mongo 3.2.1 Reference

Terminal 1:

$ mongod --auth

Terminal 2:

db.createUser({user:"admin_name", pwd:"1234",roles:["readWrite","dbAdmin"]})

if you want to add without roles (optional):

db.createUser({user:"admin_name", pwd:"1234", roles:[]})

to check if authenticated or not:

db.auth("admin_name", "1234")

it should give you:

1

else :

Error: Authentication failed.
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