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Use an external cloud-based MongoDB with your installation

Self-Managed Enterprise Edition requires you to install a database by default. You can optionally use an external database with your Self-Managed Enterprise Edition installation. This enables you to separate your data from node execution. To use an external MongoDB with your Harness Self-Managed Enterprise Edition installation, you must ensure that your hardware, software, and network meet the minimum requirements for installation and configuration. This tutorial describes how to configure an external cloud-based MongoDB for your installation.

Hardware requirements​

Harness recommends a MongoDB three member replica set configuration with the following minimum hardware:

  • Three nodes
  • Four CPU (3*4 = 12 CPU)
  • 16GB RAM (3*16 = 48GB RAM)
  • 100GB SSD data storage, depending on your requirements

Software requirements​

External database setup requires the following software:

Network requirements​

External database setup includes the following network requirements:

  • Your port must be open for bidirectional replication.

    note

    MongoDB uses default port 27017 to communicate between Harness Self-Managed Enterprise Edition and the database. MongoDB supports a wide range of ports, and you can use any supported MongoDB port range.

  • Your Kubernetes cluster and MongoDB backend must be on the same subnet.

  • You must have a reliable network connection between your MongoDB replica sets if your implementation is across multiple data centers.

Monitoring tools​

For MongoDB Enterprise Edition versions, Harness recommends Ops Manager for replica set management. Ops Manager is a MongoDB database management tool to monitor alerts, backup, and replica set management.

For MongoDB Community Editions versions, Harness recommends the following third-party monitoring tools:

  • Datadog/App Dynamics (alerts)
  • Percona (MongoDB management tool)
  • Mongodump/Mongorestore (backups)
  • Rubrik (cloud backups)
  • Custom tools

Required Helm configuration updates​

For external MongoDB support, update the following fields in your Helm values.yaml configuration files:

Global configuration​

global:
# -- provide overrides to use in-cluster database or configure to use external databases
  database:
    # -- settings to deploy mongo in-cluster or configure to use external mongo source
    mongo:
      # -- set false to configure external mongo and generate mongo uri protocol://hosts?extraArgs
      installed: true
      # -- set the protocol for mongo uri
      protocol: mongodb
      # --   set the mongo hosts if mongo.installed is set to false
      hosts: []
      # -- provide the secret name to reference mongo username and password
      secretName: ""
      # -- provide the userKey to reference mongo username
      userKey: ""
      # -- provide the passwordKey to reference mongo password
      passwordKey: ""
      # -- set additional arguments to mongo uri
      extraArgs: ""

Platform configuration​

platform:
  # -- Access control settings (taints, tolerations, and so on)
  access-control:
    # -- set mongoHosts for external database hosts
    # -- mongoHosts:
    # -- - replica1.host.com:27017
    # -- - replica2.host.com:27017
    # -- - replica3.host.com:27017
    mongoHosts: []
    # -- enable mongoSSL for external database connections
    mongoSSL:
      enabled: false

FAQs​

How do I resolve an out of sync issue?​

MongoDB automatically resolves out of sync issues, but manual intervention may be required for a full sync. For details, go to Resync a member of a replica set in the MongoDB documentation.

Does MongoDB support non-blocking secondary reads?​

Yes, MongoDB 4.0+ supports non-blocking secondary reads for analytic reports.

Do I need to manually create the MongoDB collection?​

No, Harness Self-Managed Enterprise Edition automatically creates any missing collection/indexes during each deployment.

What are the data retention limits?​

By default, Harness Self-Managed Enterprise Edition stores data for six months. Contact Harness Support if you require longer data retention.