If you do not have Java installed or if your version is below 6.0, install the Java JDK by heading over to http://j.mp/javadevkit-download, a customized and shortened link, and choosing the version that applies to you.

The main recommendation for these projects is that you install a version of JDK 6.0 or higher.

Select the JDK for your OS. On an Intel-based Mac, you can use the following useful table to check whether your Mac is a 32- or 64-bit OS.

You can check for Processor Name by clicking on the Apple logo in the top-left corner of your screen, followed by About my Mac:

In the case of Windows, if you have a machine that was purchased in the last few years, you should go for the x64 (64-bit) version.

MongoDB ships with a complete MSI for installation on Windows systems. To download it, go to the project's official website, www.mongodb.org, navigate to Downloads, and select the Windows tab. You will be offered the following three choices to download:

After you have downloaded the MSI, run it with administrator privileges in order to perform the installation. The installation wizard will give you a default location where MongoDB will be installed—C:/mongodb/. You can change this if you desire, but it is recommended that you keep it as we will assume that this is the location where MongoDB resides for the remainder of the book.

After the installation has finished, the next step is to configure a data directory where MongoDB can store the data that we will feed it with. The default location for this directory is /data/db. We will need to make sure that this directory exists and is writeable before we start our MongoDB instance for the first time. So, fire up the command prompt with administrator privileges and issue the md/data/dbcommand. After doing so, we are good to start the database server itself. To do so, stay in the command prompt and issue the following command:

C:/mongodb/bin/mongodb.exe

You should receive a confirmation that MongoDB is now running and listening for connections. All is set!

On Linux, you will find MongoDB ready-packaged on most major distributions. However, we strongly recommend that you use the project's own repositories in order to make sure that you always have access to the most current security and stability updates.

First off, you will need to enable the official MongoDB repository. To do so, open a terminal and first import the project's public GNU Privacy Guard (GPG) key as follows:

sudo apt-key adv --keyserverhkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 --recv7F0CEB10

Once this is done, create a listing for the repository itself by issuing the following command:

echo 'deb http://downloads-distro.mongodb.org/repo/ubuntu-upstart dist10gen' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mongodb.list

Your repository listing is now active. Let's make Advanced Package Tool (APT) aware of it in order to install MongoDB, as follows:

sudo apt-get update

Finally, issue the following command to install MongoDB:

sudo apt-get install mongodb-org

Our first order of business here is to enable the official MongoDB repository. To do so, first make sure that you have the nano text editor installed by opening a terminal and issuing the following command:

sudo yum install nano

After this is done, add the repository by issuing the following command:

sudonano /etc/yum.repos.d/mongodb.repo

Nano will open a new, blank text file. Copy and paste the following into the file:

[mongodb]
name=MongoDB Repository
baseurl=http://downloads-distro.mongodb.org/repo/redhat/os/x86_64/
gpgcheck=0
enabled=1

Save and close the file by pressing Ctrl+O, followed by the Enter key. This is followed by Ctrl+X.

Finally, carry out the installation by issuing the following command:

sudo yum install mongodb-org

The easiest way to both install and stay up to date with MongoDB on OS X is by using the Homebrew package manager. Even if we just use it to install MongoDB here, you will most likely find it useful later for the installation of other software packages that you may need for your own projects after you finish this book.

Installing Homebrew is simple; just open a terminal and issue the following command:

ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

When this finishes, make sure that the Homebrew package database is up to date, as follows:

brew update

Finally, install MongoDB by simply issuing the following command:

brew install mongodb

When the install has finished, we will need to define a data directory in order to give a location for MongoDB to store its data. By default, this directory will be at /data/db. So, unless you specify something else, you will need to make sure that this directory exists and is both writeable and readable by the user running your MongoDB instance. For example, if the user running MongoDB on your system is john, you will have to issue the following commands:

sudomkdir -p /data/db
sudochmod 0755 /data/dbsudochownmongod:mongod /data/db

Now that this is done, it is time to start up MongoDB. To do so, make sure that you are logged in as john, open a terminal, and simply issue the following command:

mongodb

That's it! You should receive a notification that MongoDB has started and is listening for a connection. Your instance is ready to go!

First, make sure that MongoDB is running by following the process that was outlined previously. After this, issue the following command in your command prompt:

C:\mongodb\bin\mongo.exe

First, make sure that MongoDB is running. Then, open a terminal and issue the following command:

mongo

Now that our shell is running, let's verify that everything works by creating a database and adding some data to it.

To create a database, issue the following command to the shell:

use Fruits

This will create a database named Fruits, to which we can immediately start adding data. (What, you were expecting more overhead? Not in MongoDB!)

We will not add a collection to our database. A collection is simply a basket of data entries, which are grouped based on some logical characteristic. For example, let's suppose that we want a collection of chewy fruits. We then issue the following command:

db.createCollection("Chewy")

The shell should respond with the { "ok" : 1 } JSON response that tells us that everything went well. Now, let's add some chewy fruits to our collection, as follows:

db.Chewy.insert({"name" : "pear"});
db.Chewy.insert({"name" : "apple"});

Even if the naming makes it intuitively clear what is going on in the preceding code, don't worry if you do not understand all the details yet. We will get to this in due course.

Finally, let's make MongoDB show us the chewy fruits that we stored. Issue the following command:

db.Chewy.find();

The shell will respond with something like the following:

{ "_id" : ObjectId("54eb3e6043adbad374577df9"), "name" : "apple" }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("54eb4036cdc928dc6a32f686"), "name" : "pear" }

The _id numbers will be different on your system, but you will find that the names are the same. All the fruits are where we want them to be.

Congratulations, you now have a fully working MongoDB setup ready for action!