How to Install and Secure MongoDB 7.0 on Ubuntu 24.04 VPS with Authentication & UFW Binding

The Prohibitive Cost of Managed NoSQL Cloud Clusters

While MongoDB Atlas provides a polished managed service, costs escalate dramatically as database memory requirements grow past 2GB. Deploying MongoDB Community Edition 7.0 on your own cloud VPS grants you complete freedom over RAM allocations, indexing memory, and automated backups at a fraction of the cost.

Step 1: Installing MongoDB 7.0 from Official GPG Repositories

# Import official MongoDB GPG key
sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y gnupg curl
curl -fsSL https://www.mongodb.org/static/pgp/server-7.0.asc | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/mongodb-server-7.0.gpg

# Add repository definition
echo "deb [ arch=amd64,arm64 signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/mongodb-server-7.0.gpg ] https://repo.mongodb.org/apt/ubuntu jammy/mongodb-org/7.0 multiverse" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mongodb-org-7.0.list

# Install MongoDB packages
sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y mongodb-org
sudo systemctl enable --now mongod

Step 2: Creating Master Admin User & Enforcing Authentication

Connect to the local mongo shell:

mongosh

use admin
db.createUser({
  user: "adminUser",
  pwd: "A_VERY_SECURE_PASSWORD",
  roles: [ { role: "userAdminAnyDatabase", db: "admin" }, { role: "readWriteAnyDatabase", db: "admin" } ]
})
exit

Enable mandatory authorization in /etc/mongod.conf:

sudo nano /etc/mongod.conf

security:
  authorization: "enabled"
net:
  port: 27017
  bindIp: 127.0.0.1

sudo systemctl restart mongod

Your MongoDB database is now production-hardened, password-protected, and strictly bound to localhost.