How to install MongoDB on Debian

Here are steps for MongDB Debian installation (based on German MongoDB documentation).

Download and unpack MongDB Linux binary (change the name of the downloaded file to the newest version):

# cd /tmp/                                                               
# wget http://fastdl.mongodb.org/linux/mongodb-linux-x86_64-1.6.3.tgz
# tar -xzf mongodb-linux-x86_64-1.6.3.tgz

Move the files to /opt/mongodb directory and make data directory:

# mv mongodb-linux-x86_64-1.6.3 /opt/mongodb
# mkdir /data 
# mkdir /data/mongodb

The basic files are now installed.
The next step is creating the config file and the start/stop scripts. Create the mongodb user and assign the data folder to it:

# useradd mongod -s /bin/false
# chown -R mongod:mongod /data/mongodb

Create the config file:

# mkdir /etc/mongodb
# cat << EOF > /etc/mongodb/mongodb.conf
MONGO_USER="mongod"
MONGO_OPTS="--dbpath /data/mongodb/"
EOF

Create start/stop script (note: the first and the last line are shell commands, the others are content of newly created /etc/init.d/mongodb file):

# cat << EOF > /etc/init.d/mongodb
#! /bin/sh
# start / stop script for mongodb

### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides:          mongod
# Required-Start:    $remote_fs $syslog
# Required-Stop:     $remote_fs $syslog
# Default-Start:     2 3 4 5
# Default-Stop:      0 1 6
# Short-Description: Start mongod at boot time
# Description:       Enable service provided by mongod.
### END INIT INFO

# Source function library.
. /lib/lsb/init-functions

retval=0
pidfile=/var/run/mongodb.pid

exec="/opt/mongodb/bin/mongod"
prog="mongod"
config="/etc/mongodb/mongodb.conf"
lockfile="/var/lock/mongod"

[ -e $config ] && . $config

start() {
    if [ ! -x $exec ]
    then
        echo $exec not found
        exit 5
    fi

    log_daemon_msg "Starting mongoDB daemon"
    log_progress_msg $prog

    start-stop-daemon --start --pidfile $pidfile -m -c $MONGO_USER 
                      --exec $exec -- $MONGO_OPTS run > /dev/null 2>&1 &
    retval=$?
    
    if [ $retval -eq 0 ]
    then
        log_end_msg 0
    else
        log_end_msg 1
    fi
    return $retval
}

stop() {
  log_daemon_msg "Stopping mongoDB daemon"	
  log_progress_msg $prog
  start-stop-daemon --stop --pidfile $pidfile --retry 10 
    --exec $exec
    
    retval=$?
    
    if [ $retval -eq 0 ] && rm -f $lockfile 
    then
        log_end_msg 0
    else
        log_end_msg 1
    fi
    rm -f $pidfile 
    return $retval
}

restart() {
    stop
    start
}

reload() {
    restart
}

# See how we were called.
case "$1" in
    start)
        $1
        ;;
    stop)
        $1
        ;;
    restart)
        $1
        ;;
    reload)
        $1
        ;;
    *)
    echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop|status|restart|reload}"
    exit 2
esac

exit $?

EOF
# chmod +x /etc/init.d/mongodb

# update-rc.d mongodb defaults

Restart and that’s all!