It is important to provide configuration to direct how the mongod server daemon starts. Although you could theoretically start mongod using command-line options, most DevOps prefer to place a permanent configuration into a configuration file. Configuration options fall into these major categories:
- Core: Storage, logging and network
- Process management
- Security
- Profiling
- Replication and sharding
In addition, the Enterprise (that is, paid) version of MongoDB features auditing and Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) options. Of these options in this chapter, we will only focus on the Core category. Other options will be covered in later chapters as those topics arise.
NOTE: The name and location of the configuration file vary depending on the operating system. See the earlier section on installing MongoDB to get an idea of the default name and location of this file.
