MongoDB

The MongoDB source collects metrics and logs from MongoDB. Metrics are scraped from one or more mongod endpoints (host:port or a unix domain socket) using the OpenTelemetry MongoDB receiver, optionally authenticating with a monitoring user and TLS. Logs are read from MongoDB log files on the collector host and parsed into structured records.

Supported Telemetry Types

Platform	Metrics	Logs	Traces
macOS	✓	✓
Linux	✓	✓
Windows	✓	✓

Prerequisites

• A reachable MongoDB endpoint. The collector must reach each mongod host and port listed in Hosts (default localhost:27017). For replica sets, list the member hosts; for sharded deployments, list the mongos hosts.
• A monitoring user (metrics). If authentication is enabled, create a least-privilege user with the built-in clusterMonitor role and supply it in Username / Password. clusterMonitor grants the read-only monitoring access the receiver needs without write privileges. See MongoDB Built-In Roles for the role definition and the mongodbreceiver README for an example least-privilege-user setup.
• TLS material (optional). If MongoDB requires TLS, enable TLS and provide the CA file, and for mutual TLS the client certificate and key files, on the collector host.
• Log file read access (logs). The collector must have read access to the MongoDB log files at the configured Log Paths (default /var/log/mongodb/mongodb.log* and /var/log/mongodb/mongod.log*).

Configuration

General

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Choose Telemetry Type	Telemetry Selector	No	["Logs", "Metrics"]	Which telemetry to collect. Valid values: Logs, Metrics.

Logs

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Log Paths	Strings	No	/var/log/mongodb/mongodb.log*, /var/log/mongodb/mongod.log*	Path to MongoDB log file(s).
Parse To	Enum: body, attributes	No	body	Parse structured log parts to either body or attributes.
Start At	Enum: beginning, end	No	end	Start reading logs from beginning or end.
Parse	Boolean	No	true	Parses the log fields into structured data.

These parameters apply when Choose Telemetry Type includes Logs. All are advanced settings.

Metrics

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Hosts	Strings	No	localhost:27017	List of host:port or unix domain socket endpoints.
Username	String	No	(empty)	If authentication is required, specify a username with clusterMonitor permission. Advanced setting.
Password	String	No	(empty)	The user's password. Sensitive value. Advanced setting.
Collection Interval	Integer	No	60	How often (seconds) to scrape for metrics. Advanced setting.
Filtering	Metrics	No	(empty)	Disable individual MongoDB metrics from collection. Advanced setting.

These parameters apply when Choose Telemetry Type includes Metrics.

TLS (Metrics)

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Enable TLS	Boolean	No	false	Whether or not to use TLS. Advanced setting.
Skip TLS Certificate Verification	Boolean	No	false	Enable to skip TLS certificate verification. Relevant when Enable TLS is true.
TLS Certificate Authority File	String	No	(empty)	Certificate authority used to validate TLS certificates. Relevant when Enable TLS is true.
TLS Client Certificate File	String	No	(empty)	A TLS certificate used for client authentication, if mutual TLS is enabled. Relevant when Enable TLS is true.
TLS Client Private Key File	String	No	(empty)	A TLS private key used for client authentication, if mutual TLS is enabled. Relevant when Enable TLS is true.

Examples

Scrape metrics from an authenticated replica set over TLS

Collects metrics every 30 seconds from two mongod members, authenticating with a clusterMonitor user and validating the server certificate against a CA file.

apiVersion: bindplane.observiq.com/v1
kind: Source
metadata:
  name: mongodb
spec:
  type: mongodb
  parameters:
    - name: telemetry_types
      value: ["Metrics"]
    - name: hosts
      value:
        - "mongo-1.internal:27017"
        - "mongo-2.internal:27017"
    - name: username
      value: bindplane-monitor
    - name: password
      value: "REPLACE_WITH_PASSWORD"
    - name: collection_interval
      value: 30
    - name: enable_tls
      value: true
    - name: ca_file
      value: /etc/ssl/mongodb/ca.crt

Configuration Tips

• For a replica set, list the member mongod hosts; for a sharded cluster, list the mongos hosts instead of individual shards.
• Use a dedicated user with only the clusterMonitor role for metrics. It is read-only and avoids granting write access to the collector.
• Use Filtering to disable metrics you do not need, reducing cardinality and downstream cost.

Troubleshooting

Metrics endpoint connection refused

Symptoms: no MongoDB metrics arrive; collector logs show connection refused or timeout to the configured host.

Solutions:

1. Confirm each entry in Hosts is a reachable mongod (or mongos) host:port from the collector.
2. Verify firewall and network policy allow the collector to reach the MongoDB port (default 27017).

Authentication failed

Symptoms: collector logs report authentication or unauthorized errors during scrape.

Solutions:

1. Confirm Username and Password are correct and the user exists in MongoDB.
2. Verify the user has the built-in clusterMonitor role. See MongoDB Built-In Roles.

TLS handshake failure

Symptoms: scrape fails with a certificate or TLS handshake error.

Solutions:

1. Confirm Enable TLS matches the server's requirement and that the TLS Certificate Authority File can validate the server certificate.
2. For testing only, enable Skip TLS Certificate Verification; do not use this in production.

No logs collected

Symptoms: no log records appear from the source.

Solutions:

1. Confirm the MongoDB log files exist at the configured Log Paths and that the collector user can read them.
2. If you expect existing log content, set Start At to beginning.

Standalone Source

apiVersion: bindplane.observiq.com/v1
kind: Source
metadata:
  name: mongodb
spec:
  type: mongodb
  parameters:
    - name: telemetry_types
      value: ["Logs", "Metrics"]
    - name: hosts
      value:
        - "localhost:27017"
    - name: username
      value: bindplane-monitor
    - name: password
      value: "REPLACE_WITH_PASSWORD"
    - name: collection_interval
      value: 60
    - name: enable_tls
      value: false
    - name: log_paths
      value:
        - "/var/log/mongodb/mongodb.log*"
        - "/var/log/mongodb/mongod.log*"
    - name: start_at
      value: end
    - name: parse_to
      value: body
    - name: parse
      value: true

Related Resources

• MongoDB Built-In Roles (clusterMonitor)
• OpenTelemetry mongodbreceiver