So I launch my node.js test application on my local machine. Package lock says it has mongodb 4.13.0 installed. It connects to mongo db atlas successfully.
Needing to manipulate the data directly I then take the connection string and paste it into Compass (v 1.36.1). Loading screen appears, nothing happens, after a while I get a timeout error. I say, how can this be, my app connects successfully. I then restart my node.js. Now it too starts failing to connect. (?!?!?!)
I then go and log in to Mongodb web dashboard, choose my db, connect and choose the option connect to Compass. I choose the appropriate option for my Compass version (1.12 or later), copy it, insert my password into the placeholder, paste the string into Compass and click connect. Nothing happens, same error. Out of curiosity I choose the older version string (which in theory is not for my Compass version) and it works.
Some time passes as I am writing this thread and now suddenly for some reason my app manages to connect to db again. I then attempt to use the connection string that Mongodb suggests for my Compass version and out of the blue it starts working. What is happening with these inconsistencies? Why am I able to connect one moment and not the next moment using exactly the same connection string?
Since failing to connect to the db via Compass affected my node.js application running on the same machine, I am assuming both Compass and Node.js use the same DNS caching/ pool or something?