How to Connect to MongoDB With a SOCKS5 Proxy With Java

Introduction

SOCKS5 is a standardized protocol for communicating with network services through a proxy server. It offers several advantages like allowing the users to change their virtual location or hide their IP address from the online services.

SOCKS5 also offers an authentication layer that can be used to enhance security.

In our case, the network service is MongoDB. Let's see how we can connect to MongoDB through a SOCKS5 proxy with Java.

SOCKS5 with vanilla Java

Authentication is optional for SOCKS5 proxies. So to be able to connect to a SOCKS5 proxy, you need:

proxyHost: IPv4, IPv6, or hostname of the proxy
proxyPort: TCP port number (default 1080)

If authentication is activated, then you'll also need a username and password. Both need to be provided, or it won't work.

proxyUsername: the proxy username (not null or empty)
proxyPassword: the proxy password (not null or empty)

Using connection string parameters

The first method to connect to MongoDB through a SOCKS5 proxy is to simply provide the above parameters directly in the MongoDB connection string.

Code Snippet

Using MongoClientSettings

The second method involves passing these parameters into a MongoClientSettings class, which is then used to create the connection to the MongoDB cluster.

Code Snippet

Connection with Spring Boot

Using connection string parameters

If you are using Spring Boot or Spring Data MongoDB, you can connect like so if you are passing the SOCKS5 parameters in the connection string.

Most of the time, if you are using Spring Boot or Spring Data, you'll need the codec registry to support the POJO mappings. So I included this as well.

Code Snippet

package com.mongodb.starter;

import com.mongodb.ConnectionString;
import com.mongodb.MongoClientSettings;
import com.mongodb.client.MongoClient;
import com.mongodb.client.MongoClients;
import org.bson.codecs.configuration.CodecRegistry;
import org.bson.codecs.pojo.PojoCodecProvider;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Value;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Bean;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;

import static org.bson.codecs.configuration.CodecRegistries.fromProviders;
import static org.bson.codecs.configuration.CodecRegistries.fromRegistries;

@Configuration
public class MongoDBConfiguration {

@Value("${spring.data.mongodb.uri}")
    private String connectionString;

@Bean
    public MongoClient mongoClient() {
        CodecRegistry pojoCodecRegistry = fromProviders(PojoCodecProvider.builder().automatic(true).build());
        CodecRegistry codecRegistry = fromRegistries(MongoClientSettings.getDefaultCodecRegistry(), pojoCodecRegistry);
        return MongoClients.create(MongoClientSettings.builder()
                                                      .applyConnectionString(new ConnectionString(connectionString))
                                                      .codecRegistry(codecRegistry)
                                                      .build());
    }

}

In this case, all the SOCKS5 action is actually happening in the application.properties file of your Spring Boot project.

Code Snippet

Using MongoClientSettings

If you prefer to use the MongoClientSettings, then you can just pass a classic MongoDB URI and handle the different SOCKS5 parameters directly in the SocketSettings.Builder.

Code Snippet

package com.mongodb.starter;

import com.mongodb.Block;
import com.mongodb.ConnectionString;
import com.mongodb.MongoClientSettings;
import com.mongodb.client.MongoClient;
import com.mongodb.client.MongoClients;
import com.mongodb.connection.SocketSettings;
import org.bson.codecs.configuration.CodecRegistry;
import org.bson.codecs.pojo.PojoCodecProvider;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Value;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Bean;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;

import static org.bson.codecs.configuration.CodecRegistries.fromProviders;
import static org.bson.codecs.configuration.CodecRegistries.fromRegistries;

@Configuration
public class MongoDBConfigurationSocks5 {

@Value("${spring.data.mongodb.uri}")
    private String connectionString;

@Bean
    public MongoClient mongoClient() {
        CodecRegistry pojoCodecRegistry = fromProviders(PojoCodecProvider.builder().automatic(true).build());
        CodecRegistry codecRegistry = fromRegistries(MongoClientSettings.getDefaultCodecRegistry(), pojoCodecRegistry);
        Block<SocketSettings.Builder> socketSettings = builder -> builder.applyToProxySettings(
                proxyBuilder -> proxyBuilder.host("<proxyHost>")
                                            .port(1080)
                                            .username("<proxyUsername>")
                                            .password("<proxyPassword>"));
        return MongoClients.create(MongoClientSettings.builder()
                                                      .applyConnectionString(new ConnectionString(connectionString))
                                                      .applyToSocketSettings(socketSettings)
                                                      .codecRegistry(codecRegistry)
                                                      .build());
    }

}

Conclusion

Leveraging a SOCKS5 proxy for connecting to MongoDB in Java offers enhanced security and flexibility. Whether through connection string parameters or MongoClientSettings, integrating SOCKS5 functionality is straightforward.

If you want to read more details, you can check out the SOCKS5 documentation online.

If you have questions, please head to our Developer Community website where the MongoDB engineers and the MongoDB community will help you build your next big idea with MongoDB.

Java

How to Connect to MongoDB With a SOCKS5 Proxy With Java

Introduction

SOCKS5 with vanilla Java

Using connection string parameters

Using MongoClientSettings

Connection with Spring Boot

Using connection string parameters

Using MongoClientSettings

Conclusion

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