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Deploy Search & Vector Search

Install and Use MongoDB Search and Vector Search With External MongoDB Enterprise Edition

You can use the Kubernetes Operator to deploy MongoDB Search and Vector Search on a Kubernetes cluster to run with an external MongoDB Enterprise Edition v8.2.0 or higher server. This procedure demonstrates how to deploy and configure the mongot process in your Kubernetes cluster to use a new or existing external replica set deployment. This tutorial demonstrates how to configure a secure deployment with TLS enabled. You must provide provide the TLS certificates:

  • The server certificate and key for the MongoDBSearch service.

  • The public CA certificate for the external MongoDB database.

Prerequisites

To deploy MongoDB Search and Vector Search, you must have the following:

  • A running Kubernetes cluster with kubeconfig available locally.

  • Kubernetes command-line tool, kubectl, configured to communicate with your cluster.

  • Helm, the package manager for Kubernetes, to install the Kubernetes Operator.

  • Bash v5.1 or higher for running the commands in this tutorial.

  • A MongoDB Enterprise Edition replica set running version 8.2 or higher for storing data.

    To learn more about deploying MongoDB Enterprise, see Deploy and Configure MongoDB Database Resources.

  • A running MongoDB Cloud Manager or Ops Manager for managing MongoDB tasks.

  • External DB TLS

    Your external MongoDB Enterprise deployment must be configured to use and require TLS connections.

  • External DB CA file

    You must have the public Certificate Authority (CA) certificate file (for example, external-ca.crt) that was used to sign your external MongoDB deployment's server certificates. You will need this file locally.

  • Search Service certificate files

    You must have a valid TLS server certificate and private key (for example, search-service.crt, search-service.key) for the MongoDBSearch service. This certificate must be valid for the hostname you will use to access the service (for example, mdbs-search.example.com).

Before You Begin

Before you install MongoDB Search and Vector Search using the Kubernetes Operator, you must do the following:

Configure Cloud Manager or Ops Manager Parameters for MongoDB Search and Vector Search

Log in to the Cloud Manager or Ops Manager UI and perform the following steps to configure Cloud Manager or Ops Manager for MongoDB Search and Vector Search.

1

Go to your Cloud Manager or Ops Manager Deployment page.

  1. Log in to MongoDB Cloud Manager or Ops Manager.

  2. Click the Deployment tab.

  3. Select the cluster that you want to modify.

2

Modify your Cloud Manager or Ops Manager deployment configuration.

  1. Click the Modify button to open the deployment configuration editor.

  2. Click Advanced Configuration Options under the Process Configuration section.

  3. Click the Add Option button and select setParameter Startup Option from the dropdown.

  4. Add the following parameters in the fields, one by one, by clicking Add after adding the name and value:

    Parameter
    Value

    mongotHost

    Your search hostname and port. For example: search-node1.example.com:27017.

    searchIndexManagementHostAndPort

    Your search hostname and port. For example: search-node1.example.com:27017.

    skipAuthenticationToSearchIndexManagementServer

    false

    searchTLSMode

    Your configured TLS mode. For example, preferTLS, if the mongot process is configured to accept TLS connections.

    useGrpcForSearch

    true

3

Review and deploy your changes.

  1. Click the Review & Deploy button.

  2. Review and confirm to apply the changes.

    Cloud Manager or Ops Manager performs a rolling restart of your replica set to apply the new configuration.

Configure a Cloud Manager or Ops Manager User for MongoDB Search and Vector Search

You must create a user with the searchCoordinator role. In MongoDB versions 8.2 and later, the searchCoordinator is a built-in role. You must create a user and assign the role to the user.

To create the user and assign the user the built-in searchCoordinator role, complete the following steps by using either the Cloud Manager or Ops Manager UI or the mongosh:

1

Go to the Users page.

  1. Log in to Cloud Manager or Ops Manager UI.

  2. Go to the Security tab and click on Users.

2

Click Add New User.

3

Set the credentials for the user.

Username

Enter search-sync-source.

Password

Set a strong, secure password.

Authentication Database

Choose the admin database.

4

Assign the searchCoordinator role to the user.

In the Assign Roles section, select the built-in searchCoordinator role from the dropdown for the admin database.

5

Click Add User to create the user with the searchCoordinator role.

In mongosh, run the following commands:

1

Switch to the admin database.

use admin;
2

Run the following command after replacing the password with a secure password to create the user.

db.createUser({
   user: "search-sync-source",
   pwd: "<PASSWORD>", // Replace with your actual password
   roles: [
      { role: "searchCoordinator", db: "admin" }
   ]
});

Setup Your Environment

Prepare your environment for running the sample code in this tutorial in a terminal.

1

Required. Set the environment variables.

To set the environment variables for use in the subsequent steps in this procedure, copy the following, set the values for the environment variables, and then run the commands in your terminal:

1export K8S_CTX="<your kubernetes context here>"
2
3export MDB_NS="mongodb"
4
5export MDB_VERSION="8.2.0"
6
7export MDB_ADMIN_USER_PASSWORD="admin-user-password-CHANGE-ME"
8export MDB_USER_PASSWORD="mdb-user-password-CHANGE-ME"
9export MDB_SEARCH_SYNC_USER_PASSWORD="search-sync-user-password-CHANGE-ME"
10
11export MDB_TLS_CA_SECRET_NAME="ca"
12export MDB_SEARCH_TLS_SECRET_NAME="mdbs-search-tls"
13
14export MDB_SEARCH_SERVICE_NAME="mdbs-search"
15export MDB_SEARCH_HOSTNAME="mdbs-search.example.com"
16
17# External MongoDB replica set members - REPLACE THESE VALUES with your actual external MongoDB hosts
18# In production, replace with your actual external MongoDB replica set members
19export MDB_EXTERNAL_HOST_0="mdbc-rs-0.mdbc-rs-svc.${MDB_NS}.svc.cluster.local:27017"
20export MDB_EXTERNAL_HOST_1="mdbc-rs-1.mdbc-rs-svc.${MDB_NS}.svc.cluster.local:27017"
21export MDB_EXTERNAL_HOST_2="mdbc-rs-2.mdbc-rs-svc.${MDB_NS}.svc.cluster.local:27017"
22
23# REPLACE with your actual external MongoDB replica set name
24export MDB_EXTERNAL_REPLICA_SET_NAME="mdbc-rs"
25
26export OPERATOR_HELM_CHART="mongodb/mongodb-kubernetes"
27export OPERATOR_ADDITIONAL_HELM_VALUES=""
28
29export MDB_CONNECTION_STRING="mongodb://mdb-user:${MDB_USER_PASSWORD}@${MDB_EXTERNAL_HOST_0}/?replicaSet=${MDB_EXTERNAL_REPLICA_SET_NAME}&tls=true&tlsCAFile=/tls/ca.crt"

Note that these environment variables are only available in the current terminal session and will need to be set again in any new terminal sessions.

2

Conditional. Add the MongoDB Helm repository.

Helm automates the deployment and management of MongoDB instances on Kubernetes. If you have already added the Helm repository that contains the Helm chart for installing the Kubernetes Operator operator, skip this step. Otherwise, add the Helm repository.

To add, copy, paste, and run the following command:

1helm repo add mongodb https://mongodb.github.io/helm-charts
2helm repo update mongodb
3helm search repo mongodb/mongodb-kubernetes
1"mongodb" has been added to your repositories
2Hang tight while we grab the latest from your chart repositories...
3...Successfully got an update from the "mongodb" chart repository
4Update Complete. ⎈Happy Helming!⎈
5NAME                      	CHART VERSION	APP VERSION	DESCRIPTION                                       
6mongodb/mongodb-kubernetes	1.6.1        	           	MongoDB Controllers for Kubernetes translate th...
3

Conditional. Install the MongoDB Controllers for Kubernetes Operator.

The Kubernetes Operator watches MongoDB, MongoDBOpsManager, and MongoDBSearch custom resources and manages the lifecycle of your MongoDB deployments. If you already installed the MongoDB Controllers for Kubernetes Operator, skip this step. Otherwise, install the MongoDB Controllers for Kubernetes Operator from the Helm repository you added in the previous step.

To install the MongoDB Controllers for Kubernetes Operator in the mongodb namespace, copy, paste, and run the following:

1helm upgrade --install --debug --kube-context "${K8S_CTX}" \
2  --create-namespace \
3  --namespace="${MDB_NS}" \
4  mongodb-kubernetes \
5  ${OPERATOR_ADDITIONAL_HELM_VALUES:+--set ${OPERATOR_ADDITIONAL_HELM_VALUES}} \
6  "${OPERATOR_HELM_CHART}"
1Release "mongodb-kubernetes" does not exist. Installing it now.
2NAME: mongodb-kubernetes
3LAST DEPLOYED: Wed Dec 17 11:23:39 2025
4NAMESPACE: mongodb
5STATUS: deployed
6REVISION: 1
7TEST SUITE: None
8USER-SUPPLIED VALUES:
9{}
10
11COMPUTED VALUES:
12agent:
13  name: mongodb-agent
14  version: 108.0.12.8846-1
15community:
16  agent:
17    name: mongodb-agent
18    version: 108.0.2.8729-1
19  mongodb:
20    imageType: ubi8
21    name: mongodb-community-server
22    repo: quay.io/mongodb
23  registry:
24    agent: quay.io/mongodb
25  resource:
26    members: 3
27    name: mongodb-replica-set
28    tls:
29      caCertificateSecretRef: tls-ca-key-pair
30      certManager:
31        certDuration: 8760h
32        renewCertBefore: 720h
33      certificateKeySecretRef: tls-certificate
34      enabled: false
35      sampleX509User: false
36      useCertManager: true
37      useX509: false
38    version: 4.4.0
39database:
40  name: mongodb-kubernetes-database
41  version: 1.6.1
42initAppDb:
43  name: mongodb-kubernetes-init-appdb
44  version: 1.6.1
45initDatabase:
46  name: mongodb-kubernetes-init-database
47  version: 1.6.1
48initOpsManager:
49  name: mongodb-kubernetes-init-ops-manager
50  version: 1.6.1
51managedSecurityContext: false
52mongodb:
53  appdbAssumeOldFormat: false
54  name: mongodb-enterprise-server
55  repo: quay.io/mongodb
56multiCluster:
57  clusterClientTimeout: 10
58  clusters: []
59  kubeConfigSecretName: mongodb-enterprise-operator-multi-cluster-kubeconfig
60  performFailOver: true
61operator:
62  additionalArguments: []
63  affinity: {}
64  baseName: mongodb-kubernetes
65  createOperatorServiceAccount: true
66  createResourcesServiceAccountsAndRoles: true
67  deployment_name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator
68  enableClusterMongoDBRoles: true
69  enablePVCResize: true
70  env: prod
71  maxConcurrentReconciles: 1
72  mdbDefaultArchitecture: non-static
73  name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator
74  nodeSelector: {}
75  operator_image_name: mongodb-kubernetes
76  podSecurityContext:
77    runAsNonRoot: true
78    runAsUser: 2000
79  replicas: 1
80  resources:
81    limits:
82      cpu: 1100m
83      memory: 1Gi
84    requests:
85      cpu: 500m
86      memory: 200Mi
87  securityContext: {}
88  telemetry:
89    collection:
90      clusters: {}
91      deployments: {}
92      frequency: 1h
93      operators: {}
94    send:
95      frequency: 168h
96  tolerations: []
97  vaultSecretBackend:
98    enabled: false
99    tlsSecretRef: ""
100  version: 1.6.1
101  watchedResources:
102  - mongodb
103  - opsmanagers
104  - mongodbusers
105  - mongodbcommunity
106  - mongodbsearch
107  webhook:
108    installClusterRole: true
109    registerConfiguration: true
110opsManager:
111  name: mongodb-enterprise-ops-manager-ubi
112readinessProbe:
113  name: mongodb-kubernetes-readinessprobe
114  version: 1.0.23
115registry:
116  agent: quay.io/mongodb
117  database: quay.io/mongodb
118  imagePullSecrets: null
119  initAppDb: quay.io/mongodb
120  initDatabase: quay.io/mongodb
121  initOpsManager: quay.io/mongodb
122  operator: quay.io/mongodb
123  opsManager: quay.io/mongodb
124  pullPolicy: Always
125  readinessProbe: quay.io/mongodb
126  versionUpgradeHook: quay.io/mongodb
127search:
128  name: mongodb-search
129  repo: quay.io/mongodb
130  version: 0.55.0
131versionUpgradeHook:
132  name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator-version-upgrade-post-start-hook
133  version: 1.0.10
134
135HOOKS:
136MANIFEST:
137---
138# Source: mongodb-kubernetes/templates/database-roles.yaml
139apiVersion: v1
140kind: ServiceAccount
141metadata:
142  name: mongodb-kubernetes-appdb
143  namespace: mongodb
144---
145# Source: mongodb-kubernetes/templates/database-roles.yaml
146apiVersion: v1
147kind: ServiceAccount
148metadata:
149  name: mongodb-kubernetes-database-pods
150  namespace: mongodb
151---
152# Source: mongodb-kubernetes/templates/database-roles.yaml
153apiVersion: v1
154kind: ServiceAccount
155metadata:
156  name: mongodb-kubernetes-ops-manager
157  namespace: mongodb
158---
159# Source: mongodb-kubernetes/templates/operator-sa.yaml
160apiVersion: v1
161kind: ServiceAccount
162metadata:
163  name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator
164  namespace: mongodb
165---
166# Source: mongodb-kubernetes/templates/operator-roles-clustermongodbroles.yaml
167kind: ClusterRole
168apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
169metadata:
170  name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator-mongodb-cluster-mongodb-role
171rules:
172  - apiGroups:
173      - mongodb.com
174    verbs:
175      - '*'
176    resources:
177      - clustermongodbroles
178---
179# Source: mongodb-kubernetes/templates/operator-roles-telemetry.yaml
180# Additional ClusterRole for clusterVersionDetection
181kind: ClusterRole
182apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
183metadata:
184  name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator-cluster-telemetry
185rules:
186  # Non-resource URL permissions
187  - nonResourceURLs:
188      - "/version"
189    verbs:
190      - get
191  # Cluster-scoped resource permissions
192  - apiGroups:
193      - ''
194    resources:
195      - namespaces
196    resourceNames:
197      - kube-system
198    verbs:
199      - get
200  - apiGroups:
201      - ''
202    resources:
203      - nodes
204    verbs:
205      - list
206---
207# Source: mongodb-kubernetes/templates/operator-roles-webhook.yaml
208kind: ClusterRole
209apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
210metadata:
211  name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator-mongodb-webhook-cr
212rules:
213  - apiGroups:
214      - "admissionregistration.k8s.io"
215    resources:
216      - validatingwebhookconfigurations
217    verbs:
218      - get
219      - create
220      - update
221      - delete
222  - apiGroups:
223      - ""
224    resources:
225      - services
226    verbs:
227      - get
228      - list
229      - watch
230      - create
231      - update
232      - delete
233---
234# Source: mongodb-kubernetes/templates/operator-roles-clustermongodbroles.yaml
235kind: ClusterRoleBinding
236apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
237metadata:
238  name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator-mongodb-cluster-mongodb-role-binding
239roleRef:
240  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
241  kind: ClusterRole
242  name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator-mongodb-cluster-mongodb-role
243subjects:
244  - kind: ServiceAccount
245    name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator
246    namespace: mongodb
247---
248# Source: mongodb-kubernetes/templates/operator-roles-telemetry.yaml
249# ClusterRoleBinding for clusterVersionDetection
250kind: ClusterRoleBinding
251apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
252metadata:
253  name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator-mongodb-cluster-telemetry-binding
254roleRef:
255  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
256  kind: ClusterRole
257  name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator-cluster-telemetry
258subjects:
259  - kind: ServiceAccount
260    name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator
261    namespace: mongodb
262---
263# Source: mongodb-kubernetes/templates/operator-roles-webhook.yaml
264kind: ClusterRoleBinding
265apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
266metadata:
267  name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator-mongodb-webhook-crb
268roleRef:
269  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
270  kind: ClusterRole
271  name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator-mongodb-webhook-cr
272subjects:
273  - kind: ServiceAccount
274    name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator
275    namespace: mongodb
276---
277# Source: mongodb-kubernetes/templates/database-roles.yaml
278kind: Role
279apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
280metadata:
281  name: mongodb-kubernetes-appdb
282  namespace: mongodb
283rules:
284  - apiGroups:
285      - ''
286    resources:
287      - secrets
288    verbs:
289      - get
290  - apiGroups:
291      - ''
292    resources:
293      - pods
294    verbs:
295      - patch
296      - delete
297      - get
298---
299# Source: mongodb-kubernetes/templates/operator-roles-base.yaml
300kind: Role
301apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
302metadata:
303  name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator
304  namespace: mongodb
305rules:
306  - apiGroups:
307      - ''
308    resources:
309      - services
310    verbs:
311      - get
312      - list
313      - watch
314      - create
315      - update
316      - delete
317  - apiGroups:
318      - ''
319    resources:
320      - secrets
321      - configmaps
322    verbs:
323      - get
324      - list
325      - create
326      - update
327      - delete
328      - watch
329  - apiGroups:
330      - apps
331    resources:
332      - statefulsets
333    verbs:
334      - create
335      - get
336      - list
337      - watch
338      - delete
339      - update
340  - apiGroups:
341      - ''
342    resources:
343      - pods
344    verbs:
345      - get
346      - list
347      - watch
348      - delete
349      - deletecollection
350  - apiGroups:
351      - mongodbcommunity.mongodb.com
352    resources:
353      - mongodbcommunity
354      - mongodbcommunity/status
355      - mongodbcommunity/spec
356      - mongodbcommunity/finalizers
357    verbs:
358      - '*'
359  - apiGroups:
360      - mongodb.com
361    verbs:
362      - '*'
363    resources:
364      - mongodb
365      - mongodb/finalizers
366      - mongodbusers
367      - mongodbusers/finalizers
368      - opsmanagers
369      - opsmanagers/finalizers
370      - mongodbmulticluster
371      - mongodbmulticluster/finalizers
372      - mongodbsearch
373      - mongodbsearch/finalizers
374      - mongodb/status
375      - mongodbusers/status
376      - opsmanagers/status
377      - mongodbmulticluster/status
378      - mongodbsearch/status
379---
380# Source: mongodb-kubernetes/templates/operator-roles-pvc-resize.yaml
381kind: Role
382apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
383metadata:
384  name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator-pvc-resize
385  namespace: mongodb
386rules:
387  - apiGroups:
388      - ''
389    resources:
390      - persistentvolumeclaims
391    verbs:
392      - get
393      - delete
394      - list
395      - watch
396      - patch
397      - update
398---
399# Source: mongodb-kubernetes/templates/database-roles.yaml
400kind: RoleBinding
401apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
402metadata:
403  name: mongodb-kubernetes-appdb
404  namespace: mongodb
405roleRef:
406  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
407  kind: Role
408  name: mongodb-kubernetes-appdb
409subjects:
410  - kind: ServiceAccount
411    name: mongodb-kubernetes-appdb
412    namespace: mongodb
413---
414# Source: mongodb-kubernetes/templates/operator-roles-base.yaml
415kind: RoleBinding
416apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
417metadata:
418  name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator
419  namespace: mongodb
420roleRef:
421  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
422  kind: Role
423  name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator
424subjects:
425  - kind: ServiceAccount
426    name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator
427    namespace: mongodb
428---
429# Source: mongodb-kubernetes/templates/operator-roles-pvc-resize.yaml
430kind: RoleBinding
431apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
432metadata:
433  name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator-pvc-resize-binding
434  namespace: mongodb
435roleRef:
436  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
437  kind: Role
438  name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator-pvc-resize
439subjects:
440  - kind: ServiceAccount
441    name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator
442    namespace: mongodb
443---
444# Source: mongodb-kubernetes/templates/operator.yaml
445apiVersion: apps/v1
446kind: Deployment
447metadata:
448  name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator
449  namespace: mongodb
450spec:
451  replicas: 1
452  selector:
453    matchLabels:
454      app.kubernetes.io/component: controller
455      app.kubernetes.io/name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator
456      app.kubernetes.io/instance: mongodb-kubernetes-operator
457  template:
458    metadata:
459      labels:
460        app.kubernetes.io/component: controller
461        app.kubernetes.io/name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator
462        app.kubernetes.io/instance: mongodb-kubernetes-operator
463    spec:
464      serviceAccountName: mongodb-kubernetes-operator
465      securityContext:
466        runAsNonRoot: true
467        runAsUser: 2000
468      containers:
469        - name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator
470          image: "quay.io/mongodb/mongodb-kubernetes:1.6.1"
471          imagePullPolicy: Always
472          args:
473            - -watch-resource=mongodb
474            - -watch-resource=opsmanagers
475            - -watch-resource=mongodbusers
476            - -watch-resource=mongodbcommunity
477            - -watch-resource=mongodbsearch
478            - -watch-resource=clustermongodbroles
479          command:
480            - /usr/local/bin/mongodb-kubernetes-operator
481          resources:
482            limits:
483              cpu: 1100m
484              memory: 1Gi
485            requests:
486              cpu: 500m
487              memory: 200Mi
488          env:
489            - name: OPERATOR_ENV
490              value: prod
491            - name: MDB_DEFAULT_ARCHITECTURE
492              value: non-static
493            - name: NAMESPACE
494              valueFrom:
495                fieldRef:
496                  fieldPath: metadata.namespace
497            - name: WATCH_NAMESPACE
498              valueFrom:
499                fieldRef:
500                  fieldPath: metadata.namespace
501            - name: MDB_OPERATOR_TELEMETRY_COLLECTION_FREQUENCY
502              value: "1h"
503            - name: MDB_OPERATOR_TELEMETRY_SEND_FREQUENCY
504              value: "168h"
505            - name: CLUSTER_CLIENT_TIMEOUT
506              value: "10"
507            - name: IMAGE_PULL_POLICY
508              value: Always
509            # Database
510            - name: MONGODB_ENTERPRISE_DATABASE_IMAGE
511              value: quay.io/mongodb/mongodb-kubernetes-database
512            - name: INIT_DATABASE_IMAGE_REPOSITORY
513              value: quay.io/mongodb/mongodb-kubernetes-init-database
514            - name: INIT_DATABASE_VERSION
515              value: "1.6.1"
516            - name: DATABASE_VERSION
517              value: "1.6.1"
518            # Ops Manager
519            - name: OPS_MANAGER_IMAGE_REPOSITORY
520              value: quay.io/mongodb/mongodb-enterprise-ops-manager-ubi
521            - name: INIT_OPS_MANAGER_IMAGE_REPOSITORY
522              value: quay.io/mongodb/mongodb-kubernetes-init-ops-manager
523            - name: INIT_OPS_MANAGER_VERSION
524              value: "1.6.1"
525            # AppDB
526            - name: INIT_APPDB_IMAGE_REPOSITORY
527              value: quay.io/mongodb/mongodb-kubernetes-init-appdb
528            - name: INIT_APPDB_VERSION
529              value: "1.6.1"
530            - name: OPS_MANAGER_IMAGE_PULL_POLICY
531              value: Always
532            - name: AGENT_IMAGE
533              value: "quay.io/mongodb/mongodb-agent:108.0.12.8846-1"
534            - name: MDB_AGENT_IMAGE_REPOSITORY
535              value: "quay.io/mongodb/mongodb-agent"
536            - name: MONGODB_IMAGE
537              value: mongodb-enterprise-server
538            - name: MONGODB_REPO_URL
539              value: quay.io/mongodb
540            - name: PERFORM_FAILOVER
541              value: 'true'
542            - name: MDB_MAX_CONCURRENT_RECONCILES
543              value: "1"
544            - name: POD_NAME
545              valueFrom:
546                fieldRef:
547                  fieldPath: metadata.name
548            - name: OPERATOR_NAME
549              value: mongodb-kubernetes-operator
550            # Community Env Vars Start
551            - name: MDB_COMMUNITY_AGENT_IMAGE
552              value: "quay.io/mongodb/mongodb-agent:108.0.2.8729-1"
553            - name: VERSION_UPGRADE_HOOK_IMAGE
554              value: "quay.io/mongodb/mongodb-kubernetes-operator-version-upgrade-post-start-hook:1.0.10"
555            - name: READINESS_PROBE_IMAGE
556              value: "quay.io/mongodb/mongodb-kubernetes-readinessprobe:1.0.23"
557            - name: MDB_COMMUNITY_IMAGE
558              value: "mongodb-community-server"
559            - name: MDB_COMMUNITY_REPO_URL
560              value: "quay.io/mongodb"
561            - name: MDB_COMMUNITY_IMAGE_TYPE
562              value: "ubi8"
563            # Community Env Vars End
564            - name: MDB_SEARCH_REPO_URL
565              value: "quay.io/mongodb"
566            - name: MDB_SEARCH_NAME
567              value: "mongodb-search"
568            - name: MDB_SEARCH_VERSION
569              value: "0.55.0"

The preceding command installs Kubernetes Operator in the mongodb namespace, which it creates if it doesn't already exist. After installation, the Kubernetes Operator watches for MongoDBSearch custom resources and manage the lifecycle of your MongoDB Search and Vector Search deployments.

Install MongoDB Search and Vector Search

1

Required. Create and load the MongoDB user secrets.

The mongot process requires authentication credentials to connect to your external MongoDB deployment for creating search indexes and running search queries. This step creates the following Kubernetes secrets:

  • mdb-admin-user-password - credentials for the MongoDB administrator.

  • mdb-user-password - credentials for the user authorized to perform search queries.

  • mdbc-rs-search-sync-source-password - credentials for a dedicated search user used internally by the mongot process to synchronize data and manage indexes.

Kubernetes Operator mounts these secrets into the MongoDB pods.

To create the secrets, copy, paste, and run the following in the namespace where you plan to deploy MongoDB Search and Vector Search:

1# Create admin user secret
2kubectl create secret generic mdb-admin-user-password \
3  --from-literal=password="${MDB_ADMIN_USER_PASSWORD}" \
4  --dry-run=client -o yaml | kubectl apply --context "${K8S_CTX}" --namespace "${MDB_NS}" -f -
5
6# Create search sync source user secret
7kubectl create secret generic "${MDB_RESOURCE_NAME}-search-sync-source-password" \
8  --from-literal=password="${MDB_SEARCH_SYNC_USER_PASSWORD}" \
9  --dry-run=client -o yaml | kubectl apply --context "${K8S_CTX}" --namespace "${MDB_NS}" -f -
10
11# Create regular user secret
12kubectl create secret generic mdb-user-password \
13  --from-literal=password="${MDB_USER_PASSWORD}" \
14  --dry-run=client -o yaml | kubectl apply --context "${K8S_CTX}" --namespace "${MDB_NS}" -f -
15
16echo "User secrets created."
1secret/mdb-admin-user-password created
2secret/mdbc-rs-search-sync-source-password created
3secret/mdb-user-password created
2

Required. Create and deploy the resource for MongoDB Search and Vector Search.

You can deploy one instance of the search node without any load balancing. To deploy, complete the following steps:

  1. Create a MongoDBSearch custom resource named mdbs.

    This resource contains the following:

    spec.source.external.hostAndPorts

    List of external MongoDB replica set members.

    spec.source.username

    Search synchronization user username.

    spec.source.passwordSecretRef

    Search synchronization user password.

    spec.source.external.tls.ca.name

    Configures MongoDBSearch pods to trust the external database. It points to the Kubernetes secret that contains the public CA certificate for your external MongoDB.

    spec.security.tls.certificateKeySecretRef.name

    Secures the MongoDBSearch service. It points to the Kubernetes secret containing the TLS server certificate and private key that the MongoDBSearch pods will present to incoming clients.

    spec.resourceRequirements

    CPU and memory resource requirements for the search container.

    To learn more about the settings in this custom resource, see MongoDB Search and Vector Search Settings.

    1kubectl apply --context "${K8S_CTX}" -n "${MDB_NS}" -f - <<EOF
    2apiVersion: mongodb.com/v1
    3kind: MongoDBSearch
    4metadata:
    5  name: ${MDB_SEARCH_RESOURCE_NAME:-mdbs}
    6spec:
    7  source:
    8    external:
    9      hostAndPorts:
    10        - ${MDB_EXTERNAL_HOST_0}
    11        - ${MDB_EXTERNAL_HOST_1}
    12        - ${MDB_EXTERNAL_HOST_2}
    13      tls:
    14        ca:
    15          name: ${MDB_TLS_CA_SECRET_NAME}
    16    username: search-sync-source
    17    passwordSecretRef:
    18      name: ${MDB_RESOURCE_NAME}-search-sync-source-password
    19      key: password
    20  security:
    21    tls:
    22      certificateKeySecretRef:
    23        name: ${MDB_SEARCH_TLS_SECRET_NAME}
    24  resourceRequirements:
    25    limits:
    26      cpu: "3"
    27      memory: 5Gi
    28    requests:
    29      cpu: "2"
    30      memory: 3Gi
    31EOF

  2. Wait for the MongoDBSearch resource deployment to complete.

    When you apply the MongoDBSearch custom resource, the Kubernetes operator begins deploying the search nodes (pods). This step pauses the execution until the mdbs resource's status phase is Running, which indicates that the MongoDB Search StatefulSet is operational.

    1echo "Waiting for MongoDBSearch resource to reach Running phase..."
    2
    3kubectl --context "${K8S_CTX}" -n "${MDB_NS}" wait --for=jsonpath='{.status.phase}'=Running mdbs/"${MDB_SEARCH_RESOURCE_NAME:-mdbs}" --timeout=300s
3

Required. Configure external access for MongoDB Search and Vector Search.

To enable your external MongoDB instances to connect to the search service, you must configure external access for MongoDB Search and Vector Search. You can create a LoadBalancer Service that exposes the search pods outside the Kubernetes cluster.

This following service exposes the MongoDBSearch service on port 27028 with an external IP address or hostname that can be accessed from outside the Kubernetes cluster.

1kubectl apply --context "${K8S_CTX}" -n "${MDB_NS}" -f - <<YAML
2apiVersion: v1
3kind: Service
4metadata:
5  name: ${MDB_SEARCH_SERVICE_NAME}
6spec:
7  type: LoadBalancer
8  selector:
9    app: ${MDB_SEARCH_RESOURCE_NAME:-mdbs}-search-svc
10  ports:
11    - name: mongot
12      port: 27028
13      targetPort: 27028
14YAML
15
16echo "Waiting for external IP to be assigned to service ${MDB_SEARCH_SERVICE_NAME}..."
17TIMEOUT=120  # 2 minutes timeout
18ELAPSED=0
19while [ ${ELAPSED} -lt ${TIMEOUT} ]; do
20  EXTERNAL_IP=$(kubectl get service "${MDB_SEARCH_SERVICE_NAME}" --context "${K8S_CTX}" -n "${MDB_NS}" -o jsonpath='{.status.loadBalancer.ingress[0].ip}' 2>/dev/null)
21  if [ -n "${EXTERNAL_IP}" ] && [ "${EXTERNAL_IP}" != "null" ]; then
22    echo "External IP assigned: ${EXTERNAL_IP}"
23    break
24  fi
25  echo "Still waiting for external IP assignment... (${ELAPSED}s/${TIMEOUT}s)"
26  sleep 5
27  ELAPSED=$((ELAPSED + 5))
28done
29
30if [ ${ELAPSED} -ge ${TIMEOUT} ]; then
31  echo "ERROR: Timeout reached (${TIMEOUT}s) while waiting for external IP assignment"
32  echo "LoadBalancer service may take longer to provision or there may be an issue"
33  exit 1
34fi
4

Optional. View all the running pods in your namespace.

View all the running pods in your namespace pods for the MongoDB replica set members, the MongoDB Controllers for Kubernetes Operator, and the Search nodes.

1echo; echo "MongoDBSearch resource"
2kubectl --context "${K8S_CTX}" -n "${MDB_NS}" get mdbs/mdbs
3echo; echo "Search pods running in cluster ${K8S_CTX}"
4kubectl --context "${K8S_CTX}" -n "${MDB_NS}" get pods -l app=mdbs-search-svc
5echo; echo "All pods in namespace ${MDB_NS}"
6kubectl --context "${K8S_CTX}" -n "${MDB_NS}" get pods
1MongoDBSearch resource
2NAME   PHASE     VERSION   AGE
3mdbs   Running   0.55.0    33s
4
5Search pods running in cluster kind-kind
6NAME            READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
7mdbs-search-0   1/1     Running   0          33s
8
9All pods in namespace mongodb
10NAME                                           READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
11mdbc-rs-0                                      2/2     Running   0          3m3s
12mdbc-rs-1                                      2/2     Running   0          116s
13mdbc-rs-2                                      2/2     Running   0          68s
14mdbs-search-0                                  1/1     Running   0          33s
15mongodb-kubernetes-operator-7bd6cdd889-z9w4z   1/1     Running   0          3m23s

Next Steps

Now that you've successfully deployed MongoDB Search and Vector Search to use with external MongoDB Enterprise Edition, you can add data into your MongoDB cluster, create MongoDB Search and Vector Search indexes, and run queries against your data. To learn more, see MongoDB Search and Vector Search Settings.

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