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Deploy MongoDB Search and 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 v8.0.10 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.

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 8.0.10 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.

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.

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. For MongoDB versions earlier than 8.2 and 8.0.10 or later, you must manually create the role and assign the privileges before creating the user. Select the tab that corresponds to the MongoDB version you are running to create a user with the searchCoordinator role.

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 load the environment variables:

1export K8S_CTX="<your kubernetes context here>"
2
3export MDB_NS="mongodb"
4
5export MDB_VERSION="8.0.10"
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_SEARCH_HOSTNAME="mdbs-search"
12
13# External MongoDB replica set members - REPLACE THESE VALUES with your actual external MongoDB hosts
14# In production, replace with your actual external MongoDB replica set members
15export MDB_EXTERNAL_HOST_0="mdbc-rs-0.mdbc-rs-svc.${MDB_NS}.svc.cluster.local:27017"
16export MDB_EXTERNAL_HOST_1="mdbc-rs-1.mdbc-rs-svc.${MDB_NS}.svc.cluster.local:27017"
17export MDB_EXTERNAL_HOST_2="mdbc-rs-2.mdbc-rs-svc.${MDB_NS}.svc.cluster.local:27017"
18
19# REPLACE with your external MongoDB keyfile secret name
20export MDB_EXTERNAL_KEYFILE_SECRET_NAME="mdbc-rs-keyfile"
21
22# REPLACE with the actual keyfile content from your external MongoDB replica set
23# For testing, this will be automatically generated by the MongoDB Community resource
24export MDB_EXTERNAL_KEYFILE_CONTENT="your-mongodb-keyfile-content-CHANGE-ME"
25
26# REPLACE with your actual external MongoDB replica set name
27export MDB_EXTERNAL_REPLICA_SET_NAME="mdbc-rs"
28
29export OPERATOR_HELM_CHART="mongodb/mongodb-kubernetes"
30export OPERATOR_ADDITIONAL_HELM_VALUES=""
31
32export MDB_CONNECTION_STRING="mongodb://mdb-user:${MDB_USER_PASSWORD}@${MDB_EXTERNAL_HOST_0}/?replicaSet=${MDB_EXTERNAL_REPLICA_SET_NAME}"
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" already exists with the same configuration, skipping
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	1.3.0        	           	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: Tue Sep 16 14:11:48 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: 1.4.0
42initAppDb:
43  name: mongodb-kubernetes-init-appdb
44  version: 1.4.0
45initDatabase:
46  name: mongodb-kubernetes-init-database
47  version: 1.4.0
48initOpsManager:
49  name: mongodb-kubernetes-init-ops-manager
50  version: 1.4.0
51managedSecurityContext: false
52mongodb:
53  appdbAssumeOldFormat: false
54  imageType: ubi8
55  name: mongodb-enterprise-server
56  repo: quay.io/mongodb
57multiCluster:
58  clusterClientTimeout: 10
59  clusters: []
60  kubeConfigSecretName: mongodb-enterprise-operator-multi-cluster-kubeconfig
61  performFailOver: true
62operator:
63  additionalArguments: []
64  affinity: {}
65  baseName: mongodb-kubernetes
66  createOperatorServiceAccount: true
67  createResourcesServiceAccountsAndRoles: true
68  deployment_name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator
69  enableClusterMongoDBRoles: true
70  enablePVCResize: true
71  env: prod
72  maxConcurrentReconciles: 1
73  mdbDefaultArchitecture: non-static
74  name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator
75  nodeSelector: {}
76  operator_image_name: mongodb-kubernetes
77  replicas: 1
78  resources:
79    limits:
80      cpu: 1100m
81      memory: 1Gi
82    requests:
83      cpu: 500m
84      memory: 200Mi
85  telemetry:
86    collection:
87      clusters: {}
88      deployments: {}
89      frequency: 1h
90      operators: {}
91    send:
92      frequency: 168h
93  tolerations: []
94  vaultSecretBackend:
95    enabled: false
96    tlsSecretRef: ""
97  version: 1.4.0
98  watchedResources:
99  - mongodb
100  - opsmanagers
101  - mongodbusers
102  - mongodbcommunity
103  - mongodbsearch
104  webhook:
105    installClusterRole: true
106    registerConfiguration: true
107opsManager:
108  name: mongodb-enterprise-ops-manager-ubi
109readinessProbe:
110  name: mongodb-kubernetes-readinessprobe
111  version: 1.0.22
112registry:
113  agent: quay.io/mongodb
114  database: quay.io/mongodb
115  imagePullSecrets: null
116  initAppDb: quay.io/mongodb
117  initDatabase: quay.io/mongodb
118  initOpsManager: quay.io/mongodb
119  operator: quay.io/mongodb
120  opsManager: quay.io/mongodb
121  pullPolicy: Always
122  readinessProbe: quay.io/mongodb
123  versionUpgradeHook: quay.io/mongodb
124search:
125  name: mongodb-search
126  repo: quay.io/mongodb
127  version: 0.53.1
128versionUpgradeHook:
129  name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator-version-upgrade-post-start-hook
130  version: 1.0.9
131
132HOOKS:
133MANIFEST:
134---
135# Source: mongodb-kubernetes/templates/database-roles.yaml
136apiVersion: v1
137kind: ServiceAccount
138metadata:
139  name: mongodb-kubernetes-appdb
140  namespace: mongodb
141---
142# Source: mongodb-kubernetes/templates/database-roles.yaml
143apiVersion: v1
144kind: ServiceAccount
145metadata:
146  name: mongodb-kubernetes-database-pods
147  namespace: mongodb
148---
149# Source: mongodb-kubernetes/templates/database-roles.yaml
150apiVersion: v1
151kind: ServiceAccount
152metadata:
153  name: mongodb-kubernetes-ops-manager
154  namespace: mongodb
155---
156# Source: mongodb-kubernetes/templates/operator-sa.yaml
157apiVersion: v1
158kind: ServiceAccount
159metadata:
160  name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator
161  namespace: mongodb
162---
163# Source: mongodb-kubernetes/templates/operator-roles-clustermongodbroles.yaml
164kind: ClusterRole
165apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
166metadata:
167  name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator-mongodb-cluster-mongodb-role
168rules:
169  - apiGroups:
170      - mongodb.com
171    verbs:
172      - '*'
173    resources:
174      - clustermongodbroles
175---
176# Source: mongodb-kubernetes/templates/operator-roles-telemetry.yaml
177# Additional ClusterRole for clusterVersionDetection
178kind: ClusterRole
179apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
180metadata:
181  name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator-cluster-telemetry
182rules:
183  # Non-resource URL permissions
184  - nonResourceURLs:
185      - "/version"
186    verbs:
187      - get
188  # Cluster-scoped resource permissions
189  - apiGroups:
190      - ''
191    resources:
192      - namespaces
193    resourceNames:
194      - kube-system
195    verbs:
196      - get
197  - apiGroups:
198      - ''
199    resources:
200      - nodes
201    verbs:
202      - list
203---
204# Source: mongodb-kubernetes/templates/operator-roles-webhook.yaml
205kind: ClusterRole
206apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
207metadata:
208  name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator-mongodb-webhook-cr
209rules:
210  - apiGroups:
211      - "admissionregistration.k8s.io"
212    resources:
213      - validatingwebhookconfigurations
214    verbs:
215      - get
216      - create
217      - update
218      - delete
219  - apiGroups:
220      - ""
221    resources:
222      - services
223    verbs:
224      - get
225      - list
226      - watch
227      - create
228      - update
229      - delete
230---
231# Source: mongodb-kubernetes/templates/operator-roles-clustermongodbroles.yaml
232kind: ClusterRoleBinding
233apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
234metadata:
235  name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator-mongodb-cluster-mongodb-role-binding
236roleRef:
237  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
238  kind: ClusterRole
239  name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator-mongodb-cluster-mongodb-role
240subjects:
241  - kind: ServiceAccount
242    name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator
243    namespace: mongodb
244---
245# Source: mongodb-kubernetes/templates/operator-roles-telemetry.yaml
246# ClusterRoleBinding for clusterVersionDetection
247kind: ClusterRoleBinding
248apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
249metadata:
250  name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator-mongodb-cluster-telemetry-binding
251roleRef:
252  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
253  kind: ClusterRole
254  name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator-cluster-telemetry
255subjects:
256  - kind: ServiceAccount
257    name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator
258    namespace: mongodb
259---
260# Source: mongodb-kubernetes/templates/operator-roles-webhook.yaml
261kind: ClusterRoleBinding
262apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
263metadata:
264  name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator-mongodb-webhook-crb
265roleRef:
266  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
267  kind: ClusterRole
268  name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator-mongodb-webhook-cr
269subjects:
270  - kind: ServiceAccount
271    name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator
272    namespace: mongodb
273---
274# Source: mongodb-kubernetes/templates/database-roles.yaml
275kind: Role
276apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
277metadata:
278  name: mongodb-kubernetes-appdb
279  namespace: mongodb
280rules:
281  - apiGroups:
282      - ''
283    resources:
284      - secrets
285    verbs:
286      - get
287  - apiGroups:
288      - ''
289    resources:
290      - pods
291    verbs:
292      - patch
293      - delete
294      - get
295---
296# Source: mongodb-kubernetes/templates/operator-roles-base.yaml
297kind: Role
298apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
299metadata:
300  name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator
301  namespace: mongodb
302rules:
303  - apiGroups:
304      - ''
305    resources:
306      - services
307    verbs:
308      - get
309      - list
310      - watch
311      - create
312      - update
313      - delete
314  - apiGroups:
315      - ''
316    resources:
317      - secrets
318      - configmaps
319    verbs:
320      - get
321      - list
322      - create
323      - update
324      - delete
325      - watch
326  - apiGroups:
327      - apps
328    resources:
329      - statefulsets
330    verbs:
331      - create
332      - get
333      - list
334      - watch
335      - delete
336      - update
337  - apiGroups:
338      - ''
339    resources:
340      - pods
341    verbs:
342      - get
343      - list
344      - watch
345      - delete
346      - deletecollection
347  - apiGroups:
348      - mongodbcommunity.mongodb.com
349    resources:
350      - mongodbcommunity
351      - mongodbcommunity/status
352      - mongodbcommunity/spec
353      - mongodbcommunity/finalizers
354    verbs:
355      - '*'
356  - apiGroups:
357      - mongodb.com
358    verbs:
359      - '*'
360    resources:
361      - mongodb
362      - mongodb/finalizers
363      - mongodbusers
364      - mongodbusers/finalizers
365      - opsmanagers
366      - opsmanagers/finalizers
367      - mongodbmulticluster
368      - mongodbmulticluster/finalizers
369      - mongodbsearch
370      - mongodbsearch/finalizers
371      - mongodb/status
372      - mongodbusers/status
373      - opsmanagers/status
374      - mongodbmulticluster/status
375      - mongodbsearch/status
376---
377# Source: mongodb-kubernetes/templates/operator-roles-pvc-resize.yaml
378kind: Role
379apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
380metadata:
381  name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator-pvc-resize
382  namespace: mongodb
383rules:
384  - apiGroups:
385      - ''
386    resources:
387      - persistentvolumeclaims
388    verbs:
389      - get
390      - delete
391      - list
392      - watch
393      - patch
394      - update
395---
396# Source: mongodb-kubernetes/templates/database-roles.yaml
397kind: RoleBinding
398apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
399metadata:
400  name: mongodb-kubernetes-appdb
401  namespace: mongodb
402roleRef:
403  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
404  kind: Role
405  name: mongodb-kubernetes-appdb
406subjects:
407  - kind: ServiceAccount
408    name: mongodb-kubernetes-appdb
409    namespace: mongodb
410---
411# Source: mongodb-kubernetes/templates/operator-roles-base.yaml
412kind: RoleBinding
413apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
414metadata:
415  name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator
416  namespace: mongodb
417roleRef:
418  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
419  kind: Role
420  name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator
421subjects:
422  - kind: ServiceAccount
423    name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator
424    namespace: mongodb
425---
426# Source: mongodb-kubernetes/templates/operator-roles-pvc-resize.yaml
427kind: RoleBinding
428apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
429metadata:
430  name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator-pvc-resize-binding
431  namespace: mongodb
432roleRef:
433  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
434  kind: Role
435  name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator-pvc-resize
436subjects:
437  - kind: ServiceAccount
438    name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator
439    namespace: mongodb
440---
441# Source: mongodb-kubernetes/templates/operator.yaml
442apiVersion: apps/v1
443kind: Deployment
444metadata:
445  name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator
446  namespace: mongodb
447spec:
448  replicas: 1
449  selector:
450    matchLabels:
451      app.kubernetes.io/component: controller
452      app.kubernetes.io/name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator
453      app.kubernetes.io/instance: mongodb-kubernetes-operator
454  template:
455    metadata:
456      labels:
457        app.kubernetes.io/component: controller
458        app.kubernetes.io/name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator
459        app.kubernetes.io/instance: mongodb-kubernetes-operator
460    spec:
461      serviceAccountName: mongodb-kubernetes-operator
462      securityContext:
463        runAsNonRoot: true
464        runAsUser: 2000
465      containers:
466        - name: mongodb-kubernetes-operator
467          image: "quay.io/mongodb/mongodb-kubernetes:1.4.0"
468          imagePullPolicy: Always
469          args:
470            - -watch-resource=mongodb
471            - -watch-resource=opsmanagers
472            - -watch-resource=mongodbusers
473            - -watch-resource=mongodbcommunity
474            - -watch-resource=mongodbsearch
475            - -watch-resource=clustermongodbroles
476          command:
477            - /usr/local/bin/mongodb-kubernetes-operator
478          resources:
479            limits:
480              cpu: 1100m
481              memory: 1Gi
482            requests:
483              cpu: 500m
484              memory: 200Mi
485          env:
486            - name: OPERATOR_ENV
487              value: prod
488            - name: MDB_DEFAULT_ARCHITECTURE
489              value: non-static
490            - name: NAMESPACE
491              valueFrom:
492                fieldRef:
493                  fieldPath: metadata.namespace
494            - name: WATCH_NAMESPACE
495              valueFrom:
496                fieldRef:
497                  fieldPath: metadata.namespace
498            - name: MDB_OPERATOR_TELEMETRY_COLLECTION_FREQUENCY
499              value: "1h"
500            - name: MDB_OPERATOR_TELEMETRY_SEND_FREQUENCY
501              value: "168h"
502            - name: CLUSTER_CLIENT_TIMEOUT
503              value: "10"
504            - name: IMAGE_PULL_POLICY
505              value: Always
506            # Database
507            - name: MONGODB_ENTERPRISE_DATABASE_IMAGE
508              value: quay.io/mongodb/mongodb-kubernetes-database
509            - name: INIT_DATABASE_IMAGE_REPOSITORY
510              value: quay.io/mongodb/mongodb-kubernetes-init-database
511            - name: INIT_DATABASE_VERSION
512              value: 1.4.0
513            - name: DATABASE_VERSION
514              value: 1.4.0
515            # Ops Manager
516            - name: OPS_MANAGER_IMAGE_REPOSITORY
517              value: quay.io/mongodb/mongodb-enterprise-ops-manager-ubi
518            - name: INIT_OPS_MANAGER_IMAGE_REPOSITORY
519              value: quay.io/mongodb/mongodb-kubernetes-init-ops-manager
520            - name: INIT_OPS_MANAGER_VERSION
521              value: 1.4.0
522            # AppDB
523            - name: INIT_APPDB_IMAGE_REPOSITORY
524              value: quay.io/mongodb/mongodb-kubernetes-init-appdb
525            - name: INIT_APPDB_VERSION
526              value: 1.4.0
527            - name: OPS_MANAGER_IMAGE_PULL_POLICY
528              value: Always
529            - name: AGENT_IMAGE
530              value: "quay.io/mongodb/mongodb-agent:108.0.12.8846-1"
531            - name: MDB_AGENT_IMAGE_REPOSITORY
532              value: "quay.io/mongodb/mongodb-agent"
533            - name: MONGODB_IMAGE
534              value: mongodb-enterprise-server
535            - name: MONGODB_REPO_URL
536              value: quay.io/mongodb
537            - name: MDB_IMAGE_TYPE
538              value: ubi8
539            - name: PERFORM_FAILOVER
540              value: 'true'
541            - name: MDB_MAX_CONCURRENT_RECONCILES
542              value: "1"
543            - name: POD_NAME
544              valueFrom:
545                fieldRef:
546                  fieldPath: metadata.name
547            - name: OPERATOR_NAME
548              value: mongodb-kubernetes-operator
549            # Community Env Vars Start
550            - name: MDB_COMMUNITY_AGENT_IMAGE
551              value: "quay.io/mongodb/mongodb-agent:108.0.2.8729-1"
552            - name: VERSION_UPGRADE_HOOK_IMAGE
553              value: "quay.io/mongodb/mongodb-kubernetes-operator-version-upgrade-post-start-hook:1.0.9"
554            - name: READINESS_PROBE_IMAGE
555              value: "quay.io/mongodb/mongodb-kubernetes-readinessprobe:1.0.22"
556            - name: MDB_COMMUNITY_IMAGE
557              value: "mongodb-community-server"
558            - name: MDB_COMMUNITY_REPO_URL
559              value: "quay.io/mongodb"
560            - name: MDB_COMMUNITY_IMAGE_TYPE
561              value: "ubi8"
562            # Community Env Vars End
563            - name: MDB_SEARCH_REPO_URL
564              value: "quay.io/mongodb"
565            - name: MDB_SEARCH_NAME
566              value: "mongodb-search"
567            - name: MDB_SEARCH_VERSION
568              value: "0.53.1"

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:

1kubectl --context "${K8S_CTX}" --namespace "${MDB_NS}" \
2  create secret generic mdb-admin-user-password \
3  --from-literal=password="${MDB_ADMIN_USER_PASSWORD}"
4
5kubectl --context "${K8S_CTX}" --namespace "${MDB_NS}" \
6  create secret generic mdbc-rs-search-sync-source-password \
7  --from-literal=password="${MDB_SEARCH_SYNC_USER_PASSWORD}"
8
9kubectl --context "${K8S_CTX}" --namespace "${MDB_NS}" \
10  create secret generic mdb-user-password \
11  --from-literal=password="${MDB_USER_PASSWORD}"
1secret/mdb-admin-user-password created
2secret/mdbc-rs-search-sync-source-password created
3secret/mdb-user-password created
2

Required. Deploy the keyfile secret to use to connect to the mongod.

To authenticate connections from your external MongoDB, the mongot process uses the same keyfile that your external MongoDB replica set members use for internal authentication between replica set members.

To create a Kubernetes secret containing the keyfile content from your external MongoDB, copy, paste, and run the following command:

1kubectl --context "${K8S_CTX}" --namespace "${MDB_NS}" \
2  create secret generic "${MDB_EXTERNAL_KEYFILE_SECRET_NAME}" \
3  --from-literal=keyfile="${MDB_EXTERNAL_KEYFILE_CONTENT}"
3

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.external.keyfileSecretRef

    Keyfile secret used by the external replica set members.

    spec.source.username

    Search synchronization user username.

    spec.source.passwordSecretRef

    Search synchronization user password.

    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: mdbs
    6spec:
    7  source:
    8    external:
    9      hostAndPorts:
    10        - ${MDB_EXTERNAL_HOST_0}
    11        - ${MDB_EXTERNAL_HOST_1}
    12        - ${MDB_EXTERNAL_HOST_2}
    13      keyfileSecretRef:
    14        name: ${MDB_EXTERNAL_KEYFILE_SECRET_NAME}
    15        key: keyfile
    16    username: search-sync-source
    17    passwordSecretRef:
    18      name: mdbc-rs-search-sync-source-password
    19      key: password
    20  resourceRequirements:
    21    limits:
    22      cpu: "3"
    23      memory: 5Gi
    24    requests:
    25      cpu: "2"
    26      memory: 3Gi
    27EOF

  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..."
    2kubectl --context "${K8S_CTX}" -n "${MDB_NS}" wait \
    3  --for=jsonpath='{.status.phase}'=Running mdbs/mdbs --timeout=300s
4

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 27027 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_HOSTNAME}
6spec:
7  type: LoadBalancer
8  selector:
9    app: mdbs-search-svc
10  ports:
11    - name: mongot
12      port: 27027
13      targetPort: 27027
14YAML
15
16echo "Waiting for external IP to be assigned to service ${MDB_SEARCH_HOSTNAME}..."
17TIMEOUT=120  # 2 minutes timeout
18ELAPSED=0
19while [ ${ELAPSED} -lt ${TIMEOUT} ]; do
20  EXTERNAL_IP=$(kubectl get service "${MDB_SEARCH_HOSTNAME}" --context "${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
5

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     AGE
3mdbs   Running   31s
4
5Search pods running in cluster kind-kind
6NAME            READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
7mdbs-search-0   1/1     Running   0          31s
8
9All pods in namespace mongodb
10NAME                                          READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
11mdbc-rs-0                                     2/2     Running   0          2m55s
12mdbc-rs-1                                     2/2     Running   0          115s
13mdbc-rs-2                                     2/2     Running   0          68s
14mdbs-search-0                                 1/1     Running   0          31s
15mongodb-kubernetes-operator-fc996f567-q8l6g   1/1     Running   0          2m58s

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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