The following questions and answers cover deploying MongoDB Search and Vector Search with the MongoDB Controllers for Kubernetes Operator. For a full list of constraints, see mongot Deployment Limitations. To confirm version compatibility before you deploy, see Search and Vector Search Compatibility and Requirements.
Versions and Compatibility
Can I run a mongot version older than 1.70.1?
No. 1.70.1 is the minimum mongot version for self-managed deployments. Earlier 0.x builds are Preview releases that we don't recommend for production use.
Can I upgrade a Public Preview deployment to GA?
No. You can't upgrade a Public Preview (0.x) deployment to a GA release in place. To move to GA, perform a fresh install.
Operations
Do I need to back up mongot or its indexes?
Back up mongod, not mongot. The mongot indexes are derived data that mongot rebuilds from mongod, so a mongod backup is enough to recover them. Include index rebuild time in your recovery time objectives because the rebuild takes time. To learn more, see Backup and Restore.
Does enabling TLS on a running deployment cause downtime?
Enabling TLS on a deployment that is already running causes a brief, bounded outage because mongot must restart to read the new certificates. Rotating a certificate on a deployment that already uses TLS also requires a mongot restart, because mongot reads certificates only at startup. If you deploy multiple mongot replicas behind the load balancer, queries can continue during that restart. To learn more, see Secure the Connection from MongoDB to Search.
Do search queries keep working when a mongot pod restarts?
It depends on the number of mongot replicas. If you deploy multiple mongot replicas behind the load balancer and also run more than one Envoy replica, queries continue to run while the mongot or Envoy deployments undergo rolling restarts. With a single replica, queries see a brief gap until the pod is ready again.
Can I use my own load balancer?
Yes. To use your own load balancer, run mongot in unmanaged mode. Unmanaged mode is only available for single-cluster deployments. To learn more, see Supported Topologies.
Does a multi-cluster deployment require a managed load balancer?
Yes. When spec.clusters has more than one entry, every entry must set loadBalancer.managed. The MongoDB Controllers for Kubernetes Operator rejects a multi-cluster resource that uses an unmanaged load balancer or no load balancer, because mongod needs a stable, routable endpoint to reach the mongot fleet in each cluster. To learn more, see Supported Topologies.
For an external MongoDB source, does the MongoDB Controllers for Kubernetes Operator configure mongotHost on my mongod?
No. The MongoDB Controllers for Kubernetes Operator does not manage an external mongod, so it does not set the mongotHost and searchIndexManagementHostAndPort setParameter values on it. You must configure those on your external mongod yourself so that queries reach mongot. In a multi-cluster deployment, point each mongod at the mongot endpoint for its own cluster.
Is the index data encrypted at rest?
mongot doesn't provide application-level encryption at rest. To encrypt the mongot index data, encrypt the underlying volume with a Kubernetes-level or cloud-provider mechanism. To learn more, see Secure the Connection from MongoDB to Search.
Are all MongoDB Search and Vector Search features in Atlas available on self-managed deployments?
No. A feature is available on self-managed mongot only after it ships in a mongot binary release. To learn more, see mongot Deployment Limitations.