Recently, I needed to set up a Proof of Concept (POC) and wanted to do it on Google Cloud Platform (GCP). After documenting the process, it seemed it might be helpful for others looking for the most basic guide possible to get a Mongo server up and running on GCP. The process below will set up the latest version of Percona Server for MongoDB on a Virtual Machine (VM) in GCP. This will be a minimal install for which to do further work. I will also be utilizing the free account on GCP to do this.
The first step will be setting up your SSH access to the node. On my Mac, I ran the following command which should work equally well on Linux:
1 | ssh-keygen -t rsa -f ~/.ssh/gcp -C [USERNAME] |
I named my key “gcp” in the example above but you can use an existing key or generate a new one with whatever name you want.
From there, you will want to login to the GCP console in a browser and do some simple configuration. The first step will be to create a project and then add an instance. You will also choose a Region and Zone. And for our final basic configuration of our VM, choose the type of machine you want. For my testing, an e2-medium is sufficient. I will also accept default disk size and type.
Next, edit the instance details and go to the SSH Keys section and add your SSH key. Your key will be a lot longer but will look something like the below:
Save out the details and take note of the public IP of the node. Of course, you will want to test logging in using your key to ensure you can get into the server. I tested my access with the below command, replacing your key name (gcp in my case), username, and public IP:
1 | ssh -i ~/.ssh/gcp [USERNAME]@[PUBLIC IP] |
Our next step will be to install Percona Server for MongoDB. We will do this as painlessly as possible using Percona’s RPMs. We will start by setting up the repo:
1 2 | sudo yum install https://repo.percona.com/yum/percona-release-latest.noarch.rpm sudo percona-release enable psmdb-44 release |
With the repo configured, we will install MongoDB with the following command:
1 | sudo yum install percona-server-mongodb |
You will likely want to enable the service:
1 | sudo systemctl enable mongod |
By default, MongoDB does not enable authentication to access it. If you want to do this, you can use the following command to setup access:
1 | sudo /usr/bin/percona-server-mongodb-enable-auth.sh |
Here’s more information on enabling authentication on Percona Server for MongoDB.
Again, this is the most basic installation of Percona Server for MongoDB on the Google Cloud Platform. This guide was created for those looking for the basic introduction to both platforms and just want to get their proverbial hands dirty with a basic POC.
