mongodb-authentication_skill

Overview

This skill teaches practical MongoDB authentication: SCRAM, X.509 certificates, LDAP, and Kerberos. It covers creating users, assigning built-in and custom roles, enforcing password policies, and securing deployments with TLS and network controls. Followable examples and connection patterns for shell, Node.js, and Python are included.

How this skill works

The skill inspects common authentication flows and configuration points: enabling authorization in mongod, creating admin and application users, and choosing an auth mechanism (SCRAM, X.509, LDAP, Kerberos). It explains role-based access control (built-in and custom roles), password lifecycle actions (create, change, rotate), and secure connection setup for clients. Practical connection string and driver examples show how authentication is applied in real apps.

When to use it

• Onboard a new MongoDB deployment and enable authentication
• Secure production clusters with TLS and least-privilege access
• Integrate MongoDB with enterprise identity stores (LDAP/Kerberos)
• Create service accounts and custom roles for applications
• Audit and rotate credentials regularly to meet compliance

Best practices

• Always enable authorization (authorization: enabled or --auth) and bind mongod to specific IPs
• Use strong, unique passwords (≥12 chars, mixed character types) and rotate frequently
• Apply least privilege: grant only the roles necessary for each account
• Use TLS/SSL for client and inter-node encryption; prefer X.509 for mutual auth in sensitive environments
• Avoid hardcoding credentials; use environment variables, secret stores, or managed service accounts

Example use cases

• Create an initial admin user, then restart mongod with authorization enabled
• Provision an app service account with readWrite on a specific database for production
• Configure X.509 authentication for mutual TLS between clients and cluster in an enterprise
• Integrate MongoDB with corporate LDAP for centralized user management
• Define a custom role that grants read access to reporting collections and assign it to analysts