FAQ: MongoDB Storage

What is a storage engine?

A storage engine is the part of a database that is responsible for managing how data is stored, both in memory and on disk. Many databases support multiple storage engines, where different engines perform better for specific workloads. For example, one storage engine might offer better performance for read-heavy workloads, and another might support a higher throughput for write operations.

Can I upgrade an existing deployment to WiredTiger?

Yes. See:

• Change Standalone to WiredTiger
• Change Replica Set to WiredTiger
• Change Sharded Cluster to WiredTiger

How much compression does WiredTiger provide?

The ratio of compressed data to uncompressed data depends on your data and the compression library used. By default, collection data in WiredTiger use Snappy block compression; zlib compression is also available. Index data use prefix compression by default.

To what size should I set the WiredTiger internal cache?

With WiredTiger, MongoDB utilizes both the WiredTiger internal cache and the filesystem cache.

Starting in MongoDB 3.4, the default WiredTiger internal cache size is the larger of either:

• 50% of (RAM - 1 GB), or
• 256 MB.

By default, WiredTiger uses Snappy block compression for all collections and prefix compression for all indexes. Compression defaults are configurable at a global level and can also be set on a per-collection and per-index basis during collection and index creation.

Different representations are used for data in the WiredTiger internal cache versus the on-disk format:

• Data in the filesystem cache is the same as the on-disk format, including benefits of any compression for data files. The filesystem cache is used by the operating system to reduce disk I/O.
• Indexes loaded in the WiredTiger internal cache have a different data representation to the on-disk format, but can still take advantage of index prefix compression to reduce RAM usage. Index prefix compression deduplicates common prefixes from indexed fields.
• Collection data in the WiredTiger internal cache is uncompressed and uses a different representation from the on-disk format. Block compression can provide significant on-disk storage savings, but data must be uncompressed to be manipulated by the server.

Via the filesystem cache, MongoDB automatically uses all free memory that is not used by the WiredTiger cache or by other processes.

To adjust the size of the WiredTiger internal cache, see storage.wiredTiger.engineConfig.cacheSizeGB and --wiredTigerCacheSizeGB. Avoid increasing the WiredTiger internal cache size above its default value.

The default WiredTiger internal cache size value assumes that there is a single mongod instance per machine. If a single machine contains multiple MongoDB instances, then you should decrease the setting to accommodate the other mongod instances.

If you run mongod in a container (e.g. lxc, cgroups, Docker, etc.) that does not have access to all of the RAM available in a system, you must set storage.wiredTiger.engineConfig.cacheSizeGB to a value less than the amount of RAM available in the container. The exact amount depends on the other processes running in the container. See memLimitMB.

To view statistics on the cache and eviction rate, see the wiredTiger.cache field returned from the serverStatus command.

How frequently does WiredTiger write to disk?

Checkpoints

Starting in version 3.6, MongoDB configures WiredTiger to create checkpoints (i.e. write the snapshot data to disk) at intervals of 60 seconds. In earlier versions, MongoDB sets checkpoints to occur in WiredTiger on user data at an interval of 60 seconds or when 2 GB of journal data has been written, whichever occurs first.

Journal Data

WiredTiger syncs the buffered journal records to disk upon any of the following conditions:

• For replica set members (primary and secondary members),

  • If there are operations waiting for oplog entries. Operations that can wait for oplog entries include:
    • forward scanning queries against the oplog
    • read operations performed as part of causally consistent sessions
  • Additionally for secondary members, after every batch application of the oplog entries.

• If a write operation includes or implies a write concern of j: true.

  Note

  Write concern "majority" implies j: true if the writeConcernMajorityJournalDefault is true.

• At every 100 milliseconds (See storage.journal.commitIntervalMs).

• When WiredTiger creates a new journal file. Because MongoDB uses a journal file size limit of 100 MB, WiredTiger creates a new journal file approximately every 100 MB of data.

How do I reclaim disk space in WiredTiger?

The WiredTiger storage engine maintains lists of empty records in data files as it deletes documents. This space can be reused by WiredTiger, but will not be returned to the operating system unless under very specific circumstances.

The amount of empty space available for reuse by WiredTiger is reflected in the output of db.collection.stats() under the heading wiredTiger.block-manager.file bytes available for reuse.

To allow the WiredTiger storage engine to release this empty space to the operating system, you can de-fragment your data file. This can be achieved using the compact command. For more information on its behavior and other considerations, see compact.

What are memory mapped files?

A memory-mapped file is a file with data that the operating system places in memory by way of the mmap() system call. mmap() thus maps the file to a region of virtual memory. Memory-mapped files are the critical piece of the MMAPv1 storage engine in MongoDB. By using memory mapped files, MongoDB can treat the contents of its data files as if they were in memory. This provides MongoDB with an extremely fast and simple method for accessing and manipulating data.

How do memory mapped files work?

MongoDB uses memory mapped files for managing and interacting with all data.

Memory mapping assigns files to a block of virtual memory with a direct byte-for-byte correlation. MongoDB memory maps data files to memory as it accesses documents. Unaccessed data is not mapped to memory.

Once mapped, the relationship between file and memory allows MongoDB to interact with the data in the file as if it were memory.

How frequently does MMAPv1 write to disk?

In the default configuration for the MMAPv1 storage engine, MongoDB writes to the data files on disk every 60 seconds and writes to the journal files roughly every 100 milliseconds.

To change the interval for writing to the data files, use the storage.syncPeriodSecs setting. For the journal files, see storage.journal.commitIntervalMs setting.

These values represent the maximum amount of time between the completion of a write operation and when MongoDB writes to the data files or to the journal files. In many cases MongoDB and the operating system flush data to disk more frequently, so that the above values represents a theoretical maximum.

Why are the files in my data directory larger than the data in my database?

The data files in your data directory, which is the /data/db directory in default configurations, might be larger than the data set inserted into the database. Consider the following possible causes: