MongoDB: All commands spit out "not authorized on admin to execute command"

Question

Mongo version: 3.2.11

I spun up a mongoDB droplet with DigitalOcean so that I could have a database connected to my little game. However, complications after complications have arisen. I am connecting to the droplet through PuTTY and was previously able to invoke "mongo" then type "show dbs" to see all the current databases.

I had been altering the /etc/mongod.conf file to allow remote connecting, and since then - any command that I invoke spits back an error message:

Just through a simple show dbs - I get this.

> show dbs
2016-12-28T00:12:26.655+0000 E QUERY    [thread1] Error: listDatabases failed:{
        "ok" : 0,
        "errmsg" : "not authorized on admin to execute command { listDatabases: 1.0 }",
        "code" : 13
} :
_getErrorWithCode@src/mongo/shell/utils.js:25:13
Mongo.prototype.getDBs@src/mongo/shell/mongo.js:62:1
shellHelper.show@src/mongo/shell/utils.js:761:19
shellHelper@src/mongo/shell/utils.js:651:15
@(shellhelp2):1:1

I'm so confused as to why this is and I've been scouring the internet to find anything that could possibly resolve this.

PS: I had altered the /etc/mongod.conf file by uncommenting security and adding authorization: 'enabled' to it, as well as commenting out bindIp: 127.0.0.1 under net.

Answer 1

Let's try this:

Connect to your DO droplet.

In your /etc/mongod.conf, comment out 'security' and restore bindIp to value 127.0.0.1

Restart your mongod instance.

Connect to mongo (at this point without security).

Create you admin user in mongo with something like this:

use admin
db.createUser(
  {
    user: "myUserAdmin",
    pwd: "abc123",
    roles: [ { role: "userAdminAnyDatabase", db: "admin" } ]
  }
)

Make sure the user was successfully created.

Go back to your /etc/mongod.conf. Set your bindIp value as: 127.0.0.1,YOUR_DO_DROPLET_IP (no spaces between).

Uncomment 'security', keep 'authentication' commented out, add below it 'authorization: enabled'

Restart your server's mongod instance.

Connect to mongod remotely by using:

mongo YOUR_DO_DROPLET_IP -u myUserAdmin -p --authenticationDatabase admin

References: MongoDB Authentication Enabling MongoDB Authentication

Answer 2

I followed these steps on Centos 7 for MongoDB 4.2. (Remote user)

Update mongod.conf file

vi /etc/mongod.conf
   net:
     port: 27017
     bindIp: 0.0.0.0 
   security:
     authorization: enabled

Start MongoDB service demon

systemctl start mongod

Open MongoDB shell

mongo

Execute this command on the shell

use admin
db.createUser(
  {
    user: 'admin',
    pwd: 'YouPassforUser',
    roles: [ { role: 'root', db: 'admin' } ]
  }
);

Remote root user has been created. Now you can test this database connection by using any MongoDB GUI tool from your dev machine. Like Robo 3T

Answer 3

userAdminAnyDatabase is still not enough for granting the admin privilege. Use the root role for having the real admin privilege.

To add new permission you can update the role.

use admin;
db.grantRolesToUser('admin', [{ role: 'root', db: 'admin' }])

For reference: https://stackoverflow.com/a/29472184/20739269