MongoDB DBA Essential

Why MongoDB?

More and more business applications rely on MongoDB, alongside or instead of relational databases. For DBA teams, this often means inheriting a platform that works differently: no fixed schema, a new query language, and its own approach to replication, sharding and backup. Applying relational reflexes to MongoDB is the fastest route to performance issues and operational risk. This workshop bridges the gap by mapping what you already know from Oracle or SQL Server to MongoDB concepts, so you can administer it with the same rigor and keep it available, secure and performant.

Workshop Content

Introduction to MongoDB: Discover document-oriented NoSQL concepts, map SQL terminology to MongoDB, compare the available editions (Community, Enterprise, Atlas) and review typical use cases.
MongoDB Architecture: Understand the data hierarchy (document, collection, database), the WiredTiger storage engine and the deployment models: standalone, replica set and sharded cluster.
CRUD & Data Model: Practice insert, read, update and delete operations, work with query operators and use multi-document ACID transactions.
Aggregation Framework: Transform data with pipelines ($match, $group, $lookup, $unwind) and compare each stage with its SQL equivalent.
Schema Design: Design for query patterns: choose between embedding and referencing, apply common design patterns and avoid the anti-patterns.
Indexing: Explore index types, apply the ESR (Equality, Sort, Range) rule, manage indexes and analyze query plans with explain().
Replication & High Availability: Build replica sets, understand elections and failover, configure read preference and write concern, and monitor the oplog.
Sharding & Scalability: Scale horizontally: select the right shard key, understand cluster components (mongos, config servers) and chunk balancing.
Backup & Recovery: Use mongodump/mongorestore, define physical backup strategies, work with Percona Backup for MongoDB (PBM) and perform point-in-time recovery.
Monitoring & Performance Tuning: Use the built-in monitoring tools and Zabbix integration, track the key metrics, work with the database profiler and resolve common bottlenecks.
Security: Configure authentication (SCRAM, x.509, LDAP), role-based access control, TLS/SSL and encryption at rest.
MongoDB Upgrade & Patching: Manage version compatibility and the feature compatibility version (FCV), and run zero-downtime rolling upgrades.

Objectives

Understand the document model and how MongoDB concepts map to the relational world
Deploy and administer standalone, replica set and sharded cluster architectures
Design schemas and indexes that match your application’s query patterns
Set up high availability, backup and point-in-time recovery
Monitor, tune and troubleshoot MongoDB performance
Secure MongoDB with authentication, role-based access control and encryption
Plan and run zero-downtime upgrades

Training approach

This interactive workshop combines:

Presentations and guided walkthroughs
Hands-on practical exercises for each chapter
Side-by-side comparisons with Oracle and SQL Server
Live demonstrations and real-world cases from our consultants
Open Q&A sessions
Informal discussions and networking during breaks and lunch (included)

Target audience

This training is ideal for:

Oracle, SQL Server or PostgreSQL DBAs who need to administer MongoDB
System administrators responsible for MongoDB deployments
DevOps engineers and IT operations teams supporting MongoDB-based applications

Prerequisites

Working experience with a relational database (Oracle, SQL Server, PostgreSQL…)
Basic Linux and command-line skills
No prior MongoDB experience required

Key Benefits

In two days, you’ll gain a clear understanding of how MongoDB works under the hood and the practical skills to run it in production, from schema and index design to replication, backup, monitoring and security. Instead of treating MongoDB as a black box, your team can apply the same operational discipline you already use for your relational databases and reduce risk on business-critical applications. And when you need a second pair of eyes later on, our MongoDB experts are just a call away.