This article is intended for those looking to fire up a [MongoDB](https://www.mongodb.org/) data store on OSX and outlines how to install and manage a MongoDB instance using [Homebrew](http://brew.sh) and [launchd](https://wiki.freebsd.org/launchd). This set up is not intended for production, is not secured (I'll cover that in a future post) and should be used only for local development. 

## Prerequisites:
You're going to need Homebrew. If you don't have it installed yet, you can get set up following the steps outlined in [OSX Package Management with Homebrew](http://blakepetersen.io/homebrew-osx-package-management/).

## 1. Update Homebrew
Before anything else, always update Homebrew. 
```bash
$ brew update
```

## 2. Install MongoDB

There's a couple options you can pass when installing MongoDB using Homebrew, but to get the standard build on your system, run the following command.

```bash
$ brew install mongodb 
```

To include SSL/TLS support in the build, pass the '--with-openssl' flag with the command.

```bash
$ brew install mongodb --with-openssl
```

To install the development release, pass the '--devel' flag.

```bash
$ brew install mongodb --devel
```

You can check to see whether MongoDB installed by checking the version like so...

```bash
$ mongod --version
```

It should return `db version v3.0.7`, for example.

## 3. Fire Up MongoDB

Before we can light this up, we need to ensure MongoDB has a place to store it's data. By default, it seeks to put this data in the `/data/db` folder. Chances are, if you don't already have MongoDB installed, you don't have this folder on your system. To add it, run the following command...

```bash
$ mkdir -p /data/db
``` 

Once that's all set, you can start MongoDB using the `mongod` command. 

```bash
$ mongod
```

It should blast out a number of lines, the last should state something along the lines of `waiting for connections on port 27017`. If you see this, you're on the right track and can use MongoDB right now! This simple mode is great for quick debugging as you will see logs reported here. Unfortunately, as soon as you kill the terminal window, MongoDB and the console log dies too. 

To persist MongoDB beyond your terminal window, all you have to do is fork a child process; run `mongod` with the `--fork` and `--logpath` flags. If you're using `--fork`, you need to specify `--logpath` otherwise it will bark at you. Plus, you wanna log things, right? ;]

**Run MongoDB Daemon-style like a champ:**
```bash
$ mongod --fork --logpath /usr/local/var/log/mongodb/output.log
```

You should see the following if it starts up correctly.

```bash
about to fork child process, waiting until server is ready for connections.
forked process: 24997
child process started successfully, parent exiting
```

Killing the MongoDB process is pretty easy too, but you may need to flip some rocks if you lose your post-it. When you fire up the child process, take note of the process ID or PID as it will be how you terminate the process later. In the above example, the PID is `24997`. 

If you don't know the PID, you can run `top` in your terminal and look for `mongod` in the command column. The number just to the left of `mongod` is the PID you're looking for. You can use ctrl+c to hop out of top. 

Equipped with the PID, run the following command replacing `24997` with your own.

**Kill MongoDB like a boss:**
```bash
$ kill -9 24997
```

If you check top again, `mongod` is no longer running. 

## 4. Launch on Boot

If you find you're using MongoDB pretty frequently, you may want to add it to launchd which will start it up every time your system boots. To do this, symlink the mongodb plist file into `~/Library/LaunchAgents` to launch when your current user logs in or `~/Library/LaunchDaemons` to start when any user logs in. 

Current User:
```bash
$ ln -sfv /usr/local/opt/mongodb/*.plist ~/Library/LaunchAgents
```
All Users:
```bash
$ ln -sfv /usr/local/opt/mongodb/*.plist ~/Library/LaunchDaemons
```

An added benefit of using launchd to manage your MongoDB agents/daemons, you can now load and unload it at will using `launchctl`. 

```bash
$ launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.mongodb.plist
$ launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.mongodb.plist
$ launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchDaemons/homebrew.mxcl.mongodb.plist
$ launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchDaemons/homebrew.mxcl.mongodb.plist
```
## 5. Gooey Applications
I have two goto GUI applications when dealing with MongoDB. Let's power down Terminal and let our beautiful Apple display do it's thing!

##### **LaunchControl** 

[LaunchControl](http://www.soma-zone.com/LaunchControl/) is an amazing tool for visualizing and managing launchd agents and daemons outside the command line. I tend to also lean on this heavily when swapping between versions of PHP. Super handy!

##### **Robomongo**
[Robomongo](http://robomongo.org/) is a tool used to view and manage MongoDB databases and collections. It offers a lot of flexibility and provides an invaluable window into what your application is actually doing with your data. I first started using Robomongo on Ubuntu as it was the only cross-platform solution out there for this, and came to find it's pretty much the best GUI MongoDB management tool on any platform. 

---

###### Sources

- https://docs.mongodb.org/manual/tutorial/install-mongodb-on-os-x/
- http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5596521/what-is-the-correct-way-to-start-a-mongod-service-on-linux-os-x
- https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Darwin/Reference/ManPages/man1/launchctl.1.html

Install and manage a MongoDB data store on OSX using Homebrew and launchd.

How To: Set Up MongoDB on OSX with Homebrew and launchd

## Ubuntu's Aptitude for Context
I grew up on the 'PC' side of the computing coin. I was all about Windows, though I knew other options were out there. It wasn't until I started to developing on the full-stack that I was introduced to Linux via CLI which eventually led me to give Ubuntu Desktop a try.

By far, the best part of sliding over to Linux (Ubuntu in my case) was handling most software through Aptitude, Ubuntu's package manager. Amazingly, updating the system is as simple as running two commands...

```bash
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
```

Aptitude will touch the sky and update my machine to the latest and greatest. Adding and removing applications and libraries is similarly straight-forward, handling all the dependencies as necessary. Life could not be easier! 

Package management is a smart move for handling software dependencies and the approach has been picked up by a number of systems and languages. Some examples include **npm** for NodeJS, **pacman** for Arch Linux, and **pip** for Python. 

##Homebrew, the OSX Package Manager
Homebrew (http://brew.sh/) is the 'missing package manager for OSX', it brings all the package management niceties to your Mac. You can install Homebrew by typing the following command in Terminal.

```bash
ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"
```

After running through the installation script, you will be able to install any of the 'formulas' (Homebrew's name for packages) available at [Homebrew Formulas](http://brewformulas.org) immediately. A popular package you might reach for as a web developer is nginx. If you search 'nginx' on Homebrew Formulas, you'll see just how easy it is to install the web server on your system.

```bash
brew install nginx
```
After Homebrew sets up nginx, you can run `sudo nginx` and your server is up and running on the default configuration. You can test this right in Terminal by using the command `curl localhost:8080`, you will get back the HTML markup for the nginx default page. 

## But wait, there's more!
You may notice some of your favorite software packages are missing from the Homebrew Formulas list. For example, you won't find Apache or PHP there, but they are some of the most popular software packages on the web! Surely, they must be supported.

And they are, but you need to look for them in different repositories. Additional repositories are available as 'taps', a full list is available at https://github.com/homebrew/repositories. You can add a 'tap' to, say, install PHP, by running the `tap` command.
```bash
brew tap homebrew/php
brew install php56
```
[Braumeister](http://braumeister.org/) is a great way to search formulas on some of these taps. 

## Homebrew Commands
Homebrew's CLI has a number of commands, here's what you'll be using most of the time. 

### See What's Installed
```bash
brew list
```
Not sure what you already have on your system? Fire off this command and it will return a list of software Homebrew is currently managing. 


### Upgrade Formulas
It's important to stay up to date and Homebrew makes it easy to upgrade software in bulk or piecemeal. 

```bash
brew update
```
The `update` command updates Homebrew and the formulas against the repositories but doesn't actually upgrade any of the software. It just lets Homebrew know what versions the software can upgrade to.

```bash
brew outdated
```
The `outdated` command shows what software packages can be updated. Included information is the current version installed and what version is available to upgrade to.

```bash
brew upgrade nginx
```
You can target specific formulas for upgrade by using the `upgrade` command with the package you'd like to upgrade.

```language-bash
brew upgrade
```
If you'd like to upgrade the whole shabang, just use `upgrade` alone.

```bash
brew pin nginx
```
You can also keep specific formulas from being upgraded when the lone `upgrade` command is used by employing the `pin` command. 

```bash
brew unpin nginx
```
To add pinned software back into the `upgrade` mix, use `unpin`


### Remove Formulas
```bash
brew uninstall nginx --force
```
To remove a formula, you use the `uninstall` command with the `--force` flag. Use this command with care. 


### Troubleshooting Issues
```bash
brew update
brew doctor
```
Sometimes system software updates or other such upgrades can leave some packages broken and unusable. Homebrew usually just needs to do a quick check of the system and make some changes to the software packages accordingly, or will instruct you on ways to resolve any issues plaguing Homebrew software. You can run `doctor` to do just that. Always run `update` before `doctor`.

---
Sources:
 
- https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew/blob/master/share/doc/homebrew/FAQ.md
- http://matthewcarriere.com/2013/08/05/how-to-install-and-use-homebrew/

Homebrew (http://brew.sh/) is the 'missing package manager for OSX', it brings all the package management niceties to your Mac.