Auditing and Logging in MongoDB

Auditing and logging are essential components of maintaining the security and integrity of your MongoDB databases. They help in tracking user activities, monitoring database changes, and diagnosing issues that may arise.

MongoDB provides a built-in auditing feature that allows you to track and log the operations performed on your database. This includes authentication attempts, CRUD operations, and changes to the database schema.

2.1 Enabling Auditing

To enable auditing in MongoDB, you must modify the mongod.conf configuration file. Below is an example configuration:

security:
  authorization: enabled
  auditLog:
    destination: file
    format: BSON
    path: /var/log/mongodb/audit.log
    filter: '{ atype: { $in: [ "createUser", "dropUser", "updateUser" ] } }'

2.2 Viewing Audit Logs

Once auditing is enabled and the MongoDB server is running, you can view the logs by accessing the specified log file:

cat /var/log/mongodb/audit.log

MongoDB logs all operations by default, but you can configure logging to suit your needs.

3.1 Configuring Log Level

You can specify the log level in the mongod.conf file. The log levels available are:

• FATAL
• ERROR
• WARNING
• INFO
• DEBUG

Example configuration for setting log level:

systemLog:
  destination: file
  logAppend: true
  path: /var/log/mongodb/mongod.log
  verbosity: 0

3.2 Analyzing Log Files

Logs can be analyzed using various tools or scripts. For example, using the grep command to find specific entries:

grep "Error" /var/log/mongodb/mongod.log

Here are some best practices for auditing and logging in MongoDB:

1. Always enable auditing to monitor important actions.
2. Regularly review log files to identify suspicious activities.
3. Use log rotation to manage log file sizes.
4. Protect log files with appropriate file permissions.
5. Consider integrating with centralized logging solutions for better visibility.