db.createUser()¶

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Definition
Behavior
Required Access
Examples

Definition¶

db.createUser(user, writeConcern)¶

Creates a new user for the database where the method runs. db.createUser() returns a duplicate user error if the user already exists on the database.

The db.createUser() method has the following syntax:

Field	Type	Description
`user`	document	The document with authentication and access information about the user to create.
`writeConcern`	document	Optional. The level of write concern for the creation operation. The `writeConcern` document takes the same fields as the `getLastError` command.

The user document defines the user and has the following form:

{ user: "<name>",
  pwd: "<cleartext password>",
  customData: { <any information> },
  roles: [
    { role: "<role>", db: "<database>" } | "<role>",
    ...
  ]
}

The user document has the following fields:

Field	Type	Description
`user`	string	The name of the new user.
`pwd`	string	The user’s password. The `pwd` field is not required if you run `db.createUser()` on the `$external` database to create users who have credentials stored externally to MongoDB.
`customData`	document	Optional. Any arbitrary information. This field can be used to store any data an admin wishes to associate with this particular user. For example, this could be the user’s full name or employee id.
`roles`	array	The roles granted to the user. Can specify an empty array `[]` to create users without roles.

In the roles field, you can specify both built-in roles and user-defined role.

To specify a role that exists in the same database where db.createUser() runs, you can either specify the role with the name of the role:

"readWrite"

Or you can specify the role with a document, as in:

{ role: "<role>", db: "<database>" }

To specify a role that exists in a different database, specify the role with a document.

The db.createUser() method wraps the createUser command.

Behavior¶

Encryption¶

db.createUser() sends password to the MongoDB instance without encryption. To encrypt the password during transmission, use TLS/SSL.

External Credentials¶

Users created on the $external database should have credentials stored externally to MongoDB, as, for example, with MongoDB Enterprise installations that use Kerberos.

`local` Database¶

You cannot create users on the local database.

Required Access¶

To create a new user in a database, you must have createUser action on that database resource.
To grant roles to a user, you must have the grantRole action on the role’s database.

Built-in roles userAdmin and userAdminAnyDatabase provide createUser and grantRole actions on their respective resources.

Examples¶

The following db.createUser() operation creates the accountAdmin01 user on the products database.

use products
db.createUser( { "user" : "accountAdmin01",
                 "pwd": "cleartext password",
                 "customData" : { employeeId: 12345 },
                 "roles" : [ { role: "clusterAdmin", db: "admin" },
                             { role: "readAnyDatabase", db: "admin" },
                             "readWrite"
                             ] },
               { w: "majority" , wtimeout: 5000 } )

The operation gives accountAdmin01 the following roles:

the clusterAdmin and readAnyDatabase roles on the admin database
the readWrite role on the products database

Create User with Roles¶

The following operation creates accountUser in the products database and gives the user the readWrite and dbAdmin roles.

use products
db.createUser(
   {
     user: "accountUser",
     pwd: "password",
     roles: [ "readWrite", "dbAdmin" ]
   }
)

Create User Without Roles¶

The following operation creates a user named reportsUser in the admin database but does not yet assign roles:

use admin
db.createUser(
   {
     user: "reportsUser",
     pwd: "password",
     roles: [ ]
   }
)

Create Administrative User with Roles¶

The following operation creates a user named appAdmin in the admin database and gives the user readWrite access to the config database, which lets the user change certain settings for sharded clusters, such as to the balancer setting.

use admin
db.createUser(
   {
     user: "appAdmin",
     pwd: "password",
     roles:
       [
         { role: "readWrite", db: "config" },
         "clusterAdmin"
       ]
   }
)

← db.auth() db.updateUser() →

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