For an introduction to Databases, and their role in webapps, see the article:

MongoDB on mLab

MongoDB is a particular implementation of a NoSQL database. It creates a Database, which contains Collections, which contains Documents. This is an image of an example:

There are multiple hosting providers that offer MongoDB implementations “in the cloud” as a service.

The particular one we’ll be using for SPIS 2016 is called mLab (https://www.mlab.com). We are using mLab because:

Use mLab.com directly, not via the Heroku mLab add-on

Note that we NOT using mLab MongoDB Add-On for Heroku—instead, we are using mLab directly through its own console at https://www.mlab.com.

Wait, why aren’t we using the mLab add-on.

Although it is slightly more convenient to use the Heroku mLab add-on, that add-on requires entering a credit card into Heroku (even though it is free). What using the Heroku add-on buys you is that with one click, you can:

When you use mLab directly, you have to do those steps manually. Fortunately, that isn’t very difficult. It’s just slightly tedious, but you typically only have to do it once per application, and then you never have to worry about it again (at least not for that app.)

As an aside, what is free on Heroku?

In fact, the only free services on Heroku that do not require entering a credit card are:

Let’s get started

Click here to go to the article where we will walk you through the steps needed to implement a MongoDB database in your web app!

References