Authentication Examples¶

MongoDB supports several different authentication mechanisms. These examples cover all authentication methods currently supported by PyMongo, documenting Python module and MongoDB version dependencies.

Percent-Escaping Username and Password¶

Username and password must be percent-escaped with urllib.parse.quote_plus() in Python 3, or urllib.quote_plus() in Python 2, to be used in a MongoDB URI. For example, in Python 3:

>>> from pymongo import MongoClient
>>> import urllib.parse
>>> username = urllib.parse.quote_plus('user')
>>> username
'user'
>>> password = urllib.parse.quote_plus('pass/word')
>>> password
'pass%2Fword'
>>> MongoClient('mongodb://%s:%s@127.0.0.1' % (username, password))
...

SCRAM-SHA-1 (RFC 5802)¶

New in version 2.8.

SCRAM-SHA-1 is the default authentication mechanism supported by a cluster configured for authentication with MongoDB 3.0 or later. Authentication requires a username, a password, and a database name. The default database name is “admin”, this can be overidden with the authSource option. Credentials can be specified as arguments to MongoClient:

>>> from pymongo import MongoClient
>>> client = MongoClient('example.com',
...                      username='user',
...                      password='password',
...                      authSource='the_database',
...                      authMechanism='SCRAM-SHA-1')

Or through the MongoDB URI:

>>> uri = "mongodb://user:password@example.com/the_database?authMechanism=SCRAM-SHA-1"
>>> client = MongoClient(uri)

For best performance on Python versions older than 2.7.8 install backports.pbkdf2.

MONGODB-CR¶

Before MongoDB 3.0 the default authentication mechanism was MONGODB-CR, the “MongoDB Challenge-Response” protocol:

>>> from pymongo import MongoClient
>>> client = MongoClient('example.com',
...                      username='user',
...                      password='password',
...                      authMechanism='MONGODB-CR')
>>>
>>> uri = "mongodb://user:password@example.com/the_database?authMechanism=MONGODB-CR"
>>> client = MongoClient(uri)

Default Authentication Mechanism¶

If no mechanism is specified, PyMongo automatically uses MONGODB-CR when connected to a pre-3.0 version of MongoDB, and SCRAM-SHA-1 when connected to a recent version.

Default Database and “authSource”¶

You can specify both a default database and the authentication database in the URI:

>>> uri = "mongodb://user:password@example.com/default_db?authSource=admin"
>>> client = MongoClient(uri)

PyMongo will authenticate on the “admin” database, but the default database will be “default_db”:

>>> # get_database with no "name" argument chooses the DB from the URI
>>> db = MongoClient(uri).get_database()
>>> print(db.name)
'default_db'

MONGODB-X509¶

New in version 2.6.

The MONGODB-X509 mechanism authenticates a username derived from the distinguished subject name of the X.509 certificate presented by the driver during SSL negotiation. This authentication method requires the use of SSL connections with certificate validation and is available in MongoDB 2.6 and newer:

>>> import ssl
>>> from pymongo import MongoClient
>>> client = MongoClient('example.com',
...                      username="<X.509 derived username>"
...                      authMechanism="MONGODB-X509",
...                      ssl=True,
...                      ssl_certfile='/path/to/client.pem',
...                      ssl_cert_reqs=ssl.CERT_REQUIRED,
...                      ssl_ca_certs='/path/to/ca.pem')

MONGODB-X509 authenticates against the $external virtual database, so you do not have to specify a database in the URI:

>>> uri = "mongodb://<X.509 derived username>@example.com/?authMechanism=MONGODB-X509"
>>> client = MongoClient(uri,
...                      ssl=True,
...                      ssl_certfile='/path/to/client.pem',
...                      ssl_cert_reqs=ssl.CERT_REQUIRED,
...                      ssl_ca_certs='/path/to/ca.pem')
>>>

Changed in version 3.4: When connected to MongoDB >= 3.4 the username is no longer required.

GSSAPI (Kerberos)¶

New in version 2.5.

GSSAPI (Kerberos) authentication is available in the Enterprise Edition of MongoDB.

Unix¶

To authenticate using GSSAPI you must first install the python kerberos or pykerberos module using easy_install or pip. Make sure you run kinit before using the following authentication methods:

$ kinit mongodbuser@EXAMPLE.COM
mongodbuser@EXAMPLE.COM's Password:
$ klist
Credentials cache: FILE:/tmp/krb5cc_1000
        Principal: mongodbuser@EXAMPLE.COM

  Issued                Expires               Principal
Feb  9 13:48:51 2013  Feb  9 23:48:51 2013  krbtgt/EXAMPLE.COM@EXAMPLE.COM

Now authenticate using the MongoDB URI. GSSAPI authenticates against the $external virtual database so you do not have to specify a database in the URI:

>>> # Note: the kerberos principal must be url encoded.
>>> from pymongo import MongoClient
>>> uri = "mongodb://mongodbuser%40EXAMPLE.COM@mongo-server.example.com/?authMechanism=GSSAPI"
>>> client = MongoClient(uri)
>>>

The default service name used by MongoDB and PyMongo is mongodb. You can specify a custom service name with the authMechanismProperties option:

>>> from pymongo import MongoClient
>>> uri = "mongodb://mongodbuser%40EXAMPLE.COM@mongo-server.example.com/?authMechanism=GSSAPI&authMechanismProperties=SERVICE_NAME:myservicename"
>>> client = MongoClient(uri)

Windows (SSPI)¶

New in version 3.3.

First install the winkerberos module. Unlike authentication on Unix kinit is not used. If the user to authenticate is different from the user that owns the application process provide a password to authenticate:

>>> uri = "mongodb://mongodbuser%40EXAMPLE.COM:mongodbuserpassword@example.com/?authMechanism=GSSAPI"

Two extra authMechanismProperties are supported on Windows platforms:

CANONICALIZE_HOST_NAME - Uses the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the MongoDB host for the server principal (GSSAPI libraries on Unix do this by default):
```
>>> uri = "mongodb://mongodbuser%40EXAMPLE.COM@example.com/?authMechanism=GSSAPI&authMechanismProperties=CANONICALIZE_HOST_NAME:true"
```

SERVICE_REALM - This is used when the user’s realm is different from the service’s realm:

>>> uri = "mongodb://mongodbuser%40EXAMPLE.COM@example.com/?authMechanism=GSSAPI&authMechanismProperties=SERVICE_REALM:otherrealm"

SASL PLAIN (RFC 4616)¶

New in version 2.6.

MongoDB Enterprise Edition version 2.6 and newer support the SASL PLAIN authentication mechanism, initially intended for delegating authentication to an LDAP server. Using the PLAIN mechanism is very similar to MONGODB-CR. These examples use the $external virtual database for LDAP support:

>>> from pymongo import MongoClient
>>> uri = "mongodb://user:password@example.com/?authMechanism=PLAIN&authSource=$external"
>>> client = MongoClient(uri)
>>>

SASL PLAIN is a clear-text authentication mechanism. We strongly recommend that you connect to MongoDB using SSL with certificate validation when using the SASL PLAIN mechanism:

>>> import ssl
>>> from pymongo import MongoClient
>>> uri = "mongodb://user:password@example.com/?authMechanism=PLAIN&authSource=$external"
>>> client = MongoClient(uri,
...                      ssl=True,
...                      ssl_certfile='/path/to/client.pem',
...                      ssl_cert_reqs=ssl.CERT_REQUIRED,
...                      ssl_ca_certs='/path/to/ca.pem')
>>>