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createUser

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Definition

createUser

Creates a new user on the database where you run the command. The createUser command returns a duplicate user error if the user exists. The createUser command uses the following syntax:

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{ createUser: "<name>",
  pwd: "<cleartext password>",
  customData: { <any information> },
  roles: [
    { role: "<role>", db: "<database>" } | "<role>",
    ...
  ],
  writeConcern: { <write concern> },
  digestPassword: <boolean>
}

createUser has the following fields:

Field Type Description
createUser string The name of the new user.
pwd string The user’s password. The pwd field is not required if you run 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.
digestPassword boolean Optional. When true, the mongod instance will create the hash of the user password; otherwise, the client is responsible for creating the hash of the password. Defaults to true.
writeConcern document Optional. The level of write concern for the creation operation. The writeConcern document takes the same fields as the getLastError command.

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 createUser runs, you can either specify the role with the name of the role:

copy 
"readWrite"

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

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

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

Behavior

User Id

Starting in version 3.4.22, MongoDB 3.4 automatically assigns a unique userId to the user upon creation.

Encryption

Warning

By default, createUser sends all specified data to the MongoDB instance in cleartext. Use TLS transport encryption to protect communications between clients and the server, including the password sent by createUser. For instructions on enabling TLS transport encryption, see Configure mongod and mongos for TLS/SSL.

MongoDB does not store the password in cleartext. The password is only vulnerable in transit between the client and the server, and only if TLS transport encryption is not enabled.

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

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

Example

The following createUser command creates a user accountAdmin01 on the products database. The command gives accountAdmin01 the clusterAdmin and readAnyDatabase roles on the admin database and the readWrite role on the products database:

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

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