Service mongod fails after adding security.keyFile in config file

Question

My mongo.conf:

# where to write logging data.
systemLog:
  destination: file
  logAppend: true
  path: /var/log/mongodb/mongod.log

# Where and how to store data.
storage:
  dbPath: /var/lib/mongo
  journal:
    enabled: true
#  engine:
#  mmapv1:
#  wiredTiger:

# how the process runs
processManagement:
  fork: true  # fork and run in background
  pidFilePath: /var/run/mongodb/mongod.pid  # location of pidfile

# network interfaces
net:
  port: 27017
  bindIp: [127.0.0.1, 172.24.16.25]  # Listen to local interface only, comment to listen on all interfaces.


security:
  authorization: enabled
  keyFile: '~/rsKeyFile'

Issue: When i perform service mongod restart after adding keyFile in mongo.conf as shown above

keyFile: '~/rsKeyFile'

My service fails when i check service mongod status it says:

"/etc/mongod.conf" 47L, 851C written
[root@788978-APP06 ~]# service mongod restart
Redirecting to /bin/systemctl restart  mongod.service
[root@788978-APP06 ~]# service mongod status
Redirecting to /bin/systemctl status  mongod.service
â mongod.service - High-performance, schema-free document-oriented database
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/mongod.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Thu 2017-05-18 06:19:43 PDT; 2s ago
     Docs: https://docs.mongodb.org/manual
  Process: 24066 ExecStart=/usr/bin/mongod $OPTIONS run (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
  Process: 24064 ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/chmod 0755 /var/run/mongodb (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
  Process: 24060 ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/chown mongod:mongod /var/run/mongodb (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
  Process: 24056 ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/mkdir -p /var/run/mongodb (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
 Main PID: 24066 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)

May 18 06:19:43 788978-APP06.dgsworld.com systemd[1]: Starting High-performance, schema-free document-oriented database...
May 18 06:19:43 788978-APP06.dgsworld.com systemd[1]: Started High-performance, schema-free document-oriented database.
May 18 06:19:43 788978-APP06.dgsworld.com mongod[24066]: about to fork child process, waiting until server is ready for connections.
May 18 06:19:43 788978-APP06.dgsworld.com mongod[24066]: forked process: 24069
May 18 06:19:43 788978-APP06.dgsworld.com mongod[24066]: ERROR: child process failed, exited with error number 1
May 18 06:19:43 788978-APP06.dgsworld.com systemd[1]: mongod.service: main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
May 18 06:19:43 788978-APP06.dgsworld.com systemd[1]: Unit mongod.service entered failed state.
May 18 06:19:43 788978-APP06.dgsworld.com systemd[1]: mongod.service failed.

I have 777 permissions on my rsKeyFile but still its not working, when i comment key fine in mongo.conf like given below and try restarting mongod service it works perfectly fine and show this Active: active (running) since Thu 2017-05-18 06:23:51 PDT; 2s ago status.

#keyFile: '~/rsKeyFile'

I am following this https://docs.mongodb.com/manual/tutorial/deploy-replica-set/

Please help, thanks in advance!!

Answer 1

Use full path for keyfile. Don't use ~ -character there. Your mongod is started (probably) with user 'mongod' and that user don't have home directory.

Additionally keyfile must be have chmod 0400 and ownership same than user who run mongod process (mongod).