Step 2: Cluster

Revisit the MongoDB Atlas website and sign into your account.

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When you are redirected to your dashboard, you will see the following view. Next, click on "Build a Database.”

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Select the "Shared" (free) cluster.

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You will be presented with the initial settings of your cluster. (Each MongoDB deployment that is managed by Atlas is called a "cluster.")

You can leave the cloud provider and region as it is suggested. For example, based on my location, the following were suggested to me:

  • Cloud Provider: AWS
  • Region: N. Virginia (us-east-1)

Moreover, leave the cluster tier to its default selection of M0 (Shared RAM, 512 MB Storage). This is the free forever tier.

Notice the additional settings: there is no backup plan! You must pay if you want to enable backup.

You may want to change the cluster name. Notice the cluster name by default is Cluster0. You can change this now. However, once your cluster is created, you won't be able to change its name.