Mongo opens too many connections

Question

I am trying to write a lot of data to MongoDB, in a Java loop. I am getting errors based on the number of connections open.

My theory is that since MongoDB is not transactional, lots of connections can be opened simultaneously. However the Java code is also able to loop very fast, after a certain time the number of loop iterations starts overtaking the number of available connections and Mongo hits a wall.

My code looks like this. I've seen it recommended to not do m.close() but then you just get the error even faster.

public static void upsert(){
    Mongo m = null;
    DB db = null;

    try {
    m = new Mongo("localhost");
    db = m.getDB("sempedia");    } catch (UnknownHostException e1) { e1.printStackTrace(); } catch (MongoException e1) { e1.printStackTrace(); }

    // create documents
    // I am doing an upsert - hence the doc, doc
    DBCollection triples;
try {
        triples = db.getCollection("triples");
        triples.update(doc,doc,true,false); 
    } catch (MongoException e) { e.printStackTrace(); }

    m.close();
}

In my java console I get this error:

WARNING: Exception determining maxBSON size using0 java.net.SocketException: Connection reset

And mongodb gives this error:

Tue Oct 25 22:31:39 [initandlisten] connection refused because too many open connections: 204 of 204

What would be the most elegant way to deal with this issue?

If you're doing this in a loop (ie, not async), why do you need more than one connection? — AHungerArtist, Oct 25 '11 at 14:56
The loop calls this method. I'd like to keep all the database code separate from the logic. But I am pretty sure there's a better way than what I am doing. — Ankur, Oct 25 '11 at 14:59
@AHungerArtist - btw thanks, I see what you're saying. I'll find a way to only use a single Mongo connection — Ankur, Oct 25 '11 at 15:01

score 22 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 25 '11 at 15:40

You are creating an instance of the Mongo class for each individual operation. That won't work since each instance will create and hold at least one connection (but by default, 10) and those connections will only be removed if the Java GC cleans up your Mongo instance or when you invoke close().

The problem is that in both cases you're creating them faster than they are being closed even using a single thread. This will exhaust the maximum amount of connections in a hurry. The right fix is to keep one Mongo instance around using the singleton pattern (Mongo.Holder provides functionality for this, try Mongo.Holder.connect(..)). A quick "fix" is to increase the file descriptor limit on your machine so the maximum amount of connections is considerably higher but obviously you eventually might hit the same limit. You can check your current max using (in shell) :

db.serverStatus().connections

TL;DR : Treat a Mongo instance as a singleton and make them as long-lived as possible and you're golden. Implementing a MongoFactory with a static method getInstance() that returns a lazily created instance will do the trick just fine. Good luck.

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 21 '14 at 10:12

You're making a new MongoClient everytime you come through your method.

I had this problem as well, but i solved it making a checkConnection function:

private static DBCollection checkConnection(String collection) throws UnknownHostException{
    if(db == null){
        db = (new MongoClient(host, port)).getDB(database);
    }
    return db.getCollection(collection);
}

On top where you instantiate your variables, have this:

private static DB db = null;
private static String database = "<Your database>";
private static String host = "localhost"; //<--- usually localhost
private static int port = 27017; //<---- usually 27017, but you can change it.

Then when you make a method, have it like this:

 public <whatever> someFunction() throws UnknownHostException{
    DBCollection dbCollection = checkConnection("triples"); //<--- can be "triples"
                                                    //or whatever collection you want

     <REST OF YOUR FUNCTION HERE USING THE AMAZING COLLECTION
 }

This approach has a few advantage:

- Code reusability, you won't have to write the same thing at every method
- Readability, which programmer doesn't understand this: 
  DBCollection dbCollection = checkConnection("triples");  
- ONLY ONE CONNECTION WHICH YOU RE-USE (this doesn't affect data not being synced)

Hope I helped

Mongo opens too many connections

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