Book excerpt: Manage the huMONGOus amount of data collected through your web application with MongoDB. This authoritative introduction—written by a core contributor to the project—shows you the many advantages of using document-oriented databases, and demonstrates how this reliable, high-performance system allows for almost infinite horizontal scalability. This updated second edition provides guidance for database developers, advanced configuration for system administrators, and an overview of the concepts and use cases for other people on your project. Ideal for NoSQL newcomers and experienced MongoDB users alike, this guide provides numerous real-world schema design examples. Get started with MongoDB core concepts and vocabulary Perform basic write operations at different levels of safety and speed Create complex queries, with options for limiting, skipping, and sorting results Design an application that works well with MongoDB Aggregate data, including counting, finding distinct values, grouping documents, and using MapReduce Gather and interpret statistics about your collections and databases Set up replica sets and automatic failover in MongoDB Use sharding to scale horizontally, and learn how it impacts applications Delve into monitoring, security and authentication, backup/restore, and other administrative tasks