These instructions are based on our specific use, but should work in general for MongoDB installations under OS X (tested up to 10.13.4 “High Sierra”).
MongoDB is available from the download center (community version); only there one can see which version is the most recent (there does not seem to be an “latest” endpoint).
The installation itself (including download) proceeds like this:
mkdir mongodb
curl -O https://fastdl.mongodb.org/osx/mongodb-osx-ssl-x86_64-4.0.2.tgz
tar -xvf mongodb-osx-ssl-x86_64-4.0.2.tgz -C ./mongodb --strip-components 1
sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/bin
sudo cp mongodb/bin/* /usr/local/bin/
sudo touch /var/log/mongodb.log
The databases have to go somewhere; one example with system-wide availability would be /data/db/mongodb/. The same path has to be used in the configuration below (--dbpath).
sudo mkdir -p /data/db/mongodb/
sudo chmod g+w /data/db/mongodb
sudo chmod o+w /data/db/mongodb
The following installation steps are only required for first time installations.
The last point is just to use a standard place for the DB files. This has to be reflected in the launch file, which in this case is saved as /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.mongo.mongod.plist. One has to write this as root, e.g. using
sudo nano /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.mongo.mongod.plist
… and paste the following content; then CTRL-O
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Label</key>
<string>org.mongo.mongod</string>
<key>RunAtLoad</key>
<true/>
<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
<string>/usr/local/bin/mongod</string>
<string>--dbpath</string>
<string>/data/db/mongodb/</string>
<string>--logpath</string>
<string>/var/log/mongodb.log</string>
<string>--bind_ip</string>
<string>127.0.0.1</string>
</array>
</dict>
</plist>
Now the launch file has to be activated; it will start mongos and keep it alive.
sudo chown root:wheel /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.mongo.mongod.plist
sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.mongo.mongod.plist
sudo launchctl start org.mongo.mongo