MONGODB-ASSOCIATE-DBA: MongoDB Associate Database Administrator
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Exam Resources
Official learning paths, exam details, skills measured, and community resources to supplement your study.
About the MongoDB Associate DBA Exam
Master the MongoDB Associate Database Administrator certification (C100DBA) — mongod and mongos server administration, the WiredTiger storage engine, replica sets and replication, sharded clusters and shard-key design, security and RBAC, backup and point-in-time recovery, and monitoring.
The complete practice exam for the MongoDB Associate Database Administrator certification (C100DBA). Covers server administration (mongod/mongos configuration, the WiredTiger storage engine with cache/compression/journaling, mongosh and admin commands, the Database Tools, feature-compatibility version), replication (replica-set architecture, rs.initiate/reconfig, member priority and votes, arbiters and hidden/delayed members, the oplog and initial sync, elections, read preferences and write concerns, rollback and lag), sharding (shards, config servers and mongos, shard-key selection, ranged vs hashed, chunks and the balancer, zones, sh.status, troubleshooting hotspots), security (SCRAM/x.509/LDAP/Kerberos authentication, built-in and custom RBAC roles, TLS, encryption at rest and field-level encryption, auditing), backup and recovery (mongodump/mongorestore, snapshots, Atlas/Ops Manager backup, oplog PITR), and monitoring (serverStatus/currentOp, mongostat/mongotop, the profiler, Atlas/Cloud Manager alerts) — every question a real-world scenario with full explanations.
Who Should Take This Exam?
The MongoDB Associate DBA certification is designed for database administrators, system administrators, DevOps engineers, and site reliability engineers who deploy, secure, and operate MongoDB. It validates practical, hands-on knowledge of configuring mongod/mongos, running replica sets and sharded clusters, securing deployments with authentication and RBAC, backing up and restoring data, and monitoring health and performance — the day-to-day skills an operator uses to keep MongoDB available and fast.
Prerequisites: None (about 6 months of MongoDB administration experience is recommended)
Typical study time: 4-6 weeks of focused study
Exam Quick Facts
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Exam Code | MongoDB Associate DBA (C100DBA) |
| Title | MongoDB Associate Database Administrator |
| Duration | 75 minutes |
| Questions | 62 |
| Pass Score | ~65% (pass/fail; cut not publicly published) |
| Cost | $150 USD |
| Provider | MongoDB University (online proctored) |
| Validity | 3 years |
| Prerequisites | None (~6 months administration experience recommended) |
| Question Types | Multiple choice, Multiple select |
| Official Page | View on MongoDB University → |
Exam Domains & Weights
The MongoDB Associate DBA exam covers 6 domains. Focus your study time based on the weights below — higher-weighted domains have more exam questions.
| Domain | Weight | Practice Qs |
|---|---|---|
| Server Administration | 25% | 62 |
| Replication | 20% | 50 |
| Sharding | 20% | 50 |
| Security | 15% | 38 |
| Backup and Recovery | 10% | 25 |
| Monitoring | 10% | 25 |
| Total | 100% | 250 |
💡 Study tip: Server Administration and the two distribution domains (Replication + Sharding) together make up two-thirds of the exam, so prioritise them. Know
mongod.confkeys and WiredTiger behaviour (cache sizing, snappy/zlib/zstd compression, journaling, checkpoints), replica-set elections and the difference between read preferences and write concerns (w:1vsw:majority,j:true), and shard-key selection (high cardinality, non-monotonic) plus how chunks and the balancer distribute data. Security (15%) is about authentication mechanisms (SCRAM, x.509, LDAP, Kerberos), least-privilege RBAC, and TLS. Backup and Monitoring are smaller but reward hands-on practice withmongodump/mongorestore, PITR,mongostat/mongotop, and the database profiler.
Practice Exam — 250 Questions
Prepare for the MongoDB Associate DBA with our 250-question practice exam covering all 6 exam domains. Every question includes detailed explanations and maps to the official exam objectives.
What you get:
- ✅ Exam simulation mode with timer
- ✅ Spaced repetition for weak areas
- ✅ Detailed explanations for every question
- ✅ Progress tracking across domains
- ✅ 20 free questions — no account needed
MongoDB Certification Path
If you build applications on MongoDB, start with the MongoDB Associate Developer; if you deploy and operate MongoDB, the MongoDB Associate Database Administrator is your credential. Both are role-based associate certifications built on the same document-model and Atlas foundations, so the developer and DBA tracks complement each other.
Study Tips
- Prioritise replication and sharding — together they are 40% of the exam; understand elections, member roles, oplog/lag, shard-key design, chunks, and the balancer
- Use our practice exam — try the 20 free questions first to gauge your readiness
- Get hands-on with
mongoshand Atlas — stand up a replica set and a sharded cluster, then break and recover them to internalise the operations - Know
w:majorityvsj:true— write concern controls how many members acknowledge;j:truewaits for the on-disk journal — they solve different durability problems - Review explanations — don’t just check if you got it right; read why each answer is correct
- Check the official page — official exam details always have the latest objectives