🚀 MongoDB Golden Path Template

The recommended way to provision production-ready MongoDB infrastructure with a single click

What is a Golden Path?

A Golden Path is an opinionated, well-architected solution that represents the best practice for a common use case. Instead of making developers choose between dozens of options and potentially making mistakes, the Golden Path provides a pre-validated, production-ready solution.

🎯 What This Template Does

With one simple request, this template automatically provisions:

Complete Infrastructure Stack

graph TB
    subgraph "What You Get"
        MongoDB["🗄️ MongoDB Database<br/>Document Store"]
        Cluster["☸️ Kubernetes Cluster<br/>3 nodes, HA"]
        DNS["🌐 DNS Record<br/>Stable endpoint"]
        Network["🔒 Network Security<br/>Firewall rules"]
    end
    
    subgraph "How It's Connected"
        MongoDB --> Cluster
        DNS --> MongoDB
        Network --> Cluster
    end
    
    Developer["👩‍💻 Developer"] -->|"One Template"| MongoDB
    
    style MongoDB fill:#f9f,stroke:#333,stroke-width:4px
    style Developer fill:#bbf,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px

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🆚 Golden Path vs. Individual Components

❌ The Hard Way (Individual Components)

# Step 1: Create a cluster
backstage template:create service-cluster-template

# Step 2: Wait for cluster...
# Step 3: Create DNS
backstage template:create service-dnsrecord-template

# Step 4: Configure DNS to point to cluster...
# Step 5: Create firewall rules
backstage template:create service-firewall-template

# Step 6: Configure network policies...
# Step 7: Finally create MongoDB
backstage template:create service-mongodb-template

# Step 8: Wire everything together...
# Step 9: Hope it all works...

Problems:

• 🔴 7+ manual steps
• 🔴 Complex dependencies to manage
• 🔴 Easy to misconfigure
• 🔴 No guarantee components work together
• 🔴 Time consuming

✅ The Golden Path (This Template)

# Step 1: Create everything with proper configuration
backstage template:create service-mongodb-golden-path-template

# Done! ✨

Benefits:

• 🟢 1 step
• 🟢 Pre-validated configuration
• 🟢 Guaranteed compatibility
• 🟢 Production-ready defaults
• 🟢 5 minutes to production

📊 Architecture

System Model in Backstage

System: mongodb-stack
├── Resource: mongodb (depends on → cluster, dns)
├── Resource: cluster 
├── Resource: dns (depends on → cluster)
└── Resource: firewall (protects → cluster)

Crossplane Composition

The template uses Crossplane to manage the infrastructure declaratively:

1. MongoDB XRD defines the API
2. Composition orchestrates the resource creation:
   • Creates Kubernetes cluster
   • Provisions MongoDB on the cluster
   • Sets up DNS records
   • Configures security rules
3. Single Claim triggers the entire stack

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Backstage instance with this template installed
• Crossplane installed in your cluster
• GitHub account for repository creation

Usage

1. In Backstage UI:

   • Navigate to "Create Component"
   • Select "🚀 MongoDB Golden Path"
   • Fill in just 3 fields:
     • Stack name
     • Storage size
     • Team owner

2. Apply Infrastructure:

   kubectl apply -f https://github.com/open-service-portal/[your-repo]/example.yaml

3. Get Connection String:

   kubectl get mongodb [stack-name] -o jsonpath='{.status.connString}'

📈 Stacked Services Concept

This template demonstrates the Stacked Services pattern:

Level 1: Base Infrastructure

• Kubernetes Cluster
• Network Security

Level 2: Platform Services

• DNS Management
• Service Discovery

Level 3: Application Services

• MongoDB Database
• Connection Management

Each level depends on the one below, creating a stable, scalable stack.

🎯 When to Use This Template

Use the Golden Path when:

• ✅ You need a production-ready MongoDB quickly
• ✅ You want best-practice configuration
• ✅ You prefer convention over configuration
• ✅ You're building a standard application

Use Individual Templates when:

• ⚠️ You have specific infrastructure requirements
• ⚠️ You need custom networking setup
• ⚠️ You're integrating with existing infrastructure
• ⚠️ You need fine-grained control

📖 Backstage Concepts Used

1. Software Templates

• Defined in template.yaml
• Uses scaffolder actions to create resources
• Implements the golden path pattern

2. System Model

• Groups related components
• Shows dependencies with dependsOn
• Creates a system view in the catalog

3. Relations

• partOf: Components are part of the system
• dependsOn: Shows resource dependencies
• ownedBy: Indicates team ownership

4. Catalog Registration

• Automatically registers all components
• Creates a unified view in Backstage
• Enables discovery and documentation

🔧 Customization

While this is an opinionated template, you can customize:

In template.yaml:

• Adjust parameter defaults
• Add more configuration options
• Modify the UI presentation

In composition.yaml:

• Change cluster size/configuration
• Adjust MongoDB settings
• Modify network policies

📚 References & Best Practices

Based on industry best practices and official documentation:

1. Backstage System Model - How to model infrastructure
2. Crossplane Compositions - Infrastructure as Code
3. Golden Path Pattern - Platform engineering concepts
4. Spotify's Golden Paths - Original concept from Spotify

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Areas for improvement:

• Add more cloud provider options
• Support for different MongoDB configurations
• Integration with monitoring/observability
• Cost optimization options
• Backup and disaster recovery

📝 License

MIT License - See LICENSE file

🆘 Support

• GitHub Issues: Report issues here
• Discussions: Ask questions
• Documentation: Platform Docs

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Built with ❤️ by the Platform Engineering Team
Making infrastructure simple, one golden path at a time