MongoDB Benchmarking

Benchmark MongoDB with YCSB

YCSB (Yahoo! Cloud Serving Benchmark) is an open-source tool for evaluating NoSQL databases under various workloads. It simulates operations such as writes, updates, and scans to mimic production traffic.

Install YCSB from source

Install build tools and clone YCSB, then build the MongoDB binding:

    

        
        
sudo dnf install -y git maven java-11-openjdk-devel
git clone https://github.com/brianfrankcooper/YCSB.git
cd YCSB
mvn -pl site.ycsb:mongodb-binding -am clean package


## Load initial data 

Load a starter dataset (defaults to 1,000 records) into MongoDB:
```console
./bin/ycsb load mongodb -s \
  -P workloads/workloada \
  -p mongodb.url=mongodb://127.0.0.1:27017/ycsb

    

This prepares the database for the performance test.

Run a mixed workload

Run Workload A (50% reads, 50% updates) and collect metrics:

    

        
        
./bin/ycsb run mongodb -s \
  -P workloads/workloada \
  -p mongodb.url=mongodb://127.0.0.1:27017/ycsb

    

Workload A is a balanced workload:

• 50% reads
• 50% updates

This simulates common real-world applications like session stores or shopping carts.

Sample output:

    

        
        [READ], Operations, 534
[READ], AverageLatency(us), 312.96
[READ], MinLatency(us), 156
[READ], MaxLatency(us), 8279
...
[UPDATE], Operations, 466
[UPDATE], AverageLatency(us), 384.45
[UPDATE], MinLatency(us), 186
[UPDATE], MaxLatency(us), 26543
...
[OVERALL], RunTime(ms), 512
[OVERALL], Throughput(ops/sec), 1953.125

        
    

Understand YCSB metrics

• Operations Count: Total operations performed for each type (for example, READ, UPDATE).
• Average Latency (us): The average time to complete each operation, measured in microseconds.
• Min Latency / Max Latency (us): The fastest and slowest observed times for any single operation of that type.

With YCSB installed and benchmark results captured, you now have a baseline for MongoDB’s performance under mixed workloads.

Benchmark summary on x86_64

To better understand how MongoDB behaves across architectures, YCSB benchmark workloads were run on both an x86_64 (C3 Standard) and an Arm64 (C4A Standard) virtual machine, each with 4 vCPUs and 16 GB of memory, running RHEL 9.

Results from a c3-standard-4 instance (4 vCPUs, 16 GB RAM) on RHEL 9:

Benchmark summary on Arm64 (Google Axion C4A):

Results from a c4a-standard-4 instance (4 vCPUs, 16 GB RAM) on RHEL 9:

Highlights from the C4A Arm VM

• Lower average latencies on Arm: ~313 µs (READ) and ~384 µs (UPDATE).

• Stable p50–p99 latencies indicate consistent performance.

• Occasional max-latency outliers suggest transient spikes common in mixed workloads.

With YCSB built and results captured, you now have a baseline for MongoDB performance on Arm-based Google Axion C4A. You can iterate on dataset size, thread counts, and workloads (A–F) to profile additional scenarios and compare cost-performance across architectures.