Announcing the MongoDB 3.4 Bug Hunt

We are pleased to announce the availability of MongoDB 3.4.0-rc1, our first 3.4 release candidate. This release comes packed with new features and improvements; see the development release notes for more details. We’ve put the release through rigorous correctness, performance, and usability testing, and now it’s time to extend that rigor to as many application environments as we can. We are inviting you to help us ensure the quality of this release, and we want to give away some great prizes to those who do. Download 3.4.0-rc1 now The Bug Hunt The Bug Hunt rewards community members who help test and improve MongoDB releases during the release candidate period. We always welcome the community’s involvement in testing our release candidates and this year we’ll be providing you with resources for testing with our toolkit. New features include: Sort by collation SERVER-1920 Case-insensitive indices SERVER-90 Wire protocol compression for intra-cluster communication SERVER-3018 Faceted search SERVER-23654 Read-only views SERVER-142 Don’t Hunt Alone! Join or Organize a MongoDB User Group This year we are bringing the Bug Hunt from an online competition to an in-person, collaborative experience. We are encouraging our network of 100 MongoDB User Groups to meet over the next 8 weeks to hunt for bugs together. Find a MongoDB User Group in your town or city to join the hunt. The New York City, Dublin, and Sydney MUGs have already run very engaged Bug Hunts in anticipation of this wider event. A non-exhaustive list of MUGs that are planning an upcoming hunt include: Tel Aviv MUG - Wed, Oct 26 San Diego MUG - Thu, Oct 27 Philadelphia MUG - Wed, Nov 9 Austin MUG - Thu, Nov 10 Resources for MUG Organizers To help you organize an effective Bug Hunt, we offer several helpful resources. They include instructional material for testing, some sample code, and sticker packs for all participating MUG organizers: Instructional Video for Testing Presentation from the MongoDB Release Manager, Ramón Fernández, at NYC MongoDB User Group that you can use as a starting point for your MUG Github Repo with example code for new features and links to other resources Exclusive sticker pack for all MUG organizers running a Bug Hunt Prizes & Judging Your Tickets There will be one overall winner of the Bug Hunt, as well as honorable mentions. The winners will be judged on three criteria: user impact, severity, and prevalence. All valid submissions will be recognized on social media through the @mongodb Twitter handle. The grand prize winner for the Bug Hunt will be announced on the MongoDB blog and mongodb-user forum on the date of the Server Release. This year, we’re adding a prize for the most engaged user community. The organizers of the MUG with the highest participation will win a prize (see below) and bragging rights to the title “Most Engaged MongoDB User Group.” The community’s efforts have consistently been instrumental in improving the quality of MongoDB releases. You can view past winners for the 2.6 , 3.0 , and 3.2 Bug Hunts. First Prize $1,500 Amazon Gift Card $100 MongoDB Atlas credit Complimentary admission to MongoDB World 2017 or MongoDB Europe 2017 2 Professional Certification exam vouchers Recognition on our blog and in social media Honorable Mentions $500 Amazon Gift Card $100 MongoDB Atlas credit Complimentary admission to MongoDB World 2017 or MongoDB Europe 2017 1 Professional Certification exam voucher Recognition on our blog and in social media Most Engaged MUG 1 box of assorted MongoDB branded swag Recognition on our blog and in social media How to Get Started In order to make the most of our upcoming Bug Hunt meetup, it would be helpful to have the following items preinstalled in the environment you are going to use: MongoDB https://www.mongodb.com/download-center#community Download and install the latest available development release for your platform (currently 3.4.0-rc1). You can find installation instructions here . At the start of each testing session, you should check the link above to make sure you’re using the latest version. Always test with the most current version. A dataset https://www.citibikenyc.com/system-data CityBike, the New York City public bicycle system, makes available ride information datasets. Download one of the Citi Bike trip history datasets and use mongoimport to import this into your MongoDB installation. mtools https://github.com/rueckstiess/mtools While not required, mtools can help to quickly start up MongoDB deployments to test different configurations. The mtools scripts are written in Python and can be installed using pip install mtools . The mtools wiki has some O/S specific install tips and there is also an ubuntu-mtools Docker image available. What to Do Next After you have configured your computer for testing, do the following: Join the MongoDB Advocacy Hub Sign in to the MongoDB Advocacy Hub to take take guided challenges for testing MongoDB 3.4 (currently 3.4.0-rc1) and its drivers. By using the Advocacy Hub, you’ll earn points, and we’ll use it to keep track of your progress during the hunt. Find a MUG & Attend the Meetup Once you’re ready to hunt, it’s time to find a place to gather with other hunters. Your local MUG meetup is a natural option. MUGs that have committed to hosting upcoming Bug Hunts include: Tel Aviv MUG - Wed, Oct 26 San Diego MUG - Thu, Oct 27 Philadelphia MUG - Wed, Nov 9 Austin MUG - Thu, Nov 10 If you don’t see yours there, reach out to your local MUG organizers to see if they’re able to hold one. Deploy in Your Test Environment It is best to test software in a real environment with realistic data volumes and load. Help us see how the latest MongoDB works with your environment, code, and data so that others can build and run applications on MongoDB 3.4 successfully. Track the Bug Hunt To stay abreast of progress in the hunt, use the MongoDB 3.4 Bug Hunt Dashboard to view all reported issues. It will show you what others have discovered already so you don’t accidently file an already-reported bug. Test out New Database Features Check out the development release notes to see all the new features coming to MongoDB 3.4, and to find inspiration on where to hunt for bugs! The Github repository we’ve provided is a good starting point for writing test programs. Test the Drivers Too! The drivers for MongoDB have also been upgraded to take advantage of the new database features. They are meant to be backward compatible and so, should work with existing code. Test with your code with your current drivers against MongoDB 3.4, and then with the 3.4 drivers against MongoDB 3.4. Test the Documentation MongoDB 3.4 introduces several new features, including faceted search, read-only views, and language-sensitive collations. It improves on other features such as additions to the aggregation pipeline and sharded cluster behavior. Testing the documentation for readability, clarity, and completeness is as much a goal of the bug hunt as is testing the server code. Errors or omissions found here also warrant tickets to be filed for review and resolution. The same requirements for filing a server or driver ticket apply here too. Monitor Everything The latest version of the server should offer overall performance improvements, but certain edge cases can often cause performance degradations. Monitoring the performance of your cluster during testing of your workload is vital to flushing out and documenting issues. You can find more information on how to monitor your MongoDB instances from the command line in the user documentation . Although MongoDB Cloud Manager is mentioned here, we don’t recommend using it for the Bug Hunt as it adds an unnecessary layer of complexity to this project. Question the Details Little things matter; no issue is too small. Clarifying confusing log messages or new command parameter names is important to making a great final product. When in doubt, check with the MongoDB User Group first. Log a Ticket Once you find an issue, create a report in Jira-Core Server project . See the documentation for a guide to submitting well written bug reports or discuss in the MongoDB User Group . If you need a refresher, watch the Bug Hunt video presentation prepared by Ramón Fernández to guide the MongoDB 3.4 Bug Hunts. You may find the presentation here helpful if you have difficulty seeing the details on the slides in the video or if you want something to keep open as you work. If you need assistance, you can ask for help in the MongoDB User Group . Good luck hunting! Legal In connection with your participation in this program you agree to comply with all applicable local and national laws. You must not disrupt or compromise any data that is not your own. MongoDB reserves the right to discontinue this program or change or modify its terms at any time. The ultimate decision over an award -- whether to give one and in what amount -- is entirely within MongoDB’s discretion. You may not participate in this program if you are a resident or individual located within a country appearing on any U.S. sanctions lists or if you are on the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Specially Designated Nationals List. You alone are responsible for paying any taxes on any reward you receive. Vulnerabilities obtained by exploiting MongoDB users or instances on the Internet are not eligible for a bounty and will result in immediate disqualification from the program.