Create a Serverless Instance

Important

We are introducing new Flex clusters in a phased approach. Once your org has the ability to create Flex clusters, you will no longer be able to create M2 and M5 clusters or Serverless instances in the Atlas UI.

We will also be seamlessly migrating existing M2 and M5 clusters to Flex clusters in a phased manner. There will be no downtime and you will not need to make any changes to your configuration during this migration.

This tutorial takes you through the steps to create a new Atlas Serverless instance.

To convert your existing shared cluster to a Serverless instance, see Convert a Shared Cluster to a Serverless Instance.

Required Access

To create a Serverless instance, you must have Project Owner access to the project. Users with Organization Owner access must add themselves to the project as a Project Owner.

Procedure

To create one serverless instance in the project you specify using the Atlas CLI, run the following command:

atlas serverless create <instanceName> [options]

To monitor the status of a serverless instance using the Atlas CLI, run the following command:

atlas serverless watch <instanceName> [options]

The watch command checks the serverless instance's state periodically until the instance reaches an idle state. Once the instance reaches the expected state, the command prints Instance available. You can interrupt the command's polling at any time with CTRL + C.

To learn more about the syntax and parameters for the previous commands, see the Atlas CLI documentation for atlas serverless create and atlas serverless watch.

Tip

See: Related Links

The procedure for creating a new Atlas Serverless instance using the Atlas UI differs depending on whether you already have one or more clusters in your project.

When you create an Atlas Serverless instance using the Atlas UI, you can either:

Use a template with preset advanced configuration options.
Specify advanced configuration options.

Whether you use a template or specify advanced configuration options, you can modify all configuration options after you create the Serverless instance.

In Atlas, go to the Clusters page for your project.

If it's not already displayed, select the organization that contains your desired project from the Organizations menu in the navigation bar.
If it's not already displayed, select your desired project from the Projects menu in the navigation bar.
If it's not already displayed, click Clusters in the sidebar.
The Clusters page displays.

Open the Create New Cluster Dialog.

If you already have one or more clusters, click Create to display the Create New Cluster dialog box.
If this is your first cluster:
1. Click Build a Database.
2. Click advanced configuration options at the top of the screen to display the Create New Cluster dialog box.

Select the Serverless type.

Select the Serverless instance cluster type from the preset templates. You can also deploy an M10 dedicated cluster or an M0 Free cluster from this page.

M10 Dedicated Clusters

M10 dedicated clusters are suitable for production applications with sophisticated workload requirements. Dedicated clusters can be deployed into a single geographical region or multiple geographical regions.

Serverless Instances

Serverless instances require minimal configuration and are best for application development and testing or workloads with variable traffic. To learn more about Serverless instances, see Choose a Cluster Type.

M0 Free Clusters

M0 Free clusters are for learning and exploring MongoDB in a cloud environment. You can begin your project with an M0 cluster and upgrade to a production-ready Dedicated cluster tier at a future time.

To specify advanced configuration options or select other cluster tiers, such as M30, click advanced configuration options.

To create a cluster, see Create a New Cluster for next steps.

Select your preferred Provider.

The cloud provider that you select affects the configuration options, network latency for clients accessing your Serverless instance, and the cost of running the Serverless instance.

To learn more, see Cloud Providers and Regions.

Select your preferred Region.

Atlas displays available regions for the cloud provider you select. The region that you select determines the geographic location of the nodes in your Serverless instance and the cost of running the Serverless instance.

To learn more, see Cloud Providers and Regions.

Specify a name for the Serverless instance in the Name box.

This label identifies the Serverless instance in Atlas.

You can't change the Serverless instance name after you deploy it. Serverless instance names can't exceed 64 characters in length.

Important

Atlas truncates the cluster name to 23 characters in its internal interactions. In practice, this means:

Cluster names shorter than 23 characters can't end with hyphen or dash (-).
Cluster names 23 characters or longer can't use a hyphen or dash (-) as its 23rd character.
The first 23 characters in a cluster name must be unique within a project.

Don't include sensitive information in your cluster name.

Specify a tag key and value to apply to the Serverless instance.

To learn more, see Apply a cluster Tag to a New Cluster from a Template.

Important

Don't include sensitive information such as Personally Identifiable Information (PII) or Protected Health Information (PHI) in your resource tags. Other MongoDB services, such as Billing, can access resource tags. Resource tags are not intended for private and sensitive data. To learn more, see Sensitive Information.

Deploy your Serverless instance.

Click Create.

Important

Each Atlas project supports up to 25 clusters. Please contact Atlas support for questions or assistance regarding the cluster limit. To contact support:

In Atlas, go to the Project Support page.
1. If it's not already displayed, select the organization that contains your desired project from the Organizations menu in the navigation bar.
2. If it's not already displayed, select your desired project from the Projects menu in the navigation bar.
3. Next to the Projects menu, expand the Options menu, then click Project Support.
  The Project Support page displays.
Request support.

Update your Payment Method details as needed.

Click the radio button for Credit Card or Paypal.

If you selected Credit Card, type values for the following fields:

Field	Necessity	Action
Name on Card	Required	Type the name that appears on your credit card.
Card Number	Required	Type the 16-digit number that appears on your credit card. American Express uses a 15-digit number.
Expiration Date	Required	Type the expiration date for your credit card in the two-digit month and two-digit year format.
CVC	Required	Type the three-digit number on the back of your credit card. American Express uses a 4-digit number found on the front of the credit card.

If you selected PayPal:
1. Click Pay with PayPal.
2. Complete the actions on the PayPal website.

All projects within your organization share the same billing settings, including payment method.

Review project's cost.

Under the Cart section, review costs for the following:

Read Processing Unit (RPU) - Daily Tiering / RPU
Write Processing Unit (WPU)
Storage

Deploy your Serverless instance.

Click Confirm and Deploy Instance.

Important

Each Atlas project supports up to 25 clusters. Please contact Atlas support for questions or assistance regarding the cluster limit. To contact support:

In Atlas, go to the Project Support page.
1. If it's not already displayed, select the organization that contains your desired project from the Organizations menu in the navigation bar.
2. If it's not already displayed, select your desired project from the Projects menu in the navigation bar.
3. Next to the Projects menu, expand the Options menu, then click Project Support.
  The Project Support page displays.
Request support.

In Atlas, go to the Clusters page for your project.

If it's not already displayed, select the organization that contains your desired project from the Organizations menu in the navigation bar.
If it's not already displayed, select your desired project from the Projects menu in the navigation bar.
If it's not already displayed, click Clusters in the sidebar.
The Clusters page displays.

Open the Create New Cluster Dialog.

If you already have one or more clusters, click Create to display the Create New Cluster dialog box.
If this is your first cluster:
1. Click Build a Database.
2. Click advanced configuration options at the top of the screen to display the Create New Cluster dialog box.

Select a cluster type.

Use the tabs at the top of the screen to select your cluster type. You can deploy the following clusters:

Serverless Instances: Serverless instances require minimal configuration and are best for applications that aren't critical and experience low or variable traffic. To learn more about Serverless instances, see Choose a Cluster Type.
Shared Clusters: Shared clusters include the M0, M2, and M5 tiers. These low-cost cluster types are suitable for teams who are learning MongoDB or developing small proof-of-concept applications. You can begin your project with a Shared cluster and upgrade to a production-ready tier at a future time.
Dedicated Clusters: Dedicated clusters include M10 and higher tiers. The M10 and M20 tiers are suitable for development environments and low-traffic applications, while higher tiers can handle large datasets and high-traffic applications. Dedicated clusters can be deployed into a single geographical region or multiple geographical regions.

Select Serverless, then proceed to the next step to customize the configuration prior to deployment.

To create a Shared cluster or a dedicated cluster, see Create a New Cluster for next steps.

Select your preferred Cloud Provider & Region.

The choice of cloud provider and region affects the network latency for clients accessing your Serverless instance, the geographic location of the nodes in your Serverless instance, and the cost of running the Serverless instance.

Serverless instances support fewer regions than clusters. To learn more, see the region information for AWS, Google Cloud and Azure.

Configure backup for your Serverless instance.

Select one of the following backup options:

Option	Description
Serverless Continuous Backup	Atlas takes incremental snapshots of the data in your Serverless instance every six hours and lets you restore the data from a selected point in time within the last 72 hours. Atlas also takes daily snapshots and retains these daily snapshots for 35 days. To learn more, see Serverless Instance Costs.
Basic Backup	Atlas takes incremental snapshots of the data in your Serverless instance every six hours and retains only the two most recent snapshots. You can use this option for free.

Specify the Serverless Instance Details.

From the Serverless Instance Details section, you can:

Specify the Serverless Instance Name.
This is the Serverless instance name as it appears in Atlas. You can't change the Serverless instance name once you deploy it.
click to enlarge
Serverless instance names can't exceed 64 characters in length.
Important
Atlas truncates the Serverless instance name to 23 characters in its internal interactions. In practice, this means:
- Serverless instance names shorter than 23 characters can't end with hyphen or dash (-).
- Serverless instance names 23 characters or longer can't use a hyphen or dash (-) as its 23rd character.
- The first 23 characters in a Serverless instance name must be unique within a project.
Don't include sensitive information in your Serverless instance name.
Apply tags to the Serverless instance.
Important
Don't include sensitive information such as Personally Identifiable Information (PII) or Protected Health Information (PHI) in your resource tags. Other MongoDB services, such as Billing, can access resource tags. Resource tags are not intended for private and sensitive data. To learn more, see Sensitive Information.

Proceed to checkout.

Click Create Cluster below the form and complete the billing information only if it doesn't already exist. If your organization already has the billing information, Atlas deploys your cluster.

Update your Billing Address details as needed.

Field	Necessity	Action
Billing Email Address	Optional	Type the email address to which Atlas should send billing alerts. By default, Atlas sends billing alerts to the Organization Owners and Billing Admins. If you leave the Billing Email Address blank, Atlas sends billing alerts to the Organization Owners and Billing Admins. If you specify a billing email address and uncheck Only send invoice emails to the Billing Email Address, Atlas sends billing alerts to the billing email address, Organization Owners, and Billing Admins. If you specify a billing email address and check the box for Only send invoice emails to the Billing Email Address, Atlas send billing alerts to the billing email address only.
Company Name	Optional	Type the name of the company for your billing address.
Country	Required	Select the country for your billing address. You can also start typing the name of the country and then select it from the filtered list of countries.
Street Address	Required	Type the street address for your billing address.
Apt/Suite/Floor	Optional	Type an the apartment, suite, or floor for your billing address.
City	Required	Type the name of the city for your billing address.
State/Province/Region	Required	Type or select the political subdivision in which your billing address exists. The label and field change depending on what you selected as your Country: If you select United States as your Country, this label changes to State. The field changes to a dropdown menu of U.S. states. You can also start typing the name of the state and then select it from the filtered list of states. If you select Canada as your Country, this label changes to Province. The field changes to a dropdown menu of Canadian provinces. You can also start typing the name of the province and then select it from the filtered list of provinces. If you select any other country as your Country, this label changes to State/Province/Region. The field changes to a text box. Type the name of your province, state, or region in this box.
ZIP or Postal Code	Required	Type the ZIP (U.S.) or Postal Code (other countries) for your billing address.
VAT Number	Conditional	Atlas displays the VAT ID field if you select a country other than the United States. To learn more about VAT, see VAT ID. If your company's billing address is in a country other than the United States (USA), Atlas typically charges VAT if you do not enter a valid `VAT ID Number` on your billing profile. IMPORTANT: If your billing address is in Ireland or certain Canadian provinces, Atlas always charges VAT, even with a valid `VAT ID Number`. To learn more about VAT by region, see International Usage and Taxation.

Update your Payment Method details as needed.

Click the radio button for Credit Card or Paypal.

If you selected Credit Card, type values for the following fields:

Field	Necessity	Action
Name on Card	Required	Type the name that appears on your credit card.
Card Number	Required	Type the 16-digit number that appears on your credit card. American Express uses a 15-digit number.
Expiration Date	Required	Type the expiration date for your credit card in the two-digit month and two-digit year format.
CVC	Required	Type the three-digit number on the back of your credit card. American Express uses a 4-digit number found on the front of the credit card.

If you selected PayPal:
1. Click Pay with PayPal.
2. Complete the actions on the PayPal website.

All projects within your organization share the same billing settings, including payment method.

Review project's cost.

Under the Cart section, review costs for the following:

Read Processing Unit (RPU) - Daily Tiering / RPU
Write Processing Unit (WPU)
Storage

Deploy your Serverless instance. Click Confirm and Deploy Instance.

Important

Each Atlas project supports up to 25 clusters. Please contact Atlas support for questions or assistance regarding the cluster limit. To contact support:

In Atlas, go to the Project Support page.
1. If it's not already displayed, select the organization that contains your desired project from the Organizations menu in the navigation bar.
2. If it's not already displayed, select your desired project from the Projects menu in the navigation bar.
3. Next to the Projects menu, expand the Options menu, then click Project Support.
  The Project Support page displays.
Request support.

In Atlas, go to the Clusters page for your project.

If it's not already displayed, select the organization that contains your desired project from the Organizations menu in the navigation bar.
If it's not already displayed, select your desired project from the Projects menu in the navigation bar.
If it's not already displayed, click Clusters in the sidebar.
The Clusters page displays.

Open the Create New Cluster Dialog.

If you already have one or more clusters, click Create to display the Create New Cluster dialog box.
If this is your first cluster:
1. Click Build a Database.
2. Click advanced configuration options at the top of the screen to display the Create New Cluster dialog box.

Select a cluster type.

Use the tabs at the top of the screen to select your cluster type. You can deploy the following clusters:

Serverless Instances: Serverless instances require minimal configuration and are best for applications that aren't critical and experience low or variable traffic. To learn more about Serverless instances, see Choose a Cluster Type.
Shared Clusters: Shared clusters include the M0, M2, and M5 tiers. These low-cost cluster types are suitable for teams who are learning MongoDB or developing small proof-of-concept applications. You can begin your project with a Shared cluster and upgrade to a production-ready tier at a future time.
Dedicated Clusters: Dedicated clusters include M10 and higher tiers. The M10 and M20 tiers are suitable for development environments and low-traffic applications, while higher tiers can handle large datasets and high-traffic applications. Dedicated clusters can be deployed into a single geographical region or multiple geographical regions.

Select Serverless, then proceed to the next step to customize the configuration prior to deployment.

To create a Shared cluster or a dedicated cluster, see Create a New Cluster for next steps.

Select your preferred Cloud Provider & Region.

Serverless instances support fewer regions than clusters. To learn more, see the region information for AWS, Google Cloud and Azure.

Configure backup for your Serverless instance.

Select one of the following backup options:

Option	Description
Serverless Continuous Backup	Atlas takes incremental snapshots of the data in your Serverless instance every six hours and lets you restore the data from a selected point in time within the last 72 hours. Atlas also takes daily snapshots and retains these daily snapshots for 35 days. To learn more, see Serverless Instance Costs.
Basic Backup	Atlas takes incremental snapshots of the data in your Serverless instance every six hours and retains only the two most recent snapshots. You can use this option for free.

Specify the Serverless Instance Details.

From the Serverless Instance Details section, you can:

Specify the Serverless Instance Name.
This is the Serverless instance name as it appears in Atlas. You can't change the Serverless instance name once you deploy it.
click to enlarge
Serverless instance names can't exceed 64 characters in length.
Important
Atlas truncates the Serverless instance name to 23 characters in its internal interactions. In practice, this means:
- Serverless instance names shorter than 23 characters can't end with hyphen or dash (-).
- Serverless instance names 23 characters or longer can't use a hyphen or dash (-) as its 23rd character.
- The first 23 characters in a Serverless instance name must be unique within a project.
Don't include sensitive information in your Serverless instance name.
Apply tags to the Serverless instance.
Important
Don't include sensitive information such as Personally Identifiable Information (PII) or Protected Health Information (PHI) in your resource tags. Other MongoDB services, such as Billing, can access resource tags. Resource tags are not intended for private and sensitive data. To learn more, see Sensitive Information.

Proceed to checkout.

Click Create Cluster below the form and complete the billing information only if it doesn't already exist. If your organization already has the billing information, Atlas deploys your cluster.

Update your Billing Address details as needed.

Field	Necessity	Action
Billing Email Address	Optional	Type the email address to which Atlas should send billing alerts. By default, Atlas sends billing alerts to the Organization Owners and Billing Admins. If you leave the Billing Email Address blank, Atlas sends billing alerts to the Organization Owners and Billing Admins. If you specify a billing email address and uncheck Only send invoice emails to the Billing Email Address, Atlas sends billing alerts to the billing email address, Organization Owners, and Billing Admins. If you specify a billing email address and check the box for Only send invoice emails to the Billing Email Address, Atlas send billing alerts to the billing email address only.
Company Name	Optional	Type the name of the company for your billing address.
Country	Required	Select the country for your billing address. You can also start typing the name of the country and then select it from the filtered list of countries.
Street Address	Required	Type the street address for your billing address.
Apt/Suite/Floor	Optional	Type an the apartment, suite, or floor for your billing address.
City	Required	Type the name of the city for your billing address.
State/Province/Region	Required	Type or select the political subdivision in which your billing address exists. The label and field change depending on what you selected as your Country: If you select United States as your Country, this label changes to State. The field changes to a dropdown menu of U.S. states. You can also start typing the name of the state and then select it from the filtered list of states. If you select Canada as your Country, this label changes to Province. The field changes to a dropdown menu of Canadian provinces. You can also start typing the name of the province and then select it from the filtered list of provinces. If you select any other country as your Country, this label changes to State/Province/Region. The field changes to a text box. Type the name of your province, state, or region in this box.
ZIP or Postal Code	Required	Type the ZIP (U.S.) or Postal Code (other countries) for your billing address.
VAT Number	Conditional	Atlas displays the VAT ID field if you select a country other than the United States. To learn more about VAT, see VAT ID. If your company's billing address is in a country other than the United States (USA), Atlas typically charges VAT if you do not enter a valid `VAT ID Number` on your billing profile. IMPORTANT: If your billing address is in Ireland or certain Canadian provinces, Atlas always charges VAT, even with a valid `VAT ID Number`. To learn more about VAT by region, see International Usage and Taxation.

Update your Payment Method details as needed.

Click the radio button for Credit Card or Paypal.

If you selected Credit Card, type values for the following fields:

Field	Necessity	Action
Name on Card	Required	Type the name that appears on your credit card.
Card Number	Required	Type the 16-digit number that appears on your credit card. American Express uses a 15-digit number.
Expiration Date	Required	Type the expiration date for your credit card in the two-digit month and two-digit year format.
CVC	Required	Type the three-digit number on the back of your credit card. American Express uses a 4-digit number found on the front of the credit card.

If you selected PayPal:
1. Click Pay with PayPal.
2. Complete the actions on the PayPal website.

All projects within your organization share the same billing settings, including payment method.

Review project's cost.

Under the Cart section, review costs for the following:

Read Processing Unit (RPU) - Daily Tiering / RPU
Write Processing Unit (WPU)
Storage

Deploy your Serverless instance. Click Confirm and Deploy Instance.

Important

Each Atlas project supports up to 25 clusters. Please contact Atlas support for questions or assistance regarding the cluster limit. To contact support:

In Atlas, go to the Project Support page.
1. If it's not already displayed, select the organization that contains your desired project from the Organizations menu in the navigation bar.
2. If it's not already displayed, select your desired project from the Projects menu in the navigation bar.
3. Next to the Projects menu, expand the Options menu, then click Project Support.
  The Project Support page displays.
Request support.

Important

Required Access

Procedure

Tip

See: Related Links

In Atlas, go to the .css-h15tq0{font-style:normal;font-weight:700;}Clusters page for your project.

Open the Create New Cluster Dialog.

Select the Serverless type.

Select your preferred Provider.

Select your preferred Region.

Specify a name for the Serverless instance in the Name box.

Important

Specify a tag key and value to apply to the Serverless instance.

Important

Deploy your Serverless instance.

Important

Update your Payment Method details as needed.

Review project's cost.

Deploy your Serverless instance.

Important

In Atlas, go to the Clusters page for your project.

Open the Create New Cluster Dialog.

Select a cluster type.

Select your preferred Cloud Provider & Region.

Configure backup for your Serverless instance.

Specify the Serverless Instance Details.

Important

Important

Proceed to checkout.

Update your Billing Address details as needed.

Update your Payment Method details as needed.

Review project's cost.

Important

In Atlas, go to the Clusters page for your project.

Open the Create New Cluster Dialog.

Select a cluster type.

Select your preferred Cloud Provider & Region.

Configure backup for your Serverless instance.

Specify the Serverless Instance Details.

Important

Important

Proceed to checkout.

Update your Billing Address details as needed.

Update your Payment Method details as needed.

Review project's cost.

Important

In Atlas, go to the Clusters page for your project.