In this recipe, we will explore the local database from a replica set's perspective. The local database may contain collections that are not specific to replica sets, but we will focus only on the replica-set-specific collections and try to take a look at what's in them and what they mean.
Refer to the Starting multiple instances as part of a replica set recipe in Chapter 1, Installing and Starting the MongoDB Server, for the prerequisites and to know about replica set basics. Go ahead and set up a simple three-node replica set on your computer, as mentioned in the recipe.
With the replica set up and running, we need to open a shell connected to the primary. You may randomly connect to any one member, execute
rs.status(), and then determine the primary.With the shell opened, first switch to the
localdatabase and then view the collections in thelocaldatabase as follows:> use local switched to db local > show collections...