Grab Drives 50% Efficiencies with MongoDB Atlas

Grab is Southeast Asia’s leading ‘super application,’ offering a wide range of services, targeting both consumers and businesses, including deliveries, mobility, financial services, enterprise and more.

Their range of applications, such as the popular Grab Taxi, Grab Pay, Grab Mart, Grab Ads, and more, count approximately 38 million active users monthly across 500 cities and eight countries.

Managing a high volume of constantly growing users and handling regular spikes in demand and activity means that Grab needs to maintain a robust, scalable, and flexible digital infrastructure.

Presenting at MongoDB.local Singapore in 2024, Grab shared their journey of migrating one of their key service apps—GrabKios—from the Community Edition of MongoDB to MongoDB Atlas. Grab also described how they are expanding their use of MongoDB to support semantic search.

“Transitioning to MongoDB Atlas was not just a migration—it was a strategic move aimed at enhancing our database infrastructure,” said Jude Dulaj Lakshan De Croos, Database Engineering Manager at Grab.

A smooth transition to MongoDB Atlas

Grab’s journey with MongoDB Atlas began with the realization that their existing database infrastructure, while functional, was not equipped to handle the scale and complexity of their operations.

Grab’s eventual migration to MongoDB Atlas was meticulously planned and executed, including extensive testing to ensure a smooth transition.

During the critical testing phase, the creation of a replica “prod clone” environment, allowed Grab to test and refine their migration strategy. This minimized the possibility of unforeseen issues.

The migration also involved the use of Mongomirror. This facilitated the seamless transfer of data from Grab’s self-hosted clusters to MongoDB Atlas.

“We were able to ensure that migration was actually smooth and ran without any issues,” said Swarit Arora, Senior Database Engineer at Grab.

MongoDB Atlas’s developer data platform offers Grab high levels of flexibility and scalability, accommodating Grab’s fast growth (the company recorded a 23% revenue growth YoY in 2024) in an ever-changing digital landscape. MongoDB Atlas also delivers unique automation and streamlining capabilities, as well as enterprise-grade support which led to improved process and database management efficiency.

Efficiency gains with greater scalability, flexibility, performance

MongoDB Atlas provided Grab with an automated, scalable, and secure platform, which empowered its engineering teams to focus on product development rather than database maintenance.

“With MongoDB Atlas, we don’t have to worry about the scaling changes. And with hands-on security we can deliver secure and fast applications,” said Arora. “Being able to configure the exact resources required and then scale up and down based on our requirements is a plus. Considering we don't have to manage the scalability part, this is, I think, saving us around 50% of the time.”

Furthermore, MongoDB Atlas delivers proactive recommendations to Grab’s team. For example, MongoDB Atlas’s Performance Advisor saves the team time by delivering real-time insights and recommendations to optimize query performance, ultimately reducing manual management tasks and increasing database efficiency.

“It is now easy to set up our MongoDB clusters compared to what we were doing when we self-hosted, which was more time-consuming,” added Arora. “Secondly, if we are required to upgrade the cluster version, it is as easy as the click of a button.”

Dedicated analytics nodes mean that Grab’s team is able to enhance the analytical capabilities of any application running on MongoDB.

The successful migration to MongoDB Atlas has positioned Grab to explore new possibilities, including leveraging MongoDB’s advanced features for use cases such as semantic search and AI applications.

Learn more about MongoDB Atlas.

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MongoDB Atlas + PowerSync: The Future of Offline-First Enterprise Apps

Picture this: your field team is miles from the nearest cell tower, but their apps still work flawlessly—tracking assets, updating data, and syncing the moment they're back online. Since even a second of downtime can cost millions, the future of enterprise apps is one where "offline" doesn't mean "out of commission." Enter MongoDB Atlas and PowerSync, two organizations behind cutting-edge, always-on experiences. The recently announced MongoDB Atlas-PowerSync integration delivers seamless performance and real-time data syncing that keeps businesses running—even when internet connectivity is spotty. By pairing MongoDB Atlas (the gold standard for cloud databases) with PowerSync (a game-changing sync engine) enterprises can create fully offline-first applications that keep teams productive, no matter where they are. Across a variety of industries— from energy, to manufacturing, to field services, to retail—the new integration delivers smooth performance and reliable bi-directional data sync between backend and frontend systems. We are excited to bring support for MongoDB into PowerSync, and to offer MongoDB customers a proven enterprise-grade sync engine to drive their offline-first applications. Conrad Hofmeyr, CEO of JourneyApps/PowerSync MongoDB Atlas + PowerSync: A power move The partnership between MongoDB Atlas and PowerSync offers a new level of app performance, especially for those that need to operate seamlessly in both online and offline environments. PowerSync transforms your applications by enabling data synchronization between MongoDB on the backend and SQLite on the front end. This means your apps don’t just cache data while offline—they remain fully operational. Users can perform queries, update records, and sync millions of objects, all while disconnected. As soon as they reconnect, the data syncs effortlessly with MongoDB Atlas, ensuring that no data is lost in the process. This solution has been refined over a decade, delivering enterprise-grade reliability and scalability. With MongoDB Atlas as the backend, it brings the stability and compliance that enterprises demand. Both PowerSync and MongoDB Atlas are SOC 2 Type 2 audited, ensuring that your data remains secure and compliant with even the strictest regulatory standards. Whether you’re handling a small team or synchronizing millions of users, this combination scales effortlessly, making it a perfect fit for teams of any size. What’s more, integrating PowerSync into your system doesn’t require a major overhaul. Using MongoDB’s change streams, PowerSync delivers high-performance syncing without the need for configuring complex database triggers. The integration is seamless and designed to minimize disruption, making it a low-stress solution for developers looking for a high-efficiency sync tool. Finally, PowerSync gives developers complete control over how data is handled. Whether you want to sync immediately or start with a local-first architecture, PowerSync allows for full customization, letting you determine what data is synced and when business logic is applied. No matter your stack or environment, PowerSync is designed to adapt to your specific needs, providing the flexibility and control to create robust, scalable applications. PowerSync integration with MongoDB Atlas A flexible approach to CRUD operations In addition to the seamless integration of MongoDB Atlas and PowerSync by using sync rules and doing CRUD operations through self-hosted backend API’s, developers have the option to use serverless cloud functions for these database operations. The JourneyApps Platform simplifies this by allowing teams to build, deploy, and host custom APIs effortlessly. This creates a MongoDB Atlas persister that opens up a migration path for Atlas Device Sync customers that is fully cloud-hosted and doesn’t require additional infrastructure. PowerSync hosted CRUD operations into MongoDB using serverless cloud functions This way you can enjoy the flexibility of writing your own Backend API, or if you prefer a fully hosted solution in your PowerSync service. Both options are available, allowing teams to choose the approach that best fits their operational needs. Where this combo shines: Real-world use cases Energy & field services: Technicians deep in the field, in low connectivity conditions, but equipped with PowerSync apps. They continue collecting and syncing data, from equipment diagnostics to work orders. Once they reconnect, MongoDB Atlas captures everything in real-time, ensuring no critical data gets lost in the shuffle. Manufacturing: Whether it’s tracking production metrics or running diagnostics on machinery, PowerSync’s offline-first architecture keeps operations running. Workers can continue making updates and querying data locally, with MongoDB Atlas acting as the central hub for oversight and reporting when the network is back up. Utilities & Mining: From power grids to remote mining operations, where outages are common, PowerSync delivers secure, bi-directional syncing that ensures your teams have the most up-to-date information, no matter the conditions. Retail: Network connectivity issues should never prevent app users from completing core retail activities like accepting orders, tracking inventory or making deliveries. Point of sale (POS) apps are typically expected to keep working even when network connectivity is not available. Unlock your enterprise's potential today The ability to maintain operations without interruption is increasingly a necessity. By leveraging the powerful integration of MongoDB Atlas and PowerSync, your enterprise can ensure its applications are always ready to perform, regardless of connectivity challenges. Are you ready to transform your offline operations and unlock the full potential of your data? Visit PowerSync’s migration guide today to explore how to seamlessly transition to this innovative solution and empower your teams with the tools they need to thrive in any environment. Don’t let downtime hold you back—take the first step toward a more resilient, agile future!

October 14, 2024
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MongoDB Database Observability: Integrating with Monitoring Tools

This post is the final in a three-part series on leveraging database observability. Welcome back to our series on Leveraging Database Observability! Our previous post showcased a real-world use case highlighting how MongoDB Atlas’s observability tools effectively tackle database performance challenges. Whether you’re a developer, DBA, or DevOps engineer, our mission is to empower you to harness the full potential of your data through our observability suite . Integrating Atlas metrics with your central enterprise observability tools can simplify your operations. By seamlessly working with popular observability tools, our approach helps teams streamline workflows and enhance visibility across systems. Integrating MongoDB Atlas with third-party monitoring tools MongoDB’s developer data platform combines all essential data services for building modern applications within a unified experience. Our purpose-built observability tools for Atlas environments offer automatic monitoring and optimization, guiding diagnostics tailored specifically for MongoDB. Additionally, we extend Atlas metrics into your existing enterprise observability stack, enabling seamless integration without replacing your current tools. This creates a consolidated, single-pane view that unifies Atlas telemetry with other tech and application metrics, ensuring comprehensive visibility into both database and full-stack performance. This integration empowers you to monitor, receive alerts, and make data-driven decisions within your existing workflows, driving greater efficiency. Below is a quick guide to modifying integration settings through the Atlas UI and the popular integrations we support: Navigate to the Project Integrations page in Atlas. Choose the organization and project you want to configure from the navigation bar. On the Project Integrations page, select the third-party services you’d like to integrate. Configure the chosen services with the required API keys and regions. Critical integrations for your observability platform With Atlas’s Datadog and Prometheus integrations, you can send critical MongoDB metrics to these platforms, empowering detailed, real-time monitoring. Through Datadog , you can track database operation counts, query efficiency, and resource usage, ideal for pinpointing bottlenecks and managing resources. Similarly, Prometheus enables you to monitor essential metrics like query times, connection rates, and memory usage, supporting flexible tracking of database health and performance. Both integrations facilitate proactive detection of issues, alert configuration for resource thresholds, and a cohesive view of Atlas data when visualized in Grafana. Atlas’s integration with PagerDuty streamlines incident management by sending metrics like performance alerts, billing anomalies, and security events directly to PagerDuty. This integration records incidents automatically, notifies teams upon alerts, and supports two-way syncing, ensuring resolved alerts in Atlas are reflected in PagerDuty. It enables efficient incident response and resource allocation to maintain system stability. With Atlas integrations for Microsoft Teams and Slack, you can route key metrics—such as query latency, disk usage, and throughput—to these channels for timely updates. Teams can use these insights for real-time performance monitoring, incident response, and collaboration. Notifications through these platforms ensure your team stays informed on database performance, storage health, and user activity changes as they occur. Use case: Centralized observability with MongoDB Atlas, Datadog, and Slack Let’s walk through a hypothetical scenario for ShopSmart, an e-commerce company that leverages MongoDB Atlas to manage its product catalog and customer data. As traffic surges, the DevOps team faces challenges in monitoring application performance and database health effectively. To tackle these challenges, the team leverages MongoDB Atlas’ integration with Datadog and Slack, creating a powerful observability ecosystem. Integrating MongoDB Atlas with Datadog: The team pushes key MongoDB Atlas metrics into Datadog, such as query performance, connection counts, and Atlas Vector Search metrics. With Datadog, they can visualize these metrics and correlate overall MongoDB performance with their other applications. Out-of-the-box monitors and dedicated dashboards allow the team to track metrics like throughput, average read/write latency, and current connections. This visibility helps pinpoint bottlenecks in real time, ensuring optimal database performance and improving overall application responsiveness. Setting up alerts in Datadog: The team configures alerts for critical metrics like high query latency and increased error rates. When thresholds are breached, Datadog instantly notifies the team. This proactive approach allows the team to address potential performance issues before they impact customers. Integrating Datadog with Slack: To ensure fast communication, alerts are sent directly to the dedicated Slack channel, “ShopSmart-Alerts.” This integration fosters seamless collaboration, enabling the team to discuss and resolve issues in real-time. With these integrations, ShopSmart’s engineering team can monitor performance quickly and address issues efficiently. The unified observability approach enhances operational efficiency, improves the customer experience, and supports ShopSmart’s competitive edge in the e-commerce industry. By leveraging MongoDB Atlas, Datadog, and Slack, the team ensures scalable performance and drives continuous innovation. Conclusion MongoDB Atlas empowers developers and organizations to achieve unparalleled observability and control over their database environments. By seamlessly integrating with central enterprise observability tools, Atlas enhances your ability to monitor performance metrics and ensures you can do so within your existing workflows. This means you can focus on building modern applications confidently, knowing you have the insights and alerts necessary to maintain optimal performance. Embrace the power of MongoDB Atlas and transform your approach to database management—because your applications can thrive when your data is observable. And that wraps up our Leveraging Database Observability series! We hope you learned something new and found value in these discussions. Sign up for MongoDB Atlas , our cloud database service, to see database observability in action. To dive deeper and expand your knowledge, check out this learning byte for more insights on the MongoDB observability suite and how it can enhance your database performance.

November 14, 2024