Storage capacity

As explained in MongoDB 8.0 in Action, Third Edition

Disk space, or storage capacity, is the amount of persistent storage available or provisioned for database data and related processing requirements.

Storage capacity is the persistent disk space provisioned for database data and related processing. In MongoDB Atlas, cluster tier selection determines storage alongside memory, vCPUs, and IOPS. section 10.0

Configure capacity by weighing workload, performance, cost, and operational headroom:

• Customize storage on M10+ clusters; M40+ clusters also offer Low CPU, General, and local NVMe SSD classes. section 10.2.4
• Keep storage autoscaling enabled when automatic growth is preferred; Atlas normally increases capacity when any node reaches 90% disk usage. section 10.2.3
• Expect provider-specific growth: AWS and GCP target 70% disk usage, while Azure doubles the current storage amount. section 10.2.3
• Plan capacity before bulk inserts because preparing and copying data to new disks can lag behind sudden high-speed writes. section 10.2.3
• Remember that Atlas scales storage up automatically but never down; reducing capacity requires a manual change. section 10.2.3

Preparing for a bulk insert

Before a high-speed bulk insert, increase the cluster or storage capacity proactively instead of relying on autoscaling to react after disk usage rises. section 10.2.3

Figure 10.3 The Atlas UI’s Cluster Tier section, where you can configure cluster and storage autoscaling (Image © MongoDB 2025)

Use the Atlas UI’s Cluster Tier area to inspect and configure cluster-tier and storage autoscaling. section 10.2.3

How MongoDB 8.0 in Action, Third Edition covers it

How deep it goes

Explains tier-specific storage classes, provider-specific autoscaling, thresholds, delays, and scale-down limits without detailing administrative commands.

Examples

Uses M40+ storage classes, 90% disk usage, provider-specific growth targets, and bulk-insert preparation as concrete cases.

What you can do after

Operate/configure it through Atlas tier and storage settings, and plan capacity before workloads that can outpace automatic scaling.

How it connects

Connects storage capacity to cluster tiers, storage autoscaling, cloud providers, oplog retention, performance, and cost.

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Also explained in

• 

  liveBookmanning.com
  ScyllaDB in ActionDisk space is the persistent storage capacity available for database data and related files.

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Related concepts

• replication factorconfigured by · A replication factor is the configured number of copies maintained for each replicated data item or resource.
• space complexitymeasured by · Space complexity measures how the memory or storage required by an algorithm grows as a function of input size.
• bytesmeasured by · Bytes are an ordered sequence of values, each conventionally eight bits, used to represent binary data.
• EBS snapshotused by · An EBS snapshot is a point-in-time, block-level incremental backup of an EBS volume stored by Amazon EBS.
• storage autoscalingused by · Storage autoscaling is the automatic increase of a database deployment's persistent storage capacity in response to storage utilization.

This explainer was generated by Manning's knowledge graph from the text of MongoDB 8.0 in Action, Third Edition. The section links point to the parts of the book it draws on.