MongoDB 2.6 has been released. For my thoughts on many of the features of the release, please see my blog post on mongodb.org.

Beyond the features, this release means a lot to me. In five years, we’ve gone from four people trying to figure out if a document database was a viable concept, to the fifth most popular database in the world. MongoDB 2.4 and all previous releases proved that the document model can transform how modern applications are developed and deployed. Despite this, we knew many of MongoDB’s core components were imperfect. It was time to address these shortcomings.

MongoDB 2.6 is the first release of the next generation of MongoDB. To smooth out the rough edges, we’ve ripped out and re-written large portions of the code base. We’ve built an entirely new set of tools to complete our vision of how easy it could be to manage a database cluster comprised of thousands of machines¹. We’ve grown the team tremendously, both in terms of size and expertise, and are confident we can continue innovating for years to come.

MongoDB 2.6 is the beginning of the next generation, but is in no way the culmination. We’ll continue rebuilding concurrency, storage, networking and anything else that gets in the way of scale and performance. MongoDB 2.8 will have document level locking and MMS Automation will take control of the most challenging MongoDB deployments.

Personally, helping the database world re-invent itself is incredibly rewarding. Even if MongoDB isn’t right for everyone’s project, knowing that we’ve made a contribution to the way people think about data storage in modern applications is truly gratifying. I hope we at MongoDB can make the database that will continue to push the boundaries, and that helps teams focus on making great products rather than worry about storing data.

None of this would be possible without the contributions of the MongoDB community. Their feedback, code, and support is invaluable to the MongoDB team.

Thank you to the entire MongoDB team, whose hard work and dedication to everything that goes into the success of this project and company inspires me to work harder and smarter.