What happens if i remove Mongo server from a Sitecore 8 site

Question

A client wants to cut down on servers and since they do not use the Experience Platform I am wondering if i could just eliminate the Mongo server. There is as of now absolutely no data in the Mongo server. What settings do i need to change to not get flooded with errors when i turn it off? Is this even adviceble?

Answer 1

There are several things which doesn't work properly anymore. You can disable it in the config. Go to /App_Config/Include/Sitecore.Analytics.config and set Analytics.Enabled to false:

<setting name="Analytics.Enabled" value="false" />

You also need to comment out all MongoDB connection stings:

<add name="analytics" connectionString="mongodb://localhost/analytics" />
<add name="tracking.live" connectionString="mongodb://localhost/tracking_live" />
<add name="tracking.history" connectionString="mongodb://localhost/tracking_history" />
<add name="tracking.contact" connectionString="mongodb://localhost/tracking_contact" />
<add name="reporting" connectionString="user id=user;password=password;Data Source=(server);Database=Sitecore_Analytics" />

‌ Source (with additional information): https://kb.sitecore.net/articles/296641

With Sitecore 8.1 there is a new mode called CMS-only mode. You find all information about this here:

https://doc.sitecore.net/sitecore_experience_platform/setting_up__maintaining/experience_management/experience_management_an_overview

Answer 2

Yes, you can disable xDB.

You need to add a patch file Xdb.Enabled and Xdb.Tracking.Enabled set to false:

<setting name="Xdb.Enabled">
    <patch:attribute name="value">false</patch:attribute>
</setting>
<setting name="Xdb.Tracking.Enabled">
    <patch:attribute name="value">false</patch:attribute>
</setting>

Make sure you also remove mongo connection strings.