Merge pull request #1418 from infosiftr/mongo-better-auth-docs

Update Mongo's authentication documentation to be much more explicit and link to more upstream resources

mongo/content.md

@@ -102,17 +102,29 @@ When you start the `%%REPO%%` image, you can adjust the initialization of the Mo
 
 ### `MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_USERNAME`, `MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_PASSWORD`
 
-These variables, used in conjunction, create a new user and set that user's password. This user is created in the `admin` authentication database and given the role of `root`. Both variables are required for a user to be created. If both are present then MongoDB will start with authentication enabled: `mongod --auth`. Authentication in MongoDB is fairly complex, so more complex user setup is explicitly left to the user via `/docker-entrypoint-initdb.d/` (see *Initializing a fresh instance* below). The following is an example of using these two variables to create a MongoDB instance and then using the `mongo` cli to connect against the `admin` authentication database.
+These variables, used in conjunction, create a new user and set that user's password. This user is created in the `admin` [authentication database](https://docs.mongodb.com/manual/core/security-users/#user-authentication-database) and given [the role of `root`](https://docs.mongodb.com/manual/reference/built-in-roles/#root), which is [a "superuser" role](https://docs.mongodb.com/manual/core/security-built-in-roles/#superuser-roles).
 
-```console
-$ docker run -d --name some-%%REPO%% -e MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_USERNAME=mongoadmin -e MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_PASSWORD=secret %%IMAGE%%
+The following is an example of using these two variables to create a MongoDB instance and then using the `mongo` cli to connect against the `admin` authentication database.
 
-$ docker run -it --rm --link some-%%REPO%%:mongo %%IMAGE%% mongo --host mongo -u mongoadmin -p secret --authenticationDatabase admin some-db
+```console
+$ docker run -d --name some-%%REPO%% \
+	-e MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_USERNAME=mongoadmin \
+	-e MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_PASSWORD=secret \
+	%%IMAGE%%
+
+$ docker run -it --rm --link some-%%REPO%%:mongo %%IMAGE%% \
+	mongo --host mongo \
+		-u mongoadmin \
+		-p secret \
+		--authenticationDatabase admin \
+		some-db
 > db.getName();
 some-db
 ```
 
-If you do not provide these two variables or do not set the `--auth` flag with your own custom user setup, then MongoDB will not require authentication. For more details about the functionality described here, please see the sections in the official documentation which describe [authentication](https://docs.mongodb.com/manual/core/authentication/) and [authorization](https://docs.mongodb.com/manual/core/authorization/) in more detail.
+Both variables are required for a user to be created. If both are present then MongoDB will start with authentication enabled (`mongod --auth`).
+
+Authentication in MongoDB is fairly complex, so more complex user setup is explicitly left to the user via `/docker-entrypoint-initdb.d/` (see the *Initializing a fresh instance* and *Authentication* sections below for more details).
 
 ### `MONGO_INITDB_DATABASE`
 
@@ -132,6 +144,18 @@ Currently, this is only supported for `MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_USERNAME` and `MONGO_IN
 
 When a container is started for the first time it will execute files with extensions `.sh` and `.js` that are found in `/docker-entrypoint-initdb.d`. Files will be executed in alphabetical order. `.js` files will be executed by `mongo` using the database specified by the `MONGO_INITDB_DATABASE` variable, if it is present, or `test` otherwise. You may also switch databases within the `.js` script.
 
+# Authentication
+
+As noted above, authentication in MongoDB is fairly complex (although disabled by default). For details about how MongoDB handles authentication, please see the relevant upstream documentation:
+
+-	[`mongod --auth`](https://docs.mongodb.com/manual/reference/program/mongod/#cmdoption-mongod-auth)
+-	[Security > Authentication](https://docs.mongodb.com/manual/core/authentication/)
+-	[Security > Role-Based Access Control](https://docs.mongodb.com/manual/core/authorization/)
+-	[Security > Role-Based Access Control > Built-In Roles](https://docs.mongodb.com/manual/core/security-built-in-roles/)
+-	[Security > Enable Auth (tutorial)](https://docs.mongodb.com/manual/tutorial/enable-authentication/)
+
+In addition to the `/docker-entrypoint-initdb.d` behavior documented above (which is a simple way to configure users for authentication for less complicated deployments), this image also supports `MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_USERNAME` and `MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_PASSWORD` for creating a simple user with [the role `root`](https://docs.mongodb.com/manual/reference/built-in-roles/#root) in the `admin` [authentication database](https://docs.mongodb.com/manual/core/security-users/#user-authentication-database), as described in the *Environment Variables* section above.
+
 # Caveats
 
 ## Where to Store Data