Hardware Component Records Stored in MongoDB per Machine

While the relational database (ubicacion-db) tracks where a machine is and who it is assigned to, MongoDB tracks what that machine is made of. Each computer in the ITU Mendoza labs has a corresponding document in the inventario-db MongoDB database that records its CPU model, RAM configuration, storage devices, and connected peripherals. MongoDB was chosen for this layer because hardware profiles are naturally document-shaped — every machine can have a different number of drives, peripheral types, or custom fields — and a schema-flexible document store avoids the friction of altering relational tables every time a new component type is introduced or a batch of machines arrives with a non-standard configuration. The project’s relational backend supports both SQL Server and MySQL; see the data model reference for details on both engines.

Document Structure

Every hardware record is stored as a single MongoDB document whose _id matches the corresponding id in the relational equipos table. This shared key is the bridge between the two databases and allows the web application to assemble a complete equipment profile (location + hardware) in one page without a cross-database join.

{
  "_id": "LAB01-PC-042",
  "ubicacion": "Laboratorio 1",
  "cpu": {
    "modelo": "Intel Core i5-8400",
    "nucleos": 6,
    "frecuencia_ghz": 2.8
  },
  "ram": {
    "capacidad_gb": 8,
    "tipo": "DDR4",
    "frecuencia_mhz": 2666
  },
  "almacenamiento": [
    { "tipo": "SSD", "capacidad_gb": 240 }
  ],
  "perifericos": ["monitor", "teclado", "mouse"],
  "estado": "operativo",
  "ultima_actualizacion": "2025-01-15"
}

Field Reference

Field	Type	Description
`_id`	String	Unique machine identifier; matches `equipos.id` in the relational DB
`ubicacion`	String	Lab room name (redundant with the relational DB record, included for standalone queries)
`cpu.modelo`	String	Full processor model name
`cpu.nucleos`	Number	Physical core count
`cpu.frecuencia_ghz`	Number	Base clock frequency in GHz
`ram.capacidad_gb`	Number	Total installed RAM in gigabytes
`ram.tipo`	String	Memory standard — e.g., `DDR4`, `DDR3`
`ram.frecuencia_mhz`	Number	Memory bus speed in MHz
`almacenamiento`	Array	One object per physical drive: `tipo` (`SSD`/`HDD`) and `capacidad_gb`
`perifericos`	Array	List of attached peripherals — e.g., `"monitor"`, `"teclado"`, `"mouse"`
`estado`	String	Hardware health — `operativo`, `degradado`, or `fuera de servicio`
`ultima_actualizacion`	String (ISO 8601)	Date the document was last modified

Querying Hardware Data

The inventario-db MongoDB collection supports flexible queries against any field in the document. Below are the most common patterns used by the web application and by administrators running ad-hoc checks. These examples use the official MongoDB Node.js driver; adapt the collection name and connection setup to match your own app/ implementation once the application code is in place.

Filter by Lab

Retrieve all machines in a specific lab room:

// Node.js — example using the mongodb driver
const db = client.db('inventario');
const equipos = db.collection('equipos_hardware');

const labResults = await equipos.find({ ubicacion: 'Laboratorio 1' }).toArray();

Filter by Component Type or Specification

Find machines with less than 8 GB of RAM (useful for identifying upgrade candidates):

const lowRam = await equipos.find({
  'ram.capacidad_gb': { $lt: 8 }
}).project({ _id: 1, ubicacion: 1, 'ram.capacidad_gb': 1 }).toArray();

Find all machines with at least one HDD (as opposed to SSD-only):

const hddMachines = await equipos.find({
  almacenamiento: { $elemMatch: { tipo: 'HDD' } }
}).toArray();

Filter by Hardware Status

List every machine currently marked as degradado or fuera de servicio:

const needsAttention = await equipos.find({
  estado: { $in: ['degradado', 'fuera de servicio'] }
}).project({ _id: 1, ubicacion: 1, estado: 1 }).toArray();

Updating Records

Adding a New Machine

When a new computer arrives in a lab, insert a document using the same ID that was assigned to it in the relational database (ubicacion-db). Always set ultima_actualizacion to the current date so the history stays accurate.

await equipos.insertOne({
  _id: 'LAB03-PC-008',
  ubicacion: 'Laboratorio 3',
  cpu: { modelo: 'AMD Ryzen 5 5600G', nucleos: 6, frecuencia_ghz: 3.9 },
  ram: { capacidad_gb: 16, tipo: 'DDR4', frecuencia_mhz: 3200 },
  almacenamiento: [{ tipo: 'SSD', capacidad_gb: 480 }],
  perifericos: ['monitor', 'teclado', 'mouse'],
  estado: 'operativo',
  ultima_actualizacion: new Date().toISOString().split('T')[0]
});

Updating Hardware After an Upgrade

Use $set to update individual fields without rewriting the entire document. Always bump ultima_actualizacion in the same operation.

// RAM upgrade on an existing machine
await equipos.updateOne(
  { _id: 'LAB01-PC-042' },
  {
    $set: {
      'ram.capacidad_gb': 16,
      'ultima_actualizacion': new Date().toISOString().split('T')[0]
    }
  }
);

// Add a second drive
await equipos.updateOne(
  { _id: 'LAB01-PC-042' },
  {
    $push: {
      almacenamiento: { tipo: 'HDD', capacidad_gb: 1000 }
    },
    $set: {
      'ultima_actualizacion': new Date().toISOString().split('T')[0]
    }
  }
);

Always keep the MongoDB _id in sync with the id column in the relational equipos table. The web application uses this shared key to fetch both the location record and the hardware document in a single equipment profile page. If the two values diverge — for example, because a machine was re-labelled in one system but not the other — the profile page will show incomplete data and the cross-database lookup will silently return null for the hardware section.

MongoDB Service: `inventario-db`

The MongoDB instance runs as the inventario-db service inside the Kubernetes cluster and is accessible on port 27017 via the cluster-internal DNS name.

Setting	Value
Service name	`inventario-db`
Port	`27017`
Database name	`inventario`
Primary collection	`equipos_hardware`
Driver (Node.js)	`mongodb` (official driver)

Connection string (read from environment variables in the web container):

mongodb://inventario-db:27017/inventario

When you add Kubernetes manifests for the MongoDB deployment, place them under k8s/mongodb/. Include a PersistentVolumeClaim for data durability and a Service definition that exposes port 27017 cluster-internally. See Kubernetes deployment for guidance on the overall manifest structure.

Getting Started

Core Features

Database Setup

Deployment

Operations

Hardware Component Records Stored in MongoDB per Machine

Document Structure

Field Reference

Querying Hardware Data

Filter by Lab

Filter by Component Type or Specification

Filter by Hardware Status

Updating Records

Adding a New Machine

Updating Hardware After an Upgrade

MongoDB Service: `inventario-db`

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Getting Started

Core Features

Database Setup

Deployment

Operations

Documentation Index

​Document Structure

​Field Reference

​Querying Hardware Data

​Filter by Lab

​Filter by Component Type or Specification

​Filter by Hardware Status

​Updating Records

​Adding a New Machine

​Updating Hardware After an Upgrade

​MongoDB Service: inventario-db

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Document Structure

Field Reference

Querying Hardware Data

Filter by Lab

Filter by Component Type or Specification

Filter by Hardware Status

Updating Records

Adding a New Machine

Updating Hardware After an Upgrade

MongoDB Service: `inventario-db`