bigchaindb/docs/server/source/production-nodes/node-components.md

# Production Node Components

A production BigchainDB node must include BigchainDB Server, MongoDB Server (mongod), and scalable storage for MongoDB, but it could include several other components, including:

* NGINX or similar, to provide authentication, rate limiting, etc.
* An NTP daemon running on all machines running BigchainDB Server or mongod, and possibly other machines
* **Not** MongoDB Automation Agent. It's for automating the deployment of an entire MongoDB cluster, not just one MongoDB node within a cluster.
* MongoDB Monitoring Agent
* MongoDB Backup Agent
* Log aggregation software
* Monitoring software
* Maybe more

The relationship between the main components is illustrated below. Note that BigchainDB Server must be able to communicate with all other mongod instances in the BigchainDB cluster (i.e. in other BigchainDB nodes).

![Components of a production node](../_static/Node-components.png)