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Clarify arbiter authentication #2846

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15 changes: 7 additions & 8 deletions source/core/replica-set-arbiter.txt
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -17,18 +17,15 @@ Replica Set Arbiter

An arbiter does **not** have a copy of data set and **cannot** become
a primary. Replica sets may have arbiters to add a vote in
:ref:`elections of for primary <replica-set-elections>`. Arbiters
:ref:`elections for primary <replica-set-elections>`. Arbiters
*always* have exactly ``1`` election vote, and thus
allow replica sets to have an uneven number of voting members without the
overhead of an additional member that replicates data.

.. important:: Do not run an arbiter on systems that also host the
primary or the secondary members of the replica set.

Only add an arbiter to sets with even numbers of voting members. If you
add an arbiter to a set with an odd number of voting members, the set
may suffer from tied :term:`elections <election>`. To add an arbiter,
see :doc:`/tutorial/add-replica-set-arbiter`.
To add an arbiter, see :doc:`/tutorial/add-replica-set-arbiter`.

.. include:: /includes/extracts/arbiters-and-pvs-with-reference.rst

Expand All @@ -54,12 +51,14 @@ Authentication
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When running with :setting:`~security.authorization`, arbiters exchange credentials with
other members of the set to authenticate. MongoDB encrypts the
other members of the set to authenticate via :setting:`keyfiles <keyfile>`. MongoDB encrypts the
authentication process. The MongoDB authentication exchange is
cryptographically secure.

Arbiters use :setting:`keyfiles <keyfile>` to authenticate to the
replica set.
Because arbiters do not store data, they do not possess the internal table of user and role mappings
used for authentication. Thus, the only way to log on to an arbiter with authorization active is to
use the localhost exception.


Communication
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Expand Down