Skip to main content
Card class: Non-HeroCategory: Performance

At a glance

Top 10 Slow Operations is a ranked table of the ten slowest database operations recorded over the last 24 hours, broken down row by row. It is the detail behind the Slow Ops (15m, >100ms) count: where that card tells you how many operations were slow, this one tells you exactly which ones, so you know what to index, rewrite, or investigate first. Each row identifies a slow operation by its query shape, the collection it touched, and its execution time.

What it tracks

The table lists the Top 10 Slow Operations over a rolling 24-hour window, broken down by row. Each entry is drawn from the database profiler’s system.profile collection, ranked by execution time (millis), so the slowest operation sits at the top. A typical row carries the query shape (the namespace and predicate), the collection, the duration, and the plan summary, which is where a COLLSCAN (full collection scan) or a missing index reveals itself. Read this card immediately after a slow-ops alert: if one shape appears repeatedly near the top, that single query is almost always the fix, usually a new index or a rewrite. The 24-hour window is deliberately wider than the 15-minute alert window so that intermittent slow operations (a nightly batch job, a periodic report) are still captured rather than scrolling out of view.

Reconciling against the source

To reproduce this list natively, run db.system.profile.find().sort({ millis: -1 }).limit(10) in mongosh against a profiled database, or use the slow-query lines in the mongod log. On MongoDB Atlas, the Query Profiler and Performance Advisor present the same ranked slow-query view grouped by shape. Confirm the profiling level and slowms with db.getProfilingStatus() so the native list and this card use the same threshold.

Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre

Top 10 Slow Operations is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across MongoDB and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English. Start for free or book a demo to see this metric running on your own data.