MongoDB hidden secondary stuck in startup? - mongodb

Question

I am creating a hidden secondary MongoDB instance that will eventually be used for reporting. So far I have taken these steps:
Started up my primary instance (local machine) with replSet = mySet and called rs.initiate()
Started up my secondary instance with with replSet = mySet
Called rs.add("my.secondary.com") from my primary instance
set priority = 0 and hidden = true for the secondary member using rs.reconfigure(cfg)
When I do this and call rs.status() I get the following output:
{
"set": "mySet",
"date": ISODate("2016-03-22T16:40:39.515Z"),
"myState": 1,
"members": [
{
"_id": 0,
"name": "my-machine.local:27017",
"health": 1,
"state": 1,
"stateStr": "PRIMARY",
"uptime": 607,
"optime": Timestamp(1458664559, 1),
"optimeDate": ISODate("2016-03-22T16:35:59Z"),
"electionTime": Timestamp(1458664264, 2),
"electionDate": ISODate("2016-03-22T16:31:04Z"),
"configVersion": 3,
"self": true
},
{
"_id": 1,
"name": "my.secondary.com:27017",
"health": 1,
"state": 0,
"stateStr": "STARTUP",
"uptime": 384,
"optime": Timestamp(0, 0),
"optimeDate": ISODate("1970-01-01T00:00:00Z"),
"lastHeartbeat": ISODate("2016-03-22T16:40:38.332Z"),
"lastHeartbeatRecv": ISODate("1970-01-01T00:00:00Z"),
"pingMs": 106,
"configVersion": -2
}
],
"ok": 1
}
Notice that stateStr for my secondary is STARTUP - this never changes and the data never replicates. In a previous attempt I also called rs.iniate() on my secondary, but that made what was intended to be the secondary become the primary. I had to blow everything away and start again.
Why is my secondary stuck in STARTUP and how can I get my data to begin replicating from my primary to my secondary?

Answer 1

Here is checklist from my black book:) compare your steps, it should go without a glitch.
(assuming you initiated mongodb instances with --replSet flag)
// rs.initiate()
// rs.add("host-1:29001")
// rs.add("host-2:30001")
// rs.add("host-n:40001")
// var cfg = rs.config()
// cfg.members[2].priority = 0
// cfg.members[2].hidden = true
// rs.reconfig(cfg)