diff --git a/chef/cookbooks/centos/recipes/main.rb b/chef/cookbooks/centos/recipes/main.rb
index 3b9086de8..dd04a91d2 100644
--- a/chef/cookbooks/centos/recipes/main.rb
+++ b/chef/cookbooks/centos/recipes/main.rb
@@ -4,3 +4,4 @@ end
 
 include_recipe "centos::image_magick"
 include_recipe "centos::mongo_db"
+include_recipe "common::main"
diff --git a/chef/cookbooks/centos/recipes/mongo_db.rb b/chef/cookbooks/centos/recipes/mongo_db.rb
index 9bfc958b5..25ab1a396 100644
--- a/chef/cookbooks/centos/recipes/mongo_db.rb
+++ b/chef/cookbooks/centos/recipes/mongo_db.rb
@@ -7,5 +7,9 @@ execute "refresh yum" do
 end
 
 execute "install mongo" do
-  command "yum install -y mongo-stable"
+  command "yum install -y mongo-stable-server"
+end
+
+execute "make the data directory" do
+  command "mkdir -p /data/db"
 end
diff --git a/chef/cookbooks/common/recipes/daemontools.rb b/chef/cookbooks/common/recipes/daemontools.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ca385908c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/chef/cookbooks/common/recipes/daemontools.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+execute "get the daemontools repo" do
+  command "mkdir -p /package/admin && cd /package/admin && git clone git://github.com/MikeSofaer/daemontools.git daemontools-0.76 || true"
+end
+
+execute "compile daemontools" do
+  command "cd /package/admin/daemontools-0.76 && ./package/install"
+end
+
+execute "mongo run" do
+  command "mkdir -p /service/mongo && echo '#!/bin/sh' > /service/mongo/run && echo 'exec /usr/bin/mongod' >> /service/mongo/run"
+end
+execute "executable" do
+  command "chmod -R 755 /service/mongo"
+end
diff --git a/chef/cookbooks/common/recipes/main.rb b/chef/cookbooks/common/recipes/main.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..dd787e529
--- /dev/null
+++ b/chef/cookbooks/common/recipes/main.rb
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+include_recipe "common::daemontools"