Q:

First time Running MongoDB: ERROR in opening config file.

$ mongod --config /etc/mongod.conf
ERROR: could not read from config file

Allowed options:

General options:
  -h [ --help ]               show this usage information
  --version                   show version information

When I run "mongo" command terminal becomes unresponsive:
$ mongo
MongoDB shell version: 2.4.5
connecting to: test

--- no response ----

Please note: I'm running MongoDB on MacOS X for the first time. 

A:

The default mongo.config file on installation did not have: 
port = 27017

i updated the config file from http://docs.mongodb.org/manual/administration/configuration/
the running the mongo command in Terminal works fine:
    mongo

did not fall into an infinite loop instead the mongodb prompt > was activated.
MongoDB shell version: 2.4.5
connecting to: test
Server has startup warnings: 
Fri Jul 12 02:17:19.667 [initandlisten] 
Fri Jul 12 02:17:19.667 [initandlisten] ** WARNING: soft rlimits too low. Number of files is 256, should be at least 1000

