MongoDB Documentation, Release 3.0.4 Issue the following command to create an index on item and quantity and specify inventory as the index name: db.products.createIndex( { item: 1, quantity: -1 } , { name: "inventory" } ) The resulting index has the name inventory . To view the name of an index, use the getIndexes() method. New in version 2.6. MongoDB can use the intersection of multiple indexes to fulfill queries. 5 In general, each index intersection involves two indexes; however, MongoDB can employ multiple/nested index intersections to resolve a query. To illustrate index intersection, consider a collection orders that has the following indexes: { qty: 1 } { item: 1 } MongoDB can use the intersection of the two indexes to support the following query: db.orders.find( { item: "abc123", qty: { $gt: 15 } } ) To determine if MongoDB used index intersection, run explain() ; the results of explain() will include either an AND_SORTED stage or an AND_HASH stage. With index intersection, MongoDB can use an intersection of either the entire index or the index prefix. An index prefix is a subset of a compound index, consisting of one or more keys starting from the beginning of the index. Consider a collection orders with the following indexes: { qty: 1 } { status: 1, ord_date: -1 } To fulfill the following query which specifies a condition on both the qty field and the status field, MongoDB can use the intersection of the two indexes: db.orders.find( { qty: { $gt: 10 } , status: "A" } ) Index intersection does not eliminate the need for creating compound indexes (page 489). However, because both the list order (i.e. the order in which the keys are listed in the index) and the sort order (i.e. ascending or descending), matter in compound indexes (page 489), a compound index may not support a query condition that does not include the index prefix keys (page 490) or that specifies a different sort order. For example, if a collection orders has the following compound index, with the status field listed before the ord_date field: Index Prefix Intersection Index Intersection and Compound Indexes 8.2.4 Index Intersection 5 In previous versions, MongoDB could use only a single index to fulfill most queries. The exception to this is queries with $or clauses, which could use a single index for each $or clause. Chapter 8. Indexes 510