MongoNetworkError: failed to connect to server [localhost:27017] on first connect [MongoNetworkError: connect ECONNREFUSED 127.0.0.1:27017]

Many of them don't add this, especially in AWS EC2 Instance, I had the same issue and tried different solutions. Solution: one of my database URL inside the code was missing this parameter 'authSource', adding this worked for me.

mongodb://myUserName:MyPassword@ElasticIP:27017/databaseName?authSource=admin

You have to install MongoDB database server first in your system and start it.

Use the below link to install MongoDB

https://docs.mongodb.com/manual/installation/

After trying EVERY solution google came up with on stack overflow, I found what my particular problem was. I had edited my hosts file a long time ago to allow me to access my localhost from my virtualbox.

Removing this entry solved it for me, along with the correct installation of mongoDB from the link given in the above solution, and including the correct promise handling code:

mongoose.connect('mongodb://localhost/testdb').then(() => {
console.log("Connected to Database");
}).catch((err) => {
    console.log("Not Connected to Database ERROR! ", err);
});