Role-based access controls in MongoDB primarily serves the function of what?

Role-based access controls (RBAC) in MongoDB are primarily focused on authorization. This system enables administrators to specify which users or roles have access to what data and what operations they can perform on that data. By implementing RBAC, MongoDB allows for a granular approach to security, ensuring that only authorized users can execute particular actions such as reading, writing, or modifying data within the database.

The essence of using roles is to separate permissions based on the responsibilities or groups within an organization, thereby enhancing security and controlling access to sensitive information effectively. This is critical for maintaining data integrity and privacy in any application relying on MongoDB.

While data storage, data backup, and network security are important aspects of database management, they do not directly relate to the authorization capabilities provided by role-based access controls, which is why they would not be the correct answer.