Connecting to a remote database

When I connect to a remote database I get this message:

"An error has occured:

Error connecting to the server: FATAL: Missing or erroneous ph_hba.conf
file, see postmaster log for details."

Naturally I have something wrong, this is NOT a bug report for
that, rather it is a plea (RFE) for a more informative message.

This message falls down in a number of ways:

1) Is it missing or is it erroneous? Why doesn't pgadmin know the
difference?
2) Is the file on the local system or remote system?
3) Where is the ph_hba.conf file?
4) What is erroneous about it?
5) Where is the postmaster log file, on which machine, and what details
am I looking for?
6) Why doesn't this box allow me to view the log file?
7) Last and least: occurred has two 'r's ;-)

-Nigel Horne