Re: From a real novice

Tamir,

> I've just been abandoned by my FreeBSD/PostgreSQL administrator just as we
> were setting things up for our test server. I hope if I provide as much of
> the specs as I can get my hands on, someone on the list will be able to
> help me with my problem.

From the rest of the description of your problem, you really need the
assistance of a BSD admin at least. That person can get help for the
postgres-specific problems on this list or elsewhere, but assisting you with
both Postgresql and with BSD is probably beyond the capability of any mailing
list. Further, if you are new to both, you are likely to damage something
(most likely system security) in poking around to learn what's what. And
this sounds like it's supposed to be a production test system.

If you have plenty of time, buy a book on BSD admin, and learn BSD before you
try to learn Postgres on BSD. Make sense?

> Although pgsql seems to be installed, I do not know why pgsql isn't running
> or starting at the time the system comes up. It doesn't show up in the TOP
> list.

This would require a startup script wherever BSD keeps startup scripts. I'm a
Linux user, so I can't give you pointers on this one. Suffice it to say that
startup scripts are *not* part of the PostgreSQL install.

> 3. I assume I can ensure I have the most recent installation support by
> doing a cvsup but I really only want to get my hands on the most recent
> pgsql for FreeBSD. How is this possible?

If you are a newbie, you should not be messing with Postgres-CVS. Stick to a
stable version instead, which is downloadable from the Postgres web site.

> 4. We did minimal work on the previous version and I don't need to save any
> of the data or configuration information as it may exist in various
> configuration files throughout my FreeBSD system. How can I ensure that
> I've removed all of these before I do my new installation?

They will all be in the $PGDATA directory, database and config files both.

> At a time like this I can not describe how grateful I would be for
> someone's detailed and very patient assistance. I am truly a novice. If
> this request belongs in a different group, then please do instruct me as to
> which one.

As I said above, I think you need a consultant.

--
Josh Berkus
Aglio Database Solutions
San Francisco