Re: Restarting with pg_ctl, users, and passwords.

On Tuesday 19 August 2008 10:28:38 pm Matthew Pettis wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I just installed postgresql 8.3 on Ubuntu Heron with Postgis. I've
> worked with this install on XP before, but not on Linux. I'm having
> trouble telling if the postmaster is started. But, maybe more root to
> the problem, I cannot log onto the database via 'psql' when I supply
> what I think I set as the correct password.
>
> I've created a database and can log into it and do stuff with the
> tables using psql. However, I have a CGI app that wants to call the
> database (all on the same machine), but gets a 'FATAL: Ident
> authentication failed for user "postgres"' error. now, while logged
> onto my Linux user account 'postgres', I can psql into my database
> without having to provide a password. So, while in there, I issued
> the following SQL:
>
> ALTER USER postgres WITH PASSWORD 'postgres';
>
> now, I *thought* what that would do would be to allow me to issue the
> 'psql' command from my regular non-postgres Linux account and log in
> as long as I would issue:
>
> psql -d mydb -U postgres -W
>
> and then provide 'postgres' as the password as well, as I had changed
> it in mydb as previously stated. But I am denied access when I try
> this from my account. This is what is confusing to me. I suspect
> that this may be at the core of why I cannot connect to mydb, but I am
> not sure, as I cannot even confirm that the database is running as I
> thought it would, since I don't know what process to look for in the
> 'ps -ef' dump.
>
> Please advise, thanks!
>
> Matt

I'm a NOVICE too. So take what I say with a grain of salt.

as root
ps -eaf | grep postmaster

will determine if the postgres is working.

The reason you can't connect is due to pg_hba.conf need to be setup correctly.
Since, I don't really understand how to get postgres to use the standard
linux user password file maybe to can post the answer if you get it working.

--
John Fabiani