Re: Is my database done for?

From what you're saying, it sounds like you simply didn't run postmaster
in the background. Try starting postmaster with the following command:

/usr/local/pgsql/bin/postmaster -D /usr/local/pgsql/data >logfile 2>&1 &

(Adjust the paths to your particular system.)

Doug Gorley | douggorley(at)shaw(dot)ca

----- Original Message -----
From: Mark Nelson <mcn(at)cc(dot)usu(dot)edu>
Date: Friday, August 16, 2002 6:52 am
Subject: [NOVICE] Is my database done for?

> Hi,
>
> Let me explain what I've done and hopefully somebody out there can
> tell me to
> either relax or continue panicking.
>
> I'm running postgres on Red Hat 7.2 and after moving the server to
> a new
> location, I rebooted the machine and noticed that the postgres
> server wasn't
> working. When I tried psql, it said it couldn't because the
> postmaster wasn't
> running. When I tried running the postmaster command, I got:
>
> "postmaster does not know where to find the database system data.
> You must
> specify the directory that contains the database system either by
> specifying
> the -D invocation option or by setting the PGDATA environment
> variable."
> I found the files in /var/lib/pgsql/data/ but when I tried to run
> the
> postmaster, it would not allow me to do it because of the
> permissions set. I
> switched to user postgres and reissued the command. This time it
> took. The
> postmaster had to be run by user postgres because postgres owns the
> directories and files in /var/lib/pgsql/.
>
> Upon issuing the postmaster -D /var/lib/pgsql/data command:
>
> "Found a pre-existing shared memory block (ID 131075) still in use.
> If you're sure there are no old backends still running,
> delete "/var/lib/pgsql/data/postmaster.pid"."
>
> I wasn't aware of any processes running because I just started the
> machine and
> it told me that postmaster wasn't working. So I removed
> postmaster.pid, and
> then:
>
> DEBUG: database system was interrupted at 2002-08-15 16:06:01 MDT
> DEBUG: CheckPoint record at (0, 10393040)
> DEBUG: Redo record at (0, 10393040); Undo record at (0, 0);
> Shutdown TRUE
> DEBUG: NextTransactionId: 47382; NextOid: 36837
> DEBUG: database system was not properly shut down; automatic
> recovery in
> progress...
> DEBUG: ReadRecord: record with zero len at (0, 10393104)
> DEBUG: redo is not required
> DEBUG: database system is in production state
>
> and it has been like that for about 20 minutes. I have not been
> returned to a
> prompt of any kind, it is just holding there. What does that mean?
> Is it
> stuck? Is the data gone? Should I interrupt it or let it finish?
> How long
> should I wake?
>
> Advice, support, consolation all very welcome right now. :)
> /mark
>
>
>
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