Install and configure PostgreSQL - Ubuntu Server documen... https://documentation.ubuntu.com/server/how-to/database...
Ubuntu Server
1 de 6 14/6/25, 19:50
Install and configure PostgreSQL - Ubuntu Server documen... https://documentation.ubuntu.com/server/how-to/database...
PostgreSQL (commonly referred to as “Postgres”) is an object-relational database system
that has all the features of traditional commercial database systems, but with enhancements
to be found in next-generation database management systems (DBMS).
To install PostgreSQL, run the following command in the command prompt:
sudo apt install postgresql
The database service is automatically con�gured with viable defaults, but can be customised
based on your speci�c needs.
PostgreSQL supports multiple client authentication methods. In Ubuntu, peer is the default
authentication method used for local connections, while scram-sha-256 is the default
for host connections (this used to be md5 until Ubuntu 21.10). Please refer to the
PostgreSQL Administrator’s Guide if you would like to con�gure alternatives like Kerberos.
The following discussion assumes that you wish to enable TCP/IP connections and use the
MD5 method for client authentication. PostgreSQL con�guration �les are stored in the /
etc/postgresql/<version>/main directory. For example, if you install PostgreSQL 14, the
con�guration �les are stored in the /etc/postgresql/14/main directory.
To con�gure IDENT authentication, add entries to the /etc/postgresql/*/main/pg_ident.conf �le. There
are detailed comments in the �le to guide you.
By default, only connections from the local system are allowed. To enable all other
computers to connect to your PostgreSQL server, edit the �le /etc/postgresql/*/main/
postgresql.conf . Locate the line: #listen_addresses = ‘localhost’ and change it to * :
listen_addresses = '*'
‘*’ will allow all available IP interfaces (IPv4 and IPv6), to only listen for IPv4 set 0.0.0.0 while ‘ :: ’ allows
listening for all IPv6 addresses.
2 de 6 14/6/25, 19:50
Install and configure PostgreSQL - Ubuntu Server documen... https://documentation.ubuntu.com/server/how-to/database...
For details on other parameters, refer to the con�guration �le or to the PostgreSQL
documentation for information on how they can be edited.
Now that we can connect to our PostgreSQL server, the next step is to set a password for the
postgres user. Run the following command at a terminal prompt to connect to the default
PostgreSQL template database:
sudo -u postgres psql template1
The above command connects to PostgreSQL database template1 as user postgres . Once
you connect to the PostgreSQL server, you will be at an SQL prompt. You can run the
following SQL command at the psql prompt to con�gure the password for the user
postgres .
ALTER USER postgres with encrypted password 'your_password'
After con�guring the password, edit the �le /etc/postgresql/*/main/pg_hba.conf to
use scram-sha-256 authentication with the postgres user, allowed for the template1
database, from any system in the local network (which in the example is
192.168.122.1/24 ) :
hostssl template1 postgres 192.168.122.1/24 scram-sha-256
The con�g statement hostssl used here will reject TCP connections that would not use SSL. PostgreSQL in
Ubuntu has the SSL feature built in and con�gured by default, so it works right away. On your PostgreSQL
server this uses the certi�cate created by ssl-cert package which is great, but for production use you should
consider updating that with a proper certi�cate from a recognised Certi�cate Authority (CA).
Finally, you should restart the PostgreSQL service to initialise the new con�guration. From a
terminal prompt enter the following to restart PostgreSQL:
sudo systemctl restart postgresql.service
The above con�guration is not complete by any means. Please refer to the PostgreSQL Administrator’s Guide
to con�gure more parameters.
You can test server connections from other machines by using the PostgreSQL client as
follows, replacing the domain name with your actual server domain name or IP address:
sudo apt install postgresql-client
psql --host your-servers-dns-or-ip postgres --password --dbname
3 de 6 14/6/25, 19:50
Install and configure PostgreSQL - Ubuntu Server documen... https://documentation.ubuntu.com/server/how-to/database...
psql --host your-servers-dns-or-ip --username postgres --password --dbname
PostgreSQL has a nice feature called which provides the ability to
continuously ship and apply the Write-Ahead Log (WAL) XLOG records to some number of
standby servers to keep them current. Here is a simple way to replicate a PostgreSQL server
(main) to a standby server.
First, create a replication user in the main server, to be used from the standby server:
sudo -u postgres createuser --replication -P -e replicator
Let’s con�gure the main server to turn on the streaming replication. Open the �le /etc/
postgresql/*/main/postgresql.conf and make sure you have the following lines:
listen_addresses = '*'
wal_level = replica
Also edit the �le /etc/postgresql/*/main/pg_hba.conf to add an extra line to allow the
standby server connection for replication (that is a special keyword) using the replicator
user:
host replication replicator <IP address of the standby> scram-sha-256
Restart the service to apply changes:
sudo systemctl restart postgresql
Now, in the standby server, let’s stop the PostgreSQL service:
sudo systemctl stop postgresql
Edit the /etc/postgresql/*/main/postgresql.conf to set up hot standby:
hot_standby = on
Back up the current state of the main server (those commands are still issued on the standby
system):
sudo su - postgres
# backup the current content of the standby server (update the version of your p
4 de 6 14/6/25, 19:50
Install and configure PostgreSQL - Ubuntu Server documen... https://documentation.ubuntu.com/server/how-to/database...
# backup the current content of the standby server (update the version of your p
cp -R /var/lib/postgresql/14/main /var/lib/postgresql/14/main_bak
# remove all the files in the data directory
rm -rf /var/lib/postgresql/14/main/*
pg_basebackup -h <IP address of the main server> -D /var/lib/postgresql/14/main
After this, a full single pass will have been completed, copying the content of the main
database onto the local system being the standby. In the pg_basebackup command the
�ags represent the following:
• -h : The hostname or IP address of the main server
• -D : The data directory
• -U : The user to be used in the operation
• -P : Turns on progress reporting
• -v : Enables verbose mode
• -R : Creates a standby.signal �le and appends connection settings to
postgresql.auto.conf
Finally, let’s start the PostgreSQL service on standby server:
sudo systemctl start postgresql
To make sure it is working, go to the main server and run the following command:
sudo -u postgres psql -c "select * from pg_stat_replication;"
As mentioned, this is a very simple introduction, there are way more great details in the
upstream documentation about the con�guration of replication as well as further High
Availability, Load Balancing, and Replication.
To test the replication you can now create a test database in the main server and check if it is
replicated in the standby server:
sudo -u postgres createdb test # on the main server
sudo -u postgres psql -c "\l" # on the standby server
You need to be able to see the test database, that was created on the main server, in the
standby server.
PostgreSQL databases should be backed up regularly. Refer to the PostgreSQL
Administrator’s Guide for di�erent approaches.
5 de 6 14/6/25, 19:50
Install and configure PostgreSQL - Ubuntu Server documen... https://documentation.ubuntu.com/server/how-to/database...
Administrator’s Guide for di�erent approaches.
• As mentioned above, the PostgreSQL Administrator’s Guide is an excellent resource. The
guide is also available in the postgresql-doc package. Execute the following in a
terminal to install the package:
sudo apt install postgresql-doc
This package provides further manpages on PostgreSQL dblink and “server programming
interface” as well as the upstream HTML guide. To view the guide enter xdg-open /usr/
share/doc/postgresql-doc-*/html/index.html or point your browser at it.
• For general SQL information see the O’Reilly books Getting Started with SQL: A Hands-On
Approach for Beginners by Thomas Nield as an entry point and SQL in a Nutshell as a quick
reference.
Ask a question on Discourse
Ask a question on Mattermost
Ask a question on IRC
Open a GitHub issue for this page
Edit this page on GitHub
Thanks to the 3 contributors!
Copyright © 2025, Canonical Group Ltd
Last updated on Jun 14, 2025
Show source
6 de 6 14/6/25, 19:50
