I am using postgresapp for the PostgreSQL and without password I was able to connect to the database and perform operations. I am curious to learn about the password. Also I use Postico as Interface. Open to any suggestions.
The default for Postgres.app is to have no password and set trust-level authentication in pg_hba.conf. To change this, you need to do the following:
Alter the IP address and mask for host all all 127.0.0.1/32 trust as needed in pg_hba.conf, and change authentication method from trust to password or md5 (or whatever your requirements are)
Set the password for the desired user(s) with ALTER USER <username> WITH PASSWORD '<password>';
Reload the conf with SELECT pg_reload_conf()
Note your pg_hba.conf file is usually located in ~/Library/Application Support/Postgres/var-12 -- the sure-fire way to know is by querying SHOW data_directory in your psql prompt
Postgres.app is a great way to get Postgres running on macOS in a few minutes. It ships with a default user name and password, and they you're on your own. Postgres.app is a nicely compiled version of Postgres that you can run by double-clicking, you'll need other tools (and knowledge) to take advantage of Postgres. As you'll have noticed, the UI for Postgres.app is pretty much a few buttons to configure a server, and to give you shortcuts to the logs, configuration files, and data.
If you want to use psql (as mentioned), or any of the other command line tools, they're embedded in the application's package. Right-click, open the package, open Contents, open Versions, open the version you use, and look in bin.
If you want a GUI tool, there are many options. Since you say Postgres.app, I'll assume macOS. You've found Postico, SQLPro for Postgres is good, TablePlus is also good. Those tools have fairly uncluttered UIs. If you want or need more features, pgAdmin has a whole lot to offer, and it's free. I end up using Navicat a lot, even though it has a UI that screams "Look Ma! I wrote it in Java!" It gets a lot done. I'd say that day-to-day on macOS, I use SQLPro most. But, really, it's largely a matter of taste. psql is quite powerful, and you'll find no short of help for that.
Related
I've been having a bit of trouble trying to install PostgreSQL 14 for the first time.
I would like to apologize in advance if this question has been asked in the manner that I am about to ask it, but I do not think it has. If it has been, please direct me to the appropriate location!
I've done a fair amount of Googling on the matter, and all the information that I find seems to be rather fragmented, or I end up following a spaghetti trail of hyperlinks (a la-do-this-and-follow-this-other-link-with-more-information-than-you-need-to-understand-this-other-required-portion).
Personally, I don't want to jump around to 50 different locations on the web to try and conjure up a piecemeal solution that I believe works, only to be proven wrong later. I want to know what to do and why it works. I've tried reading the documentation, and have given up on it, because to me, it seems to assume that the server has already been set up by a database administrator.
Instead of articulating my problem directly (as I seem to be having more trouble than I would like by trying to do so), I believe it would be easier to articulate my problem indirectly by stating what my expectations would be after installing PostgreSQL for the first time.
So to start, I will mention that I'm running Ubuntu 18.04.6 LTS, and am installing PostgreSQL 14.1 with the following command:
sudo apt install postgresql-14
Before continuing, I would like to add a side note in advance, that I do not want suggestions for an alternative OS or install method. I just want to be able to get "up and running" in a common-sense fashion from this exact point.
Moving on, I know that the aforementioned command creates a *nix user called postgres.
From here, I can now indirectly state my problem using an outline of what my goals and expectations are immediately after installing the software via that command.
After installing PostgreSQL via apt, these are my expected goals:
I want any client to be able to connect to the database server from any computer where a route exists from the client to the server.
For the sake of simplicity with these stated goals, when it is directly or implicitly stated that I am trying to connect a client to the database server, I am making the assumption that the client is able to, at a minimum, ping the machine that the server is running on, and vice versa.
For now, I'm not completely worried about the database being accessible from the public Internet.
I expect to be able to access the database from any computer on my LAN, whether it is an actual LAN, or some sort of logical LAN (like a WAN or a VPN).
If I change the PostgreSQL password of the postgres user, I expect that any client logging into the database server via the postgres user will require the password.
This means if I want to change the password to some_password via \password postgres or ALTER USER postgres WITH PASSWORD 'some_password'; (I am assuming this is how you change the login password of a PostgreSQL user), then...
I expect running psql [-h host] -U postgres -W from any host...
That when I am prompted to enter the password...
I can only log in by entering the exact password of some_password.
Entering any other arbitrary text for the password should not allow me to log in.
I am adding this as a requirement because previous install attempts have shown me that this is NOT the case.
I expect to be able to create a PostgreSQL user account other than postgres (e.g. db_user) with a password and have it be subject to the same requirements as the postgres user.
i.e. once the new account is given permission to log in, the same common-sense login requirements to log in must be imposed, i.e. you can't get in if you don't have the correct username/password combination.
If the process to achieve the aforementioned can be explained in such a way that it can be understood with minimal mental friction, I would be extremely grateful.
Feel free to assume that my knowledge is on par with that of a undergraduate CS student who just completed their first year of university, who also understands Linux filesystems and basic computer networking. I just want the answer to be as accessible to as many people as possible, as I am sure I'm not the only person who has struggled with installing PostgreSQL, in spite of having a power user's level of computer literacy.
sudo apt install postgresql
sudo -u postgres psql
Set a password for this user with \password or the other method you mention
sudo vi /etc/postgresql/10/main/pg_hba.conf
Make the only uncommented nonblank line in this file be host all all all md5
sudo vi /etc/postgresql/10/main/postgresql.conf
uncomment listen_addresses line and set it to '*'
sudo service postgresql restart
When you make a new user, you should also make a new database which has the same spelling as the user does. Otherwise you will need to specify the database name when you try to log in with psql -U, such as psql -U newname -d postgres -h[hhh]. Should you actually be running 14 not 10, then you will need to change the paths of the config files you need to edit accordingly.
Two days ago, i started learning postgresql. Most tutorials I followed online were either old or the codes wont just work on my mac. I followed a lot of tutorials that did a lot of totally different things.
When i switched on my system today. I noticed Postgresql created a user on my mac. I don't know what this is or maybe i used the wrong CLI code.
When I tried viewing the user, I saw this
should I delete this user or it has a function?
postgres user account
Creating a user account specifically for Postgres, commonly named postgres, is a normal part of a Postgres installation. Your installer app likely prompted you for a password to assign to this new user account.
One reason for this is security: The database’s data files and security configuration files are stored in folders owned by the postgres user. So if your main user account is hijacked, the intruder does not yet have access to the database (often the most valuable thing in storage). The intruder must jump through more hoops to compromise Postgres. Also, the separate ownership prevents other apps from inadvertently stomping on the Postgres files.
You will find Postgres is much more enterprise-oriented than other products such as MySQL. This means locking-down for security. Another example: Postgres by default is configured to not accept connections over the network. To enable connections from other computers, you must change the configuration. Inconvenient for the beginner, but more secure. Like a bar on your car steering wheel and deadbolts on your doors, more security always means more steps to take and more annoyance.
Use a virtual machine
Installing the postgres user account is one of the things that makes Postgres a rather heavyweight installation. I suggest to those learning Postgres to use a virtual machine for Postgres. Something like:
Parallels or Fusion or VirtualBox on your own computer
Cloud server such as FreeBSD on DigitalOcean.com.
To remove Postgres, simply discard the vm.
Postgres.app for macOS
Another option for a Mac user is Postgres.app, created by the person who built one of the first Postgres-as-a-Service implementations (on Heroku). I have not used Postgres.app, but I understand it wraps Postgres, so it does not install the postgres user account. Also, Postgres starts and stops when launch and quit the app, rather than running in the background all the time.
Be aware: you may have conflicts with Postgres.app on a Mac where you already have a conventional installation. I suggest you first carefully remove the conventional Postgres from your Mac before installing Postgres.app. Uninstalling involves finding and deleting various files and folders in various places.
Database-as-a-Service (DBaaS)
Another option to avoid local installation is the increasing choices for running Postgres as a service. This is sometimes referred to as “managed Postgres” because the vendor maintains the installation of Postgres on your behalf. You simply use Postgres to create your database, but you do not fully control Postgres in such a service.
Some examples:
Heroku
Digital Ocean
Azure
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
ElephantSQL
My experience
Personally, I often install Postgres on a Mac using the installer by EnterpriseDB.com. That company sells added-value versions of Postgres, but kindly provides an installer for plain-vanilla Postgres, as a service to the community.
I have also used that same installer from EnterpriseDB.com to install onto a Parallels VM running macOS as the guest OS within the VM on a MacBook Pro running macOS as the host OS. You can easily configure the VM to share the host Mac’s IP address on the network, or you can give the VM its own network address which might be handy for demo/dev/test work.
Thirdly, I have installed Postgres on FreeBSD on DigitalOcean.com.
All three of these options have worked quite well for me. Which is preferable depends on the scenario. For example, the DigitalOcean.com approach is good if I want colleagues to be able to reach the database 24x7 without my own MacBook being available.
This discussion is for development work. For mission-critical deployment, I strongly recommend using heavy-duty server equipment with error-correcting memory and redundant storage such as RAID or ZFS pool. Postgres is extremely reliable but depends, of course, on reliable hardware.
Your tag says Postgres 9.1. That version is quite old now. I suggest using the latest version. By the way, the version numbering system has changed for postgres. The first number is now the roughly-annual release number likely requiring you to dump and reload data to upgrade, and the second number is compatible updates.
As pointed out by #basil-bourque, the account is required for several reasons.
That said, if it annoys you to have the PostgreSQL showing up in the login screen -as it did me-, you can remove it as long as you have admin user rights in MacOS.
Apple Support gives the following command to hide a user from the login screen:
$ sudo dscl . create /Users/hiddenuser IsHidden 1
However, since the PostgreSQL user was not included listed in the login window at installation, that command will yield no result -at least in Catalina, which is my OS.
You should use the following two commands instead, as suggested by josemarluedke:
## add postgres to the list of hidden users on login screen
$ sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow HiddenUsersList -array-add 'postgres'
## instruct not to show any hidden accounts at login
$ sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow SHOWOTHERUSERS_MANAGED -bool FALSE
Worked for me!
I have a rails app on heroku that is using a Postgre database. My database has > 40 tables and > 10,000 rows. I would like to delete a lot of data, but it would be much easier if I was able to view and interact with it in a GUI table. I can access my data in rails console, but it's taking too long.
pgweb is a great cross-platform GUI, and it's easy to connect to your Heroku Postgres when launching from the command line.
I installed via Homebrew on a Mac (brew install pgweb), but instructions for other platforms are listed on the site. Here's how I launch pgweb connected to a Heroku Postgres DB:
heroku config:get DATABASE_URL | xargs pgweb --url
And if you want to connect to your localhost:
pgweb --host localhost
I'm a little late here, but this may help someone else who stumbles across this thread...
If you go to your Heroku app's dashboard (through the website) > settings > "Reveal Config Vars" > DATABASE_URL, and paste that URL into the browser.
I use TablePlus for database management, when I paste the link into the browser it asks if it can open TablePlus and then I can edit my production database in real time just like I would in development.
I'm not sure what pasting the URL into the browser will do if you don't have TablePlus. I assume it will request to open any other SQL management app you might have.
As slumdog wrote in the comment to your question, you can use pgAdmin, which comes with your local Postgres installation.
This article explains how to connect your remote heroku db with pgAdmin, using heroku credentials: https://medium.com/#vapurrmaid/getting-started-with-heroku-postgres-and-pgadmin-run-on-part-2-90d9499ed8fb
From the article:
"pgAdmin is a GUI for postgresql databases that can be used to access and modify databases that not only exist locally, but also remotely. For a fresh install of pgAdmin, the dashboard likely contains only one server. This is your local server...
We have to configure a new remote server with its credentials.
right click server(s) > create > server …
Fill out the following:
Name: This is solely for you. Name it whatever you want, I chose ‘Heroku-Run — On’
Under the connection tab: hostname/address. If you go back to your datastores ‘reveal credentials’, this is the host credential. It should look like --**...amazonaws.com
Keep the port at 5432, unless your credentials list otherwise
Maintenance database — this is the database field in the credentials
Username — this is the user field in the credentials
Password — the password field in the credentials. I highly advise checking save password so that you don’t have to copypasta this every time you want to connect.
In the SSL tab, mark SSL mode as require
At this point, if we were to hit ‘save’ (please don’t), something very strange would happen. You’d see hundreds if not thousands of databases appear in pgAdmin. This has to do with how Heroku configures their servers. You’ll still only have access to your specific database, not those of others. In order to avoid parsing so many databases, we have to white list only those databases we care about.
go to the Advanced tab and under db restriction copy the database name (it’s the same value as the Maintenance database field filled earlier)."
Article contains other usefull guidelines and screenshots.
Try GUI of DBWeaver.
https://dbeaver.io/
Download it, after that you can connect your heroku postgres using Database Credentials data.
You can use Heroku's hosted DB viewer on the Overview pane of your dashboard:
Create and click the Dataclip:
Dataclip GUI is fairly easy to use, we can type and customize SQL queries at the top etc.
Good day,
Currently I use MS Access at home for several Databases (for personal use).
At work, I use PostgreSQL, which is infinity times better. I want to start using postgres for my personally used databases, but I don't know where to start.
I've tried reading the documentation, but still don't know how to start. I don't have a server at home; is it possible I can just make a local database/tablespace? Or would I have to host a virtual server?
Note that I am willing to use other open source databases if there is an easy option out there - MS access is just so... terrible.
Thanks,
So, it seems you have Windows at home. You just need to download full installer for PostgreSQL:
http://www.postgresql.org/download/windows/
After installation it will automatically add starting postgres server as a service on local machine. That means, server will always run in background, but you can disable that later, or just uninstall.
After that, you can use pgAdmin (included in default installation package) or other client tools to access the DB engine.
UPD in pgadmin, create connection with this settings:
'localhost' as hostname;
port - 5432;
user, database - postgres (for testing purpose only - you should create your own user and tables with restricted rights later).
Password for postgres (that is DB admin user) must be entered during installation process.
Server settings are stored somewhere here:
"C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\9.3\data"
pg_hba.conf - Client Authentication Configuration File
postgresql.conf - Configuration File
When I try to connect to my Postgres.app db using dbext, I get the following error:
dbext:PostgreSQL requires a '$HOME/.pgpass' file in order to authenticate. This file is
missing. The binary 'psql' does not accept commandline passwords.
Other programs connect just fine by using a "local" connection. (Postgres.app runs with my userid.)
In vim :!which psql correctly prints /opt/local/bin/psql (which I have symlinked to the one in the Postgres.app bin directory). And Postgres.app is set up to use "local" authentication and there's no clear sense of where a pg_hba.conf file would go (there is no etc directory in the app bundle). Moreover, Postgres.app doesn't have anything in its documentation about changing access configuration.
I've tried using dbext's :DBPromptForBufferParameters directly, as well as #tpope's vim-rails plugin (which returns without comment from dbext setup via :Rdbext.
So what do I do to get dbext to connect using a "local" connection?
Note - I spent a LOT of time trying to figure this out without trying the obvious, thus the post even when I already have the answer. I'm also curious to see if anyone else has a different approach.
It turns out you can just make an empty ~/.pgpass file (restricting read-write permissions to your userid only to avoid warnings). This was counterintuitive for me (since there is in fact no password), but I suppose in retrospect it's obvious I should have tried it.
I'll point this out on the dbext issue tracker.