FATAL: database does not exist - postgresql

Question

I have a difficult time settings django with postgres.
Here is my settings.py:
DATABASES = {
'default': {
'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql',
'HOST': 'localhost',
'NAME': 'collector',
'USER': 'collector_user',
'PASSWORD': 'collector'
}
}
I created the user collector_user with password collector as in Postgres First steps website. Also created the collector schema:
postgres=# select nspname from pg_catalog.pg_namespace;
nspname
--------------------
pg_toast
pg_temp_1
pg_toast_temp_1
pg_catalog
public
information_schema
collector
(7 rows)
And here is what django has to say about that:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "manage.py", line 10, in <module>
execute_from_command_line(sys.argv)
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 353, in execute_from_command_line
utility.execute()
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 345, in execute
self.fetch_command(subcommand).run_from_argv(self.argv)
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/django/core/management/base.py", line 348, in run_from_argv
self.execute(*args, **cmd_options)
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/django/core/management/base.py", line 399, in execute
output = self.handle(*args, **options)
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/django/core/management/commands/migrate.py", line 89, in handle
executor = MigrationExecutor(connection, self.migration_progress_callback)
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/django/db/migrations/executor.py", line 20, in __init__
self.loader = MigrationLoader(self.connection)
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/django/db/migrations/loader.py", line 49, in __init__
self.build_graph()
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/django/db/migrations/loader.py", line 176, in build_graph
self.applied_migrations = recorder.applied_migrations()
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/django/db/migrations/recorder.py", line 65, in applied_migrations
self.ensure_schema()
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/django/db/migrations/recorder.py", line 52, in ensure_schema
if self.Migration._meta.db_table in self.connection.introspection.table_names(self.connection.cursor()):
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/django/db/backends/base/base.py", line 231, in cursor
cursor = self.make_debug_cursor(self._cursor())
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/django/db/backends/base/base.py", line 204, in _cursor
self.ensure_connection()
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/django/db/backends/base/base.py", line 199, in ensure_connection
self.connect()
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/django/db/utils.py", line 95, in __exit__
six.reraise(dj_exc_type, dj_exc_value, traceback)
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/django/db/backends/base/base.py", line 199, in ensure_connection
self.connect()
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/django/db/backends/base/base.py", line 171, in connect
self.connection = self.get_new_connection(conn_params)
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/django/db/backends/postgresql/base.py", line 175, in get_new_connection
connection = Database.connect(**conn_params)
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/psycopg2/__init__.py", line 164, in connect
conn = _connect(dsn, connection_factory=connection_factory, async=async)
django.db.utils.OperationalError: FATAL: database "collector" does not exist
I also tried dropping the DB and the user and try creating it again. It also didn't work. What might be the problem? Is there something I didn't do? I'm new to postgres, I work on MySQL normally.

Answer 1

In PostgreSQL, a schema is not a database. You created a schema named 'collector' in the database named 'postgres'. But you trying to connect to database named 'collector'. Which does not exist, because you didn't create it. You should probably create a database named 'collector', and then just leave the schema alone (i.e. default to 'public').
Creating a new schema in the 'postgres' database is usually a bad practice anyway, as the database named 'postgres' should usually be reserved for system maintenance tasks.