Install PostgreSQL 7.2.3
by Vinod Kurup
Skip this page if you're not interested in PostgreSQL.
Download the PostgreSQL source
Download PostgreSQL 7.2.3 from the mirror closest to you. The list of
mirrors is at http://www.postgresql.org.
Download it to /tmp.
As root, unpack it into
/usr/local/src
joeuser:~$ su -
Password: ***********
root:~# cd /usr/local/src
root:/usr/local/src# tar xzf /tmp/postgresql-7.2.3.tar.gz
Create the Postgres user
Still as root, create a user and
group (if you haven't done so before) for PostgreSQL. This is the
account that PostgreSQL will run as since it will not run as
root. Also give the postgres user a
password:
root:~# groupadd web
root:~# useradd -g web -d /usr/local/pgsql postgres
root:~# passwd postgres
root:~# mkdir -p /usr/local/pgsql
root:~# chown -R postgres.web /usr/local/pgsql /usr/local/src/postgresql-7.2.3
root:~# chmod 750 /usr/local/pgsql
root:~# exit
logout
joeuser:~$ su - postgres
Password: ***********
Set up postgres's environment variables
Edit /usr/local/pgsql/.bash_profile
so it looks like this:
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/usr/local/pgsql/lib
PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/pgsql/bin
export PATH LD_LIBRARY_PATH
Logout and login again as
postgres. Use the
echo command to make sure that
/usr/local/pgsql/bin is now in your
PATH
postgres:~$ exit
logout
joeuser:~$ su - postgres
Password: ************
postgres:~$ echo $PATH
/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin: ... :/usr/local/pgsql/bin
Compile and install PostgreSQL
First, we run ./configure to set the
compilation options automatically. This is the point at which you can
configure PostgreSQL in various ways. For example, if you want to
enable Unicode support, add the flags
--enable-locale and
--enable-multibyte. If you want to
see what the other possibilities are, run ./configure
--help.
postgres:~$ cd /usr/local/src/postgresql-7.2.3
postgres:/usr/local/src/postgresql-7.2.3$ ./configure
postgres:/usr/local/src/postgresql-7.2.3$ make all
Compilation will take a while (about 10 minutes). Once it's done, you
will see the following message:
All of PostgreSQL is successfully made. Ready to install.
Next, we'll install PostgreSQL. If all is successful, you'll see the
following Thank You
message.
postgres:/usr/local/src/postgresql-7.2.3$ make install
...
Thank you for choosing PostgreSQL, the most advanced open source database engine.
Prepare PostgreSQL for OpenFTS
OpenFTS is the module that provides full text search to OpenACS
&version;. We won't be installing it until later, but since it needs
a special PostgreSQL module called 'tsearch', we'll install it now.
postgres:/usr/local/src/postgresql-7.2.3$ cd contrib/tsearch
postgres:/usr/local/src/postgresql-7.2.3/contrib/tsearch$ make
postgres:/usr/local/src/postgresql-7.2.3/contrib/tsearch$ make install
Start PostgreSQL
The initdb command initializes the
database. pg_ctl is used to start up
PostgreSQL.
postgres:/usr/local/src/postgresql-7.2.3/contrib/tsearch$ cd
postgres:~$ /usr/local/pgsql/bin/initdb -D /usr/local/pgsql/data
postgres:~$ /usr/local/pgsql/bin/pg_ctl -D /usr/local/pgsql/data -l /usr/local/pgsql/data/server.log start
postmaster successfully started
PostgreSQL errors will be logged in
/usr/local/pgsql/data/server.log
Set up plpgsql and allow your user to have access
Next, we'll install plpgsql into our PostgreSQL installation so that
we can use stored procedures. We'll also create a database user named
joeuser (replace with your own
username), so that you'll be able to access the database via
AOLserver.
postgres:~$ createlang plpgsql template1
postgres:~$ # Test if we succeeded
postgres:~$ createlang -l template1
Procedural languages
Name | Trusted?
---------+----------
plpgsql | t
(1 row)
postgres:~$ createuser joeuser
Shall the new user be allowed to create databases? (y/n) y
Shall the new user be allowed to create more new users? (y/n) y
CREATE USER
Test PostgreSQL
Create a database and try some simple commands. The output should be
as shown.
postgres:~$ createdb mytestdb
CREATE DATABASE
postgres:~$ psql mytestdb
Welcome to psql, the PostgreSQL interactive terminal.
Type: \copyright for distribution terms
\h for help with SQL commands
\? for help on internal slash commands
\g or terminate with semicolon to execute query
\q to quit
mytestdb=# select current_timestamp;
timestamp
------------------------
2001-12-20 14:24:30-05
(1 row)
mytestdb=# create function test1() returns integer as 'begin return 1; end;' language 'plpgsql';
CREATE
mytestdb=# select test1();
test1
-------
1
(1 row)
mytestdb=# \q
postgres:~$ dropdb mytestdb
DROP DATABASE
Getting PostgreSQL to start on boot
Download postgresql.txt to
/tmp. Then follow the instructions
specific to your distribution:
Debian:
postgres:~$ su -
Password: ***********
root:~# cp /tmp/postgresql.txt /etc/init.d/postgresql
root:~# chown root.root /etc/init.d/postgresql
root:~# chmod 700 /etc/init.d/postgresql
Test the script
root:~# /etc/init.d/postgresql stop
Stopping PostgreSQL: ok
If PostgreSQL successfully stopped, then use the following
command to make sure that the script is run appropriately at boot
and shutdown.
root:~# update-rc.d postgresql defaults
Adding system startup for /etc/init.d/postgresql ...
/etc/rc0.d/K20postgresql -> ../init.d/postgresql
/etc/rc1.d/K20postgresql -> ../init.d/postgresql
/etc/rc6.d/K20postgresql -> ../init.d/postgresql
/etc/rc2.d/S20postgresql -> ../init.d/postgresql
/etc/rc3.d/S20postgresql -> ../init.d/postgresql
/etc/rc4.d/S20postgresql -> ../init.d/postgresql
/etc/rc5.d/S20postgresql -> ../init.d/postgresql
root:~# /etc/init.d/postgresql start
Starting PostgreSQL: ok
root:~# exit
postgres:~$ exit
Red Hat:
postgres:~$ su -
Password: ***********
root:~# cp /tmp/postgresql.txt /etc/rc.d/init.d/postgresql
root:~# chown root.root /etc/rc.d/init.d/postgresql
root:~# chmod 700 /etc/rc.d/init.d/postgresql
Test the script.
root:~# /etc/rc.d/init.d/postgresql stop
Stopping PostgreSQL: ok
If PostgreSQL successfully stopped, then use the following
command to make sure that the script is run appropriately at boot
and shutdown.
root:~# chkconfig --add postgresql
root:~# chkconfig --list postgresql
; You should see:
postgresql 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
root:~# /etc/rc.d/init.d/postgresql start
Starting PostgreSQL: ok
root:~# exit
postgres:~$ exit
SuSE:
I have received reports that SuSE 8.0 is different from
previous versions. Instead of installing the boot scripts in
/etc/rc.d/init.d/, they should
be placed in /etc/init.d/. If
you're using SuSE 8.0, delete the
rc.d/ part in each of the
following commands.
postgres:~$ su -
Password: ***********
root:~# cp /tmp/postgresql.txt /etc/rc.d/init.d/postgresql
root:~# chown root.root /etc/rc.d/init.d/postgresql
root:~# chmod 700 /etc/rc.d/init.d/postgresql
Test the script.
root:~# /etc/rc.d/init.d/postgresql stop
Stopping PostgreSQL: ok
If PostgreSQL successfully stopped, then use the following
command to make sure that the script is run appropriately at boot
and shutdown.
root:~# cd /etc/rc.d/init.d
root:/etc/rc.d/init.d# ln -s /etc/rc.d/init.d/postgresql K20postgresql
root:/etc/rc.d/init.d# ln -s /etc/rc.d/init.d/postgresql S20postgresql
root:/etc/rc.d/init.d# cp K20postgresql rc2.d
root:/etc/rc.d/init.d# cp S20postgresql rc2.d
root:/etc/rc.d/init.d# cp K20postgresql rc3.d
root:/etc/rc.d/init.d# cp S20postgresql rc3.d
root:/etc/rc.d/init.d# cp K20postgresql rc4.d
root:/etc/rc.d/init.d# cp S20postgresql rc4.d
root:/etc/rc.d/init.d# cp K20postgresql rc5.d
root:/etc/rc.d/init.d# cp S20postgresql rc5.d
root:/etc/rc.d/init.d# rm K20postgresql
root:/etc/rc.d/init.d# rm S20postgresql
Test configuration.
root:/etc/rc.d/init.d # cd
root:~ # /etc/rc.d/init.d/rc2.d/S20postgresql start
Starting PostgreSQL: ok
root:~ # exit
From now on, PostgreSQL should start automatically each time you boot
up and it should shutdown gracefully each time you shut down. (Note:
Debian defaults to starting all services on runlevels 2-5. Red Hat
defaults to starting services on 3-5. So, on Red Hat, PostgreSQL won't
start on runlevel 2 unless you alter the above commands a
little. This usually isn't a problem as Red Hat defaults to runlevel 3)
Learn more about PostgreSQL
Here are some links:
Official PostgreSQL
Docs
Migrating
from 7.0 to 7.1
techdocs.postgresql.org
PostgreSQL
Performance Tuning
($Id: postgres.xml,v 1.6 2002/11/30 17:17:46 jeffd Exp $)