How to configure postgresql for the first time?
configuration, database, linux, postgresql
Solution
The other answers were not completely satisfying to me. Here's what worked for postgresql-9.1 on Xubuntu 12.04.1 LTS.
Connect to the default database with user postgres:
sudo -u postgres psql template1
Set the password for user postgres, then exit psql (Ctrl-D):
ALTER USER postgres with encrypted password 'xxxxxxx';
Edit the `pg_hba.conf` file:
sudo vim /etc/postgresql/9.1/main/pg_hba.conf
and change "peer" to "md5" on the line concerning postgres:
local all postgres peer md5
To know what version of postgresql you are running, look for the version folder under `/etc/postgresql`. Also, you can use Nano or other editor instead of VIM.
Restart the database :
sudo /etc/init.d/postgresql restart
(Here you can check if it worked with `psql -U postgres`).
Create a user having the same name as you (to find it, you can type `whoami`):
sudo createuser -U postgres -d -e -E -l -P -r -s `<my_name>`
The options tell postgresql to create a user that can login, create databases, create new roles, is a superuser, and will have an encrypted password. The really important ones are -P -E, so that you're asked to type the password that will be encrypted, and -d so that you can do a `createdb`.
Beware of passwords: it will first ask you twice the new password (for the new user), repeated, and then once the postgres password (the one specified on step 2).
Again, edit the `pg_hba.conf` file (see step 3 above), and change "peer" to "md5" on the line concerning "all" other users:
local all all peer md5
Restart (like in step 4), and check that you can login without -U postgres:
psql template1
Note that if you do a mere `psql`, it will fail since it will try to connect you to a default database having the same name as you (i.e. `whoami`). template1 is the admin database that is here from the start.
Now `createdb <dbname>` should work.
Problem
I have just installed postgresql and I specified password x during installation. When I try to do `createdb` and specify any password I get the message: createdb: could not connect to database postgres: FATAL: password authentication failed for user Same for `createuser`. How should I start? Can I add myself as a user to the database?