Postgresql 16
General
PostgreSQL is a well known opensource database that scales well and is easy to use. in Alpine v3.20 we can install the latest version using the package postgresql16
Install
apk add postgresql16 postgresql16-contrib postgresql16-openrc
rc-update add postgresql
rc-service postgresql start
This will start the postgresql 16 server and perform some initial configuration.
Configure
login as the postgres user and start psql to create a new user and database:
su postgres
psql
create user user with encrypted password 'password';
create database database;
grant all privileges on database database to user;
Use
By default only local access is allowed to PostgreSQL. to allow other networked services to access the database we need to configure PostgreSQL to allow external connections.
modify the postgresql.conf file
nano /etc/postgresql16/postgresql.conf
Find the line that starts with
#listen_addresses = 'localhost'
Uncomment it and change it to the following:
listen_addresses = '*'
If you want it to listen on a specific ip you can change * to 192.168.1.2/24. Save the file and change the next config file.
modify the pg_hba.conf file
nano /etc/postgresql16/pg_hba.conf
look for the line: host all all 127.0.0.1/32 md5 and change it to: host all all 0.0.0.0/0 md5 This line allows connections from any IP address and requires a password for authentication (md5). Restart the server to allow incoming connections from other hosts.
rc-service postgresql start
Besure to allow the port through the firewall. For UFW type:
ufw allow 5432
This is a basic configuration. You can configure the PostgreSQL server to only allow certain networks or IP's to connect but thats beyond the scope of this documentation.
Troubleshooting
- Some troubleshooting information
Upgrading PostgreSQL
- Notes on upgrading PostgreSQL 16 to 17