Database server using PostgreSQL

Abstract

These days the vast majority of organisations have at least one database in use which should be deemed "mission critical" be it a simple database of customer details or invoices to much more complex systems involving hundreds of tables storing a myriad of details about a particular business operation. Whatever the database role security, availability and data consistency, are of paramount importance. For this reason we exclusively use the PostgreSQL database server◳ in production environments wherever possible.

This document aims to be a how-to describing the installation and configuration of the PostgreSQL database server with the emphasis firmly on security and stability. This document is not a tutorial on the SQL language or database design although some links to such resources are provided in the appendix.

Contents

• Preparing the ground
  • Installing the PostgreSQL software
    • Installing the PostgreSQL packages
    • Creating a basic PostgreSQL configuration
    • Configuring basic security settings
    • Configuring basic network settings
    • Configuring syslog settings
    • Starting the PostgreSQL daemon
• Basic database management
  • Managing users and databases
    • Creating database users
    • Listing database users
    • Removing database users
    • Creating new databases
    • Listing databases
    • Deleting databases
  • Backing-up and restoring databases
    • Backup types
    • Creating SQL dump backups
    • Restoring SQL dump backups
    • Backing up and restoring metadata
  • Securing PostgreSQL using Host Based Authentication (HBA)
    • The pg_hba.conf file
  • Securing PostgreSQL using database permissions
    • Displaying database permissions
    • Revoking database permissions
    • Granting database permissions
  • Securing PostgreSQL using object permissions
    • Displaying object permissions
    • Revoking object permissions
    • Granting object permissions
• Intermediate database management
  • Upgrading a PostgreSQL installation
    • Installing the new package
    • Configuring the new database instance
    • Migrating data to the new database instance
    • Uninstalling the old packages and dependencies