Remotely access postgresql database

Question

I need to access a postgresql database from a remote machine on a VPS at DigitalOcean running 12.10 and postgresql 9.1.

How do I do this? I noticed port 5432 is closed, how do I open this?

Solution 1

To open the port 5432 edit your /etc/postgresql/9.1/main/postgresql.conf and change

listen_addresses='localhost'

to

listen_addresses='*'

and restart your DBMS

invoke-rc.d postgresql restart

now you can connect with

$ psql -h hostname -U username -d database

if you are unable to authentify yourself, then you need to give your user access rights to your database

Edit your

/etc/postgresql/9.1/main/pg_hba.conf

and add

host all all all md5

(This is for a wide open access. For stricter control, consult the pg_hba.conf documentation and adjust according to your needs).

Hereafter you need also a reload

invoke-rc.d postgresql reload

I don't need to mention that this is a basic configuration, now you should think about modify your firewall and improve the security of your DBMS.

Solution 2

This does not work anymore, if it ever did :

host all all * md5

The correct possible lines for this are :

host all all 0.0.0.0/0 md5 #ipv4 range

host all all ::0/0 md5 #ipv6 range

host all all all md5 #all ip

Source

Solution 3

For the message "server not listening", that happen to me was, that i don't erase of # on the archive postgresql.conf i mean:

#listen_addresses='localhost'

to:

listen_addresses='*'

(Sorry for my english).

Solution 4

The highest-voted and accepted answer has serious security-impolications. This method is disabled by default for good reasons.

Better use local port forwarding with ssh:

ssh -L local_port:localhost:foreign_port user@server

---

Start the port forwarding:

ssh -L 5432:localhost:5432 [email protected]
#or
ssh -L 5432:127.0.0.1:5432 [email protected]

(Change local and foreign ports to fit your configuration).

Then you can directly connect to the database from your local computer:

psql -U db_user -p local_port -l

Solution 5

Following configuration, you need to set:

In /etc/postgresql/10/main/postgresql.conf

# Connection Settings -

listen_addresses = '*'          # what IP address(es) to listen on;

In /etc/postgresql/10/main/pg_hba.conf

# IPv4 local connections:
host    all             all             0.0.0.0/0           md5

Restart your server:

sudo /etc/init.d/postgresql restart

View more solutions

Comments

[Jayesh]

Follow steps mentioned in javabypatel.blogspot.in/2015/07/… and change the port number present in postgresql.conf file. after changing port restart PostgreSQL server.

[EAmez]

Url posted by @Jayesh did the trick. Followed instructions and succesfully made one of my development computers connect to another (from Windows with pgAdmin4 to Ubuntu 18.04 postgresql 10.9)

[Øyvind]

Okey, I tried this, but when I try to connect using pgAdmin from my computer, I get "Server not listening". I added to iptables, and when I run iptables -L the following shows: ACCEPT tcp -- anywhere anywhere tcp dpt:postgresql When checking the IP and PORT on this site (yougetsignal.com/tools/open-ports), it says the port is closed

[Admin]

is the server listening? check with netstat -nlt|grep :5432

[Kaluã Bentes]

I would insert the host row in a more strict way: host <database> <user> <remote_client_IPaddress>/24 md5

[Heather92065]

For Postgresql version 9.5 you may need to restart the server before the listen_addresses will take effect.

[Mike]

This definitely did the trick. The above answer definitely did not work.

[Peter Krauss]

Check correct paths at server by PSQL with SHOW hba_file; and restart with standard service postgresql restart

[Peter Krauss]

Please @Mike express what is correct: host all all all md5 will work fine? It is correct? any security problem?

[Peter Krauss]

When using Ubuntu 16 LTS with PostgreSQL v10, I solved (thanks DanielVérité and @Kethryweryn!) with host all all all md5 . Need also do all ssl-tcp instructions, from "To create a simple self-signed certificate..." first commands to "Finally, create a server certificate..." last commands.

[Mike]

@peterkrauss Yes, host all all all md5 worked for me. Security problem? Of course it is, but for what I was doing it was just fine. (Internal network)

[Olaini Lature]

This is a nice and short summary of the above answers.

[pcko1]

nothing else worked for me, other than that! thanks!