<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd"> <HTML ><HEAD ><TITLE >Server Run-time Environment</TITLE ><META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.79"><LINK REV="MADE" HREF="mailto:pgsql-docs@postgresql.org"><LINK REL="HOME" TITLE="PostgreSQL 8.0.11 Documentation" HREF="index.html"><LINK REL="UP" TITLE="Server Administration" HREF="admin.html"><LINK REL="PREVIOUS" TITLE="Client-Only Installation on Windows" HREF="install-win32.html"><LINK REL="NEXT" TITLE="Creating a Database Cluster" HREF="creating-cluster.html"><LINK REL="STYLESHEET" TYPE="text/css" HREF="stylesheet.css"><META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"><META NAME="creation" CONTENT="2007-02-02T03:57:22"></HEAD ><BODY CLASS="CHAPTER" ><DIV CLASS="NAVHEADER" ><TABLE SUMMARY="Header navigation table" WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" ><TR ><TH COLSPAN="5" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="bottom" >PostgreSQL 8.0.11 Documentation</TH ></TR ><TR ><TD WIDTH="10%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="install-win32.html" ACCESSKEY="P" >Prev</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="10%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="install-win32.html" >Fast Backward</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="60%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="bottom" ></TD ><TD WIDTH="10%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="user-manag.html" >Fast Forward</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="10%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="creating-cluster.html" ACCESSKEY="N" >Next</A ></TD ></TR ></TABLE ><HR ALIGN="LEFT" WIDTH="100%"></DIV ><DIV CLASS="CHAPTER" ><H1 ><A NAME="RUNTIME" ></A >Chapter 16. Server Run-time Environment</H1 ><DIV CLASS="TOC" ><DL ><DT ><B >Table of Contents</B ></DT ><DT >16.1. <A HREF="runtime.html#POSTGRES-USER" >The <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >PostgreSQL</SPAN > User Account</A ></DT ><DT >16.2. <A HREF="creating-cluster.html" >Creating a Database Cluster</A ></DT ><DT >16.3. <A HREF="postmaster-start.html" >Starting the Database Server</A ></DT ><DD ><DL ><DT >16.3.1. <A HREF="postmaster-start.html#POSTMASTER-START-FAILURES" >Server Start-up Failures</A ></DT ><DT >16.3.2. <A HREF="postmaster-start.html#CLIENT-CONNECTION-PROBLEMS" >Client Connection Problems</A ></DT ></DL ></DD ><DT >16.4. <A HREF="runtime-config.html" >Run-time Configuration</A ></DT ><DD ><DL ><DT >16.4.1. <A HREF="runtime-config.html#RUNTIME-CONFIG-FILE-LOCATIONS" >File Locations</A ></DT ><DT >16.4.2. <A HREF="runtime-config.html#RUNTIME-CONFIG-CONNECTION" >Connections and Authentication</A ></DT ><DT >16.4.3. <A HREF="runtime-config.html#RUNTIME-CONFIG-RESOURCE" >Resource Consumption</A ></DT ><DT >16.4.4. <A HREF="runtime-config.html#RUNTIME-CONFIG-WAL" >Write Ahead Log</A ></DT ><DT >16.4.5. <A HREF="runtime-config.html#RUNTIME-CONFIG-QUERY" >Query Planning</A ></DT ><DT >16.4.6. <A HREF="runtime-config.html#RUNTIME-CONFIG-LOGGING" >Error Reporting and Logging</A ></DT ><DT >16.4.7. <A HREF="runtime-config.html#RUNTIME-CONFIG-STATISTICS" >Runtime Statistics</A ></DT ><DT >16.4.8. <A HREF="runtime-config.html#RUNTIME-CONFIG-CLIENT" >Client Connection Defaults</A ></DT ><DT >16.4.9. <A HREF="runtime-config.html#RUNTIME-CONFIG-LOCKS" >Lock Management</A ></DT ><DT >16.4.10. <A HREF="runtime-config.html#RUNTIME-CONFIG-COMPATIBLE" >Version and Platform Compatibility</A ></DT ><DT >16.4.11. <A HREF="runtime-config.html#RUNTIME-CONFIG-PRESET" >Preset Options</A ></DT ><DT >16.4.12. <A HREF="runtime-config.html#RUNTIME-CONFIG-CUSTOM" >Customized Options</A ></DT ><DT >16.4.13. <A HREF="runtime-config.html#RUNTIME-CONFIG-DEVELOPER" >Developer Options</A ></DT ><DT >16.4.14. <A HREF="runtime-config.html#RUNTIME-CONFIG-SHORT" >Short Options</A ></DT ></DL ></DD ><DT >16.5. <A HREF="kernel-resources.html" >Managing Kernel Resources</A ></DT ><DD ><DL ><DT >16.5.1. <A HREF="kernel-resources.html#SYSVIPC" >Shared Memory and Semaphores</A ></DT ><DT >16.5.2. <A HREF="kernel-resources.html#AEN19248" >Resource Limits</A ></DT ><DT >16.5.3. <A HREF="kernel-resources.html#AEN19280" >Linux Memory Overcommit</A ></DT ></DL ></DD ><DT >16.6. <A HREF="postmaster-shutdown.html" >Shutting Down the Server</A ></DT ><DT >16.7. <A HREF="encryption-options.html" >Encryption Options</A ></DT ><DT >16.8. <A HREF="ssl-tcp.html" >Secure TCP/IP Connections with SSL</A ></DT ><DT >16.9. <A HREF="ssh-tunnels.html" >Secure TCP/IP Connections with <SPAN CLASS="APPLICATION" >SSH</SPAN > Tunnels</A ></DT ></DL ></DIV ><P > This chapter discusses how to set up and run the database server and its interactions with the operating system. </P ><DIV CLASS="SECT1" ><H1 CLASS="SECT1" ><A NAME="POSTGRES-USER" >16.1. The <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >PostgreSQL</SPAN > User Account</A ></H1 ><A NAME="AEN16393" ></A ><P > As with any other server daemon that is accessible to the outside world, it is advisable to run <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >PostgreSQL</SPAN > under a separate user account. This user account should only own the data that is managed by the server, and should not be shared with other daemons. (For example, using the user <TT CLASS="LITERAL" >nobody</TT > is a bad idea.) It is not advisable to install executables owned by this user because compromised systems could then modify their own binaries. </P ><P > To add a Unix user account to your system, look for a command <TT CLASS="COMMAND" >useradd</TT > or <TT CLASS="COMMAND" >adduser</TT >. The user name <SPAN CLASS="SYSTEMITEM" >postgres</SPAN > is often used, and is assumed throughout this book, but you can use another name if you like. </P ></DIV ></DIV ><DIV CLASS="NAVFOOTER" ><HR ALIGN="LEFT" WIDTH="100%"><TABLE SUMMARY="Footer navigation table" WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" ><TR ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="install-win32.html" ACCESSKEY="P" >Prev</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="34%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="index.html" ACCESSKEY="H" >Home</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="creating-cluster.html" ACCESSKEY="N" >Next</A ></TD ></TR ><TR ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" >Client-Only Installation on <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >Windows</SPAN ></TD ><TD WIDTH="34%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="admin.html" ACCESSKEY="U" >Up</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" >Creating a Database Cluster</TD ></TR ></TABLE ></DIV ></BODY ></HTML >