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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-06-08T16:34:54+00:00

I have a postgresql (9.1.4) server running on a remote machine (Ubuntu 12.04), and

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I have a postgresql (9.1.4) server running on a remote machine (Ubuntu 12.04), and I’m having trouble accessing it on my local machine. Specifically, on my local machine, I can access the remote server using only the username “postgres” and the database name “postgres”, even though I have other user names and databases. First some of the background information. While in the interactive environment invoked with “psql” on the remote machine, I created another user, called “mxtxdb”, and set the password for that user. I also created a database called “mxtxdb”. To demonstrate their existence, I logged onto the remote machine and ran:

sudo su postgres
Password:
postgres@myhost:~$ psql                                  
psql (9.1.4)
Type "help" for help.

postgres=# \du
                             List of roles
 Role name |                   Attributes                   | Member of 
-----------+------------------------------------------------+-----------
 mxtxdb    |                                                | {}
 postgres  | Superuser, Create role, Create DB, Replication | {}

postgres=# \l
                                  List of databases
   Name    |  Owner   | Encoding |   Collate   |    Ctype    |   Access privileges   
-----------+----------+----------+-------------+-------------+-----------------------
 mxtxdb    | postgres | UTF8     | en_US.UTF-8 | en_US.UTF-8 | =Tc/postgres         +
           |          |          |             |             | postgres=CTc/postgres+
           |          |          |             |             | mxtxdb=CTc/postgres
 postgres  | postgres | UTF8     | en_US.UTF-8 | en_US.UTF-8 | 
 template0 | postgres | UTF8     | en_US.UTF-8 | en_US.UTF-8 | =c/postgres          +
           |          |          |             |             | postgres=CTc/postgres
 template1 | postgres | UTF8     | en_US.UTF-8 | en_US.UTF-8 | =c/postgres          +
           |          |          |             |             | postgres=CTc/postgres
(4 rows)

Furthermore, while still on the remote machine, I can access the database from the “mxtxdb” postgresql account:

postgres@myhost:~$ psql -h localhost -U mxtxdb -d mxtxdb
Password for user mxtxdb: 
psql (9.1.4)
Type "help" for help.

mxtxdb=>

But when I try to do the same on the local machine, I get this:

psql -h <server's address> -U postgres -d "postgres" -p 5432
Password for user postgres: 
psql (9.1.4)
Type "help" for help.

postgres=#

and

psql -h <server's address> -U "postgres" -d "mxtxdb" -p 5432
Password for user postgres: 
psql: FATAL:  database "mxtxdb" does not exist

and 

psql -h <server's address> -U "mxtxdb" -d "mxtxdb" -p 5432
Password for user mxtxdb: 
psql: FATAL:  role "mxtxdb" does not exist

The last two lines of my pg_hba.conf file are:

host    all             mxtxdb          0.0.0.0/0               trust
host    all             postgres        0.0.0.0/0               trust

and the listen_addresses is set to ‘*’ (and uncommented) in the postgresql.conf file.

Any idea why I cannot access other accounts or databases remotely, but I can when ssh’d into the remote machine?

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    First of all, thanks to Craig Richard for your suggestions, and in fact you were both correct. Here’s what happened: I installed PostgreSQL using sudo apt-get install postgresql-9.1, and then I followed the instructions for configuring the server at http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.1/interactive/runtime.html . Unfortunately, what I did not notice was that the apt-get install process creates a postgresql database cluster by default, so when I followed the instructions to create a new one, I then had two clusters, one at /var/lib/postgresql/9.1/main and one at /usr/local/pgsql/data, and I was interacting with different clusters when I logged in locally vs remotely. When I removed the second cluster, the issue was resolved and I was able to connect remotely.

    My takeaways from this process: when installing postgresql with apt-get, and then following the instructions in the postgresql manual, be aware that the install process will create a postgres operating system user by default, and will also create a database cluster by default, so those steps in the manual do not need to be performed. If anyone experiences an error like: 

    "FATAL: role/database '<name>' does not exist"

    when you are sure you’ve created that user or database, check to ensure that you’re operating with the correct database cluster.

    Thanks again!

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