[plug] PostgresQL

[Colin Rothnie]

Shane Spina wrote:
> I need some reference material on how to setup postgres 
> and maintain it.. also has anyone been able to get the ODBC 
> driver to work? I have also heard that there is a gui based front 
> end in Star Office... 
> for a reference point my experience in DB's is SQL 6.5/7.0 and 
> Oracle 7.3

Reference material:
1.  install the 7.0.2 version from postgresql.org (or mirror site).  If you
use the RPM, then read /usr/doc/postgresql/README.rpm on the locations of
files etc.  (I may be a bit rusty with filenames & locations - my RPM
version of postgresql is at home).  I seem to recall that the manuals can be
downloaded from www.postresql.org.

2. look at the administration manual (html or PDF are available) for details
of creating databases, giving users access etc.  I think this is installed
under /usr/doc/postgres as well if you install from RPM.

3. create user postgres to be the postgresql "administrator", then use the
createuser command to allow other users to create databases.  

The ODBC client executable/dll pointed to on the postgresql site works fine
with the latest version of Postgresql.  Be aware that the version numbers
are a little confusing.  Version 6.5 of the ODBC client is suitable for
version 7.0 Postgresql.

You can use the ODBC client in Star Office to connect to Postgresql.  You
will need to set up suitable athentification under Postgresql (see
data/pg_hba.conf) to allow connections.

Another exciting development has been phpPgAdmin (see Freshmeat, or I think
it is at www.phpwizards.net), which allows most administration tasks to be
accomplished from your web browser (assuming your server is running a
suitably configured version of PHP).  I have had a lot of fun with this in
the last few days, although the ability to drop a table by clicking on a
link is a bit scary.

Good luck - it may not have all the bells and whistles of Oracle, but it is
getting closer by the day.  Also, I believe the ability to link databases to
the web/intranet is fairly expensive under MS SQL & Oracle, but free of
course using Postgresql/PHP/Apache.

Colin Rothnie