How to Install PostgreSQL and phpPgAdmin on Ubuntu 16.04

PostgreSQL or Postgres is a powerful high-performance object-relational database management system (ORDBMS) released under a flexible BSD-style license. PostgreSQL is well suited for large databases and has many advanced features.

PostgreSQL is available for many operating systems including Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, and Microsoft Windows.

PhpPgAdmin is a PHP-based web application for managing PostgreSQL databases. With Phppgadmin, it is easy to create a database, create a role and create tables in Postgres.

This tutorial will show the installation of PostgreSQL and its web-based administration interface phpPgAdmin on Ubuntu 16.04. I will use the Ubuntu minimal server as basis for this setup.

Prerequisites

• Ubuntu Server 16.04.
• Root/Sudo access.

What we will do in this tutorial:

1. Install PostgreSQL, phpPgAdmin and Apache2.
2. Configure a PostgreSQL User.
3. Configure Apache2.
4. Configure phpPgAdmin.
5. Testing.

Step 1 - Installing PostgreSQL, phpPgAdmin and Apache2

PostgreSQL and PhpPgAdmin are available in the Ubuntu repository. So you just need to install them with the apt command.

sudo apt-get -y install postgresql postgresql-contrib phppgadmin

The above command will automatically install all packages needed by PostgreSQL, like Apache, PHP etc.

Step 2 - Configure PostgreSQL user

PostgreSQL uses role for user authentication and authorization, it just like Unix-Style permissions. By default, PostgreSQL creates a new user called "postgres" for basic authentication. To use PostgreSQL, you need to login to the "postgres" account, you can do that by typing:

sudo su
su - postgres

Now you can access the PostgreSQL prompt with the command:

psql

And then change the password for postgres role by typing:

\password postgres
 
ENTER YOUR PASSWORD

Then enter \q to leave the psql command line.

Run the command "exit" to leave the postgres user and become root again.

exit

Step 3 - Configure Apache2

You need to configure apache for phpPgAdmin. Edit the file /etc/apache2/conf-available/phppgadmin.conf with nano by typing:

cd /etc/apache2/conf-available/
nano phppgadmin.conf

Comment out the line #Require local by adding a # in front of the line and add below the line allow from all so that you can access from your browser.

Step 4 - Configure phpPgAdmin

Edit the file /etc/phppgadmin/config.inc.php by typing :

cd /etc/phppgadmin/
nano config.inc.php

Find the line $conf['extra_login_security'] = true; and change the value to false so you can login to phpPgAdmin with user postgres.

Step 5 - Restart PostgreSQL and Apache2

systemctl restart postgresql
systemctl restart apache2

Step 6 - Testing

Now access phpPgAdmin with your browser http://yourip/phppgadmin/.

and then try login to with user postgres and your password.

After logging in you will get this interface:

Conclusion

PostgreSQL is an advanced object-relational database management system (ORDBMS), it is Open Source and has a large and active Community. PostgreSQL provides the psql command line program as primary front-end, which can be used to enter SQL queries directly, or execute them from a file. phpPgAdmin is a web-based administration tool for PostgreSQL written in PHP that makes the administration of Postgres databases easier.

Links

• Ubuntu
• PostgreSQL