PostgreSQL, Second Edition

Arranging for PostgreSQL Startup and Shutdown

In most environments, you will probably want to arrange for your PostgreSQL server to start when you boot your operating system. You'll also want to arrange for your PostgreSQL server to terminate gracefully when you power off your system. In this section, I'll show you how to make these arrangements for Windows and Red Hat Linux—the details will vary if you are using a different operating system.

First, let's see how to start and stop a PostgreSQL server on-demand.

Using pg_ctl

The easiest way to start a PostgreSQL server (that is, a postmaster) is to use the pg_ctl command. pg_ctl is a shell script that makes it easy to start, stop, restart, reconfigure, and query the status of a PostgreSQL server. ...