Setting up a Postgres server on RHEL/CentOS 5

The procedure for installing and setting up an account in MySQL is widely documented in various places (such as the document for setting up a MySQL account for Wordpress); however, I haven’t found an online guide for installing and configuring Postgres for RHEL/CentOS Linux.

That in mind, here is my guide

• Install Postgres:
  

  yum install postgresql-server

• Choose language of Postgres UI:
  

  cd /var/lib/pgsql ; vi data/postgresql.conf

• Set up a "www" account and make a database for said account:
  

  su postgres
  # Answer No for all three questions when doing:
  createuser www
  createdb -O www www
  # No, no, and no (no special privileges)

• Make the database password protected:
  

  vi /var/lib/pgsql/data/pg_hba.conf

  Make all authentication over the network 'password' instead of 'ident'

• Apply the changes:
  

  /etc/init.d/postgresql restart

• Let’s give the “www” user a password:

  su postgres
  psql

  And at the prompt...

  ALTER ROLE www WITH LOGIN;
  ALTER ROLE www WITH PASSWORD 'foo';
  \q

  The semicolon is important.