Connection errors

When connecting to a PostgreSQL server, you might get error messages that need some more explanations. If you encounter them, please read the following information carefully, we’re sure they will help you.

could not connect to Server: Connection refused

_images/not-running.png

If this message appears, there are two possible reasons for this: either the server isn’t running at all. Simply start it.

The other non-trivial cause for this message is that the server isn’t configured to accept TCP/IP requests on the address shown.

For security reasons, a PostgreSQL server “out of the box” doesn’t listen on TCP/IP ports. Instead, it has to be enabled to listen for TCP/IP requests. This can be done by adding tcpip = true to the postgresql.conf file for Versions 7.3.x and 7.4.x, or listen_addresses=’*’ for Version 8.0.x and above; this will make the server accept connections on any IP interface.

For further information, please refer to the PostgreSQL documentation about runtime configuration.

FATAL: no pg_hba.conf entry

_images/no-hba.png

If this message appears, your server can be contacted correctly over the network, but isn’t configured to accept your connection. Your client isn’t detected as a legal user for the database.

You will have to add an entry in the form host template1 postgres 192.168.0.0/24 md5 for IPV4 or host template1 postgres ::ffff:192.168.0.0/120 md5 for IPV6 networks to the pg_hba.conf file.

For further information, please refer to the PostgreSQL documentation about client authentication.