How to Install and Configure PostgreSQL in a Failover Zone

For complete information about installing PostgreSQL, go to http://www.postgresql.org.

For a complete example of deploying in a failover zone, see Appendix D, Deployment Example: Installing PostgreSQL in a Non-Global Zone.

Before You Begin

Determine the following requirements for the deployment of PostgreSQL with Sun Cluster:

• See if the PostgreSQL version that you need is already installed on each cluster node. by searching the most probable root paths where you find bin/postmaster:

  /usr	Root path for PostgreSQL shipped with Solaris OS.
  /usr/local/psql	Root path for the PostgreSQL build without a prefix.
  /your-path	Fully customized root path for PostgreSQL. This is where to place the binaries on the shared storage. A known convention is /path/postgresql-x.y.z.

• Determine the number of PostgreSQL resources to deploy.

• Determine which cluster file systems will be used by each PostgreSQL resource.

• Make sure that a C compiler, make, and the readline package are installed. These packages are needed to build PostgreSQL from the source code downloads from http://www.postgresql.org .

The following assumptions are made:

• The zone postgres-zone is installed and configured on every node.

• The compiler gcc and the gmake package are installed in /usr/sfw.

• The readline package is installed under /usr/local.

• The PostgreSQL database software will be installed on the shared storage, in the directory version in the failover file system /postgres.

• The PostgreSQL database cluster will be installed in the same file system as the database software, in the directory /postgres/data.

• The home directory of the postgres user is /postgres.

• The PostgreSQL build directory is in /tmp/postgres/version, and the software is already downloaded and extracted in this place.

1. Log in to the zone.

   # zlogin postgres-zone

2. Add a group for PostgreSQL.

   # groupadd -g 1000 postgres

3. Add a user who owns the PostgreSQL installation on every node.

   # useradd -u 1000 -g postgres -d /postgres -m -s /usr/bin/ksh postgres

4. Switch to the PostgreSQL user.

   # su - postgres

5. Set your PATH variable.

   $ PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sfw/bin:/usr/ccs/bin $ export PATH

6. Set your LD_LIBRARY_PATH variable.

   $ LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/sfw/lib:/usr/local/lib:/usr/lib: $ export LD_LIBRARY_PATH

7. Switch to your build directory.

   $ cd /tmp/postgres/version

8. Configure the PostgreSQL build.

   $ ./configure --prefix=/postgres/version

9. Complete, verify, and install the build.

   $ gmake $ gmake check $ gmake install