Installing and Configuring PostgreSQL Database on Ubuntu

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1- Introduction
2- Install PostGres
3- Set up a password for the user postgres
4- Using PostGreSQL
5- Install pgAdmin
6- Appendix: Fix Error

1- Introduction

Document is based on:

  • Ubuntu 14, 16, 18, 20

  • PostGres 9.6, 10, 11, 12

The post can be applied to Unbuntu with the version of 12, 14 or 16,...
You can find out other versions of PostGres here:

2- Install PostGres

First, check which version of Ubuntu you are using. Pay attention to UBUNTU_CODENAME, it's important to you now. 

cat /etc/*release

Version

Code name

Release date

End of Life date
Ubuntu 20.4 LST focal August 13, 2020  

Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS

bionic

July 26, 2018

April 2023

Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

bionic

April 26, 2018

April 2023

Ubuntu 16.04.4 LTS

xenial

March 1, 2018

April 2021

Ubuntu 16.04.3 LTS

xenial

August 3, 2017

April 2021

Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS

xenial

February 16, 2017

April 2021

Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS

xenial

July 21, 2016

April 2021

Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

xenial

April 21, 2016

April 2021

Ubuntu 14.04.5 LTS

trusty

August 4, 2016

April 2019

Ubuntu 14.04.4 LTS

trusty

February 18, 2016

HWE August 2016

Ubuntu 14.04.3 LTS

trusty

August 6, 2015

HWE August 2016

Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS

trusty

February 20, 2015

HWE August 2016

Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS

trusty

July 24, 2014

April 2019

Ubuntu 14.04 LTS

trusty

April 17, 2014

April 2019

Installing:

Execute the following commands on the Terminal, note: Replace {UBUNTU_CODENAME} by your UBUNTU_CODENAME. 
sudo add-apt-repository "deb https://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt/ {UBUNTU_CODENAME}-pgdg main"

wget --quiet -O - https://www.postgresql.org/media/keys/ACCC4CF8.asc | sudo apt-key add -

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install postgresql-12
Ubuntu 20: 
sudo add-apt-repository "deb https://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt/ focal-pgdg main"

wget --quiet -O - https://www.postgresql.org/media/keys/ACCC4CF8.asc | sudo apt-key add -

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install postgresql-12
Ubuntu 18: 
sudo add-apt-repository "deb https://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt/ bionic-pgdg main"

wget --quiet -O - https://www.postgresql.org/media/keys/ACCC4CF8.asc | sudo apt-key add -

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install postgresql-12
Ubuntu 16: 
sudo add-apt-repository "deb https://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt/ xenial-pgdg main"

wget --quiet -O - https://www.postgresql.org/media/keys/ACCC4CF8.asc | sudo apt-key add -

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install postgresql-9.6
If you receive an error when installing, please see the appendix at the end of this post: 
E: The method driver /usr/lib/apt/methods/https could not be found.
N: Is the package apt-transport-https installed?
E: Failed to fetch https://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt/dists/xenial-pgdg/InRelease
E: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.
Start postgres: 
sudo service postgresql start

3- Set up a password for the user postgres

Firstly, you need to log in PostGres (With root right of Ubuntu). 
sudo -u postgres psql
You have logged in PostGres successully:
In PostGres, "postgres" is root user, you can set up new password for this user: 

ALTER USER postgres PASSWORD 'newpassword';
After changing password successfully, you can exit PostGres with the command "\q".
After the password of the user "postgres" has been set up, you can log in to the Postgres through the command: 

psql -U postgres -h localhost
Enter the password that you set up above

4- Using PostGreSQL

Make sure that you log in Postgres with  user "postgres".
Run 3 following commands to create user, database, and grant all the privileges of using the database to the use that is newly created. 
CREATE USER myuser with PASSWORD '123';

CREATE DATABASE mydb;

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE mydb TO myuser;
See in pgAdmin3:

Connect to "mydb" database with user "myuser":

Exit PostGres:
Logon "mydb" database with user "myuser": 

psql -U myuser -h localhost  -d mydb
Now you have connected to database "mydb":

Create table:

-- Create table Account
Create table Account (User_Name varchar(30), Full_Name varchar(64) ) ;

-- Insert 2 row to Account.

Insert into Account(user_name, full_name) values ('gates', 'Bill Gate');

Insert into Account(user_name, full_name) values ('edison', 'Thomas Edison');

-- Query
Select * from Account;
See on pgAdmin3:

5- Install pgAdmin

pgAdmin is a software, visual tool that helps you work with the Postgres database, you can install it according to the instruction below:

6- Appendix: Fix Error

If you receive an error message: 
E: The method driver /usr/lib/apt/methods/https could not be found.
N: Is the package apt-transport-https installed?
E: Failed to fetch https://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt/dists/xenial-pgdg/InRelease
E: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.
Run command: 

sudo apt-get install apt-transport-https

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