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73 lines
2.9 KiB
Plaintext
73 lines
2.9 KiB
Plaintext
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<sect1>
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<title>Terminology</title>
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<para>
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In the following documentation,
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<firstterm>site</firstterm>
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may be interpreted as the host machine on which
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<Productname>Postgres</Productname> is installed.
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Since it is possible to install more than one set of
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<Productname>Postgres</Productname>
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databases on a single host, this term more precisely denotes any
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particular set of installed
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<Productname>Postgres</Productname> binaries and databases.
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<para>
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The
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<Productname>Postgres</Productname> <firstterm>super-user</firstterm>
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is the user named <replaceable>postgres</replaceable>
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who owns the <Productname>Postgres</Productname>
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binaries and database files. As the database super-user, all
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protection mechanisms may be bypassed and any data accessed
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arbitrarily.
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In addition, the <Productname>Postgres</Productname> super-user is allowed to execute
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some support programs which are generally not available to all users.
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Note that the <Productname>Postgres</Productname> super-user is
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<emphasis>not</emphasis>
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the same as the Unix super-user (<literal>root</literal>),
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and should have a non-zero userid for security reasons.
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<para>
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The
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<firstterm>database base administrator</firstterm>
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or <acronym>DBA</acronym>, is the person who is responsible for installing
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<Productname>Postgres</Productname> with mechanisms to
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enforce a security policy for a site. The DBA can add new users by
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the method described below
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and maintain a set of template databases for use by
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<application>createdb</application>.
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<para>
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The <application>postmaster</application>
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is the process that acts as a clearing-house for requests
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to the <Productname>Postgres</Productname> system.
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Frontend applications connect to the <application>postmaster</application>,
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which keeps tracks of any system errors and communication between the
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backend processes. The <application>postmaster</application>
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can take several command-line arguments to tune its behavior.
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However, supplying arguments is necessary only if you intend to run multiple
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sites or a non-default site.
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<para>
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The <Productname>Postgres</Productname> backend
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(the actual executable program <application>postgres</application>) may be executed
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directly from the user shell by the
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<Productname>Postgres</Productname> super-user
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(with the database name as an argument). However,
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doing this bypasses the shared buffer pool and lock table associated
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with a postmaster/site, therefore this is not recommended in a multiuser
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site.
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<sect1>
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<title>Notation</title>
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<para>
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<quote>...</quote> at the front of a file name is used to represent the
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path to the <Productname>Postgres</Productname> super-user's home directory.
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Anything in brackets
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<quote>[</quote> and <quote>]</quote>) is optional. Anything in braces
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(<quote>{</quote> and <quote>}</quote>) can be repeated 0 or more times.
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Parentheses (<quote>(</quote> and <quote>)</quote>) are used to group boolean
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expressions. <quote>|</quote> is the boolean operator OR.
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</sect1>
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