Thread

1. PGSQL on shared hosting

   Erick Papadakis <erick_papadakis@yahoo.com> — 2003-11-21T08:30:32Z

   hello, 
   
   i am a newbie to the pgsql world, so pls bear with a possibly stupid
   question. i want to test out pgsql but i only have a shared hosting
   account. is it possible to install pgsql without root access, only for my
   account? my webhost uses redhat i think. 
   
   thanks!
   .ep
   
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2. Re: PGSQL on shared hosting

   Francois Suter <dba@paragraf.ch> — 2003-11-21T08:49:57Z

   > i am a newbie to the pgsql world, so pls bear with a possibly stupid
   > question. i want to test out pgsql but i only have a shared hosting
   > account. is it possible to install pgsql without root access, only for 
   > my
   > account? my webhost uses redhat i think.
   
   No. The "make install" step requires a root access.
   
   Your best chance is to find a shared hosting which offers PostgreSQL 
   rather than MySQL. There are some. Not many, but some...
   
   Good luck.
   
   ---------------
   Francois
   
   Home page: http://www.monpetitcoin.com/
   
   "Would Descartes have programmed in Pascal?" - Umberto Eco
   
   
   

3. Re: PGSQL on shared hosting

   Tony <tony@unihost.net> — 2003-11-21T09:20:55Z

   Hiya,
   
   Without wanting to get flamed for gratuitous advertising, my company 
   offers shared hosting with PostgreSQL 7.4.  I'll leave it at that.
   
   Apologies in advance to anyone I've offended.
   
   Regards
   
   Tony.
   
   Francois Suter wrote:
   
   >> i am a newbie to the pgsql world, so pls bear with a possibly stupid
   >> question. i want to test out pgsql but i only have a shared hosting
   >> account. is it possible to install pgsql without root access, only 
   >> for my
   >> account? my webhost uses redhat i think.
   >
   >
   > No. The "make install" step requires a root access.
   >
   > Your best chance is to find a shared hosting which offers PostgreSQL 
   > rather than MySQL. There are some. Not many, but some...
   >
   > Good luck.
   >
   > ---------------
   > Francois
   >
   > Home page: http://www.monpetitcoin.com/
   >
   > "Would Descartes have programmed in Pascal?" - Umberto Eco
   >
   >
   > ---------------------------(end of broadcast)---------------------------
   > TIP 4: Don't 'kill -9' the postmaster
   
   
   

4. Re: PGSQL on shared hosting

   Holger Klawitter <lists@klawitter.de> — 2003-11-21T09:41:07Z

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   Hash: SHA1
   
   Am Friday 21 November 2003 09:49 schrieben Sie:
   > > i am a newbie to the pgsql world, so pls bear with a possibly stupid
   > > question. i want to test out pgsql but i only have a shared hosting
   > > account. is it possible to install pgsql without root access, only for
   > > my
   > > account? my webhost uses redhat i think.
   >
   > No. The "make install" step requires a root access.
   
   Wrong! If you install into a writeable directory e.g.
     ./configure --prefix=/home/user/postgres
   make install will work just fine (or at least it did with me).
   
   The only problem is that you cannot start postgres automatially that easily at
   boot time.
   
   Mit freundlichem Gruß / With kind regards
   	Holger Klawitter
   - --
   info@klawitter.de
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5. Re: PGSQL on shared hosting

   rob <rob@dsvr.net> — 2003-11-21T09:43:53Z

   > Without wanting to get flamed for gratuitous advertising, my company 
   > offers shared hosting with PostgreSQL 7.4.  I'll leave it at that.
   
   Just to make it fair I'll say ditto, then ;)
   >> No. The "make install" step requires a root access.
   
   That's not true, so long as your ./configure --prefix has been set to a 
   user writeable directory.
   
   The only other issue is which PORT you run it on, and this depends on 
   the implementation of shared hosting your provider supplies.
   
   As IIRC the port number influences shared memory segement use and you 
   don't want to clash with another instance on the shared server.
   
   Something you don't have to worry about if your provider uses the 
   context patch, *ahem*.
   
   Cheers,
   
   -- 
   Rob Fielding
   rob@dsvr.net
   
   
   

6. Re: PGSQL on shared hosting

   Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> — 2003-11-21T15:16:56Z

   Holger Klawitter <lists@klawitter.de> writes:
   >> No. The "make install" step requires a root access.
   
   > Wrong! If you install into a writeable directory e.g.
   >   ./configure --prefix=/home/user/postgres
   > make install will work just fine (or at least it did with me).
   
   > The only problem is that you cannot start postgres automatially that
   > easily at boot time.
   
   Correct.  AFAIK, you have to be root to set up any init-script action.
   
   You can easily build, install, and run PG in a personal directory
   (I do that all the time for testing purposes) but you couldn't really
   use it as a full-time server because it'd need to be manually restarted
   after any system reboot.
   
   			regards, tom lane
   
   

7. Re: PGSQL on shared hosting

   Robert Treat <xzilla@users.sourceforge.net> — 2003-11-21T15:37:27Z

   On Fri, 2003-11-21 at 04:41, Holger Klawitter wrote:
   > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
   > Hash: SHA1
   > 
   > Am Friday 21 November 2003 09:49 schrieben Sie:
   > > > i am a newbie to the pgsql world, so pls bear with a possibly stupid
   > > > question. i want to test out pgsql but i only have a shared hosting
   > > > account. is it possible to install pgsql without root access, only for
   > > > my
   > > > account? my webhost uses redhat i think.
   > >
   > > No. The "make install" step requires a root access.
   > 
   > Wrong! If you install into a writeable directory e.g.
   >   ./configure --prefix=/home/user/postgres
   > make install will work just fine (or at least it did with me).
   > 
   > The only problem is that you cannot start postgres automatially that easily at
   > boot time.
   > 
   
   A bit hackey, but you could write a cronjob to check for postmaster.pid
   every few minutes and start postmaster if it does not exist. (assumes
   your provider gives you cron access along with those software compiling
   privileges). this wouldnt give you an at boot time start, but at least a
   shortly after boot time start. you'd need to make that script behave
   properly after system crash too.
   
   Robert Treat
   -- 
   Build A Brighter Lamp :: Linux Apache {middleware} PostgreSQL
   
   
   

8. Re: PGSQL on shared hosting

   Keith C. Perry <netadmin@vcsn.com> — 2003-11-21T16:20:03Z

   Quoting Robert Treat <xzilla@users.sourceforge.net>:
   
   > On Fri, 2003-11-21 at 04:41, Holger Klawitter wrote:
   > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
   > > Hash: SHA1
   > > 
   > > Am Friday 21 November 2003 09:49 schrieben Sie:
   > > > > i am a newbie to the pgsql world, so pls bear with a possibly stupid
   > > > > question. i want to test out pgsql but i only have a shared hosting
   > > > > account. is it possible to install pgsql without root access, only for
   > > > > my
   > > > > account? my webhost uses redhat i think.
   > > >
   > > > No. The "make install" step requires a root access.
   > > 
   > > Wrong! If you install into a writeable directory e.g.
   > >   ./configure --prefix=/home/user/postgres
   > > make install will work just fine (or at least it did with me).
   > > 
   > > The only problem is that you cannot start postgres automatially that easily
   > at
   > > boot time.
   > > 
   > 
   > A bit hackey, but you could write a cronjob to check for postmaster.pid
   > every few minutes and start postmaster if it does not exist. (assumes
   > your provider gives you cron access along with those software compiling
   > privileges). this wouldnt give you an at boot time start, but at least a
   > shortly after boot time start. you'd need to make that script behave
   > properly after system crash too.
   > 
   > Robert Treat
   > -- 
   > Build A Brighter Lamp :: Linux Apache {middleware} PostgreSQL
   > 
   > 
   > ---------------------------(end of broadcast)---------------------------
   > TIP 9: the planner will ignore your desire to choose an index scan if your
   >       joining column's datatypes do not match
   > 
   
   An even more basic question is what is the hosters policy on users running their
   own servers.
   
   I've got clients that do but only after they are granted permission to do so.  
   Having clients run they own servers as administratively not a good idea since
   thing can very quick get our of control if you don't know what is running. 
   'Course these days you can tune your kernel and shell parameters to minimize
   that.  Still, I would ask first to see if maybe they'll install it system-wide
   first...
   
   <shameless-plug>
   
   As previously mentioned you could just go with an ISP that has already been
   running PostgreSQL for some time.  I've notice quite a few service providers on
   the list.  Some are probably listed on techdocs but I noticed my entry hasn't
   shown up yet.
   
   </shameless-plug>
   
   
   -- 
   Keith C. Perry, MS E.E.
   Director of Networks & Applications
   VCSN, Inc.
   http://vcsn.com
    
   ____________________________________
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   VCSN, Inc : http://vcsn.com
   
   

9. Re: PGSQL on shared hosting

   Robert Treat <xzilla@users.sourceforge.net> — 2003-11-21T17:30:29Z

   On Fri, 2003-11-21 at 11:20, Keith C. Perry wrote:
   > <shameless-plug>
   > 
   > As previously mentioned you could just go with an ISP that has already been
   > running PostgreSQL for some time.  I've notice quite a few service providers on
   > the list.  Some are probably listed on techdocs but I noticed my entry hasn't
   > shown up yet.
   > 
   > </shameless-plug>
   > 
   
   <raised eyebrow>
   where/when did you send in your update? given that there are several
   people dedicated to deprecating the current implementation i know that
   maintenance has been slacking, but occasionally I update this
   information when I get a chance. Can you send your info to
   webmaster@postgresql.org?
   
   Robert Treat
   -- 
   Build A Brighter Lamp :: Linux Apache {middleware} PostgreSQL
   
   
   

10. Re: PGSQL on shared hosting

    Keith C. Perry <netadmin@vcsn.com> — 2003-11-21T21:24:36Z

    Quoting Robert Treat <xzilla@users.sourceforge.net>:
    
    > On Fri, 2003-11-21 at 11:20, Keith C. Perry wrote:
    > > <shameless-plug>
    > > 
    > > As previously mentioned you could just go with an ISP that has already
    > been
    > > running PostgreSQL for some time.  I've notice quite a few service
    > providers on
    > > the list.  Some are probably listed on techdocs but I noticed my entry
    > hasn't
    > > shown up yet.
    > > 
    > > </shameless-plug>
    > > 
    > 
    > <raised eyebrow>
    > where/when did you send in your update? given that there are several
    > people dedicated to deprecating the current implementation i know that
    > maintenance has been slacking, but occasionally I update this
    > information when I get a chance. Can you send your info to
    > webmaster@postgresql.org?
    > 
    > Robert Treat
    > -- 
    > Build A Brighter Lamp :: Linux Apache {middleware} PostgreSQL
    > 
    > 
    > ---------------------------(end of broadcast)---------------------------
    > TIP 6: Have you searched our list archives?
    > 
    >                http://archives.postgresql.org
    > 
    
    Robert,
    
    I think it was about a month ago but I don't remember.  I'll forward you the
    original email.
    
    -- 
    Keith C. Perry, MS E.E.
    Director of Networks & Applications
    VCSN, Inc.
    http://vcsn.com
     
    ____________________________________
    This email account is being host by:
    VCSN, Inc : http://vcsn.com
    
    

11. Re: PGSQL on shared hosting

    Martijn van Oosterhout <kleptog@svana.org> — 2003-11-21T23:20:38Z

    On Fri, Nov 21, 2003 at 10:16:56AM -0500, Tom Lane wrote:
    > Correct.  AFAIK, you have to be root to set up any init-script action.
    > 
    > You can easily build, install, and run PG in a personal directory
    > (I do that all the time for testing purposes) but you couldn't really
    > use it as a full-time server because it'd need to be manually restarted
    > after any system reboot.
    
    For the record, at least linux cron has an @reboot tag, defined as:
    
    @reboot        Run once, at startup.
    
    Which should be what you want for an init script.
    
    -- 
    Martijn van Oosterhout   <kleptog@svana.org>   http://svana.org/kleptog/
    > "All that is needed for the forces of evil to triumph is for enough good
    > men to do nothing." - Edmond Burke
    > "The penalty good people pay for not being interested in politics is to be
    > governed by people worse than themselves." - Plato
    

12. Re: PGSQL on shared hosting

    Erick Papadakis <erick_papadakis@yahoo.com> — 2003-11-22T08:26:40Z

    Thanks Tom. I don't mind having to start it again and again at server
    reboots, as I only intend to use it for testing for now. 
    
    So how can I execute it inside my own folder? Do I need to give any
    special commands? Is there any FAQ for this? 
    
    Thanks,
    Erick
    
    
    
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13. Re: PGSQL on shared hosting

    Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> — 2003-11-23T18:11:09Z

    Erick Papadakis <erick_papadakis@yahoo.com> writes:
    > So how can I execute it inside my own folder? Do I need to give any
    > special commands? Is there any FAQ for this? 
    
    I think the other respondents already gave you the needed clues:
    configure with --prefix set to someplace in your own directory tree,
    and select a PGDATA directory under your own tree as well.
    
    I'm also in the habit of selecting a default port that's not standard
    (not 5432), so that there won't be a port conflict if the machine's
    owner someday decides to install PG as standard.
    
    In short, something like
    
    ./configure --with-pgport=5434 --prefix=/home/tgl/version74
    
    (plus any other configure options you like) and then
    
    export PGDATA=/home/tgl/version74/data
    
    before running initdb or starting the postmaster.
    
    If you do it exactly as above then you'll also need to add
    /home/tgl/version74/bin to your PATH so that you can invoke psql and
    other utilities conveniently.  I think you can also fool with
    configure's more-detailed prefix options if you have an existing
    personal bin directory that you'd rather put psql into.
    
    			regards, tom lane
    
    

14. Re: PGSQL on shared hosting

    Andrew Sullivan <andrew@libertyrms.info> — 2003-11-25T15:29:54Z

    On Fri, Nov 21, 2003 at 12:30:32AM -0800, Erick Papadakis wrote:
    > hello, 
    > 
    > i am a newbie to the pgsql world, so pls bear with a possibly stupid
    > question. i want to test out pgsql but i only have a shared hosting
    > account. is it possible to install pgsql without root access, only for my
    > account? my webhost uses redhat i think. 
    
    Yes.  We do it all the time.  You'll need to configure with --prefix
    set to something you have write access to.  You may need your
    provider to install a symlink to init scripts for you if you want
    automatic start up, and you may need to have your provider make some
    kernel setting changes, but that's about it.
    
    A
    
    -- 
    ----
    Andrew Sullivan                         204-4141 Yonge Street
    Afilias Canada                        Toronto, Ontario Canada
    <andrew@libertyrms.info>                              M2P 2A8
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