1PG_CTL(1) PostgreSQL Server Applications PG_CTL(1)
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6 pg_ctl - start, stop, or restart a PostgreSQL server
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10 pg_ctl start [ -w ] [ -t seconds ] [ -s ] [ -D datadir ] [ -l file‐
11 name ] [ -o options ] [ -p path ] [ -c ]
12 pg_ctl stop [ -W ] [ -t seconds ] [ -s ] [ -D datadir ] [ -m
14 [ s[mart] ] [ f[ast] ] [ i[mmediate] ]
15 ]
16 pg_ctl restart [ -w ] [ -t seconds ] [ -s ] [ -D datadir ] [ -c ]
18 [ -m
19 [ s[mart] ] [ f[ast] ] [ i[mmediate] ]
20 ] [ -o options ]
21 pg_ctl reload [ -s ] [ -D datadir ]
23 pg_ctl status [ -D datadir ]
25 pg_ctl kill signal_name process_id
27 pg_ctl register [ -N servicename ] [ -U username ] [ -P password ] [
29 -D datadir ] [ -w ] [ -t seconds ] [ -s ] [ -o options ]
30 pg_ctl unregister [ -N servicename ]
32
34 pg_ctl is a utility for starting, stopping, or restarting the Post‐
35 greSQL backend server (postgres(1)), or displaying the status of a run‐
36 ning server. Although the server can be started manually, pg_ctl encap‐
37 sulates tasks such as redirecting log output and properly detaching
38 from the terminal and process group. It also provides convenient
39 options for controlled shutdown.
40 In start mode, a new server is launched. The server is started in the
42 background, and standard input is attached to /dev/null. The standard
43 output and standard error are either appended to a log file (if the -l
44 option is used), or redirected to pg_ctl's standard output (not stan‐
45 dard error). If no log file is chosen, the standard output of pg_ctl
46 should be redirected to a file or piped to another process such as a
47 log rotating program like rotatelogs; otherwise postgres will write its
48 output to the controlling terminal (from the background) and will not
49 leave the shell's process group.
50 In stop mode, the server that is running in the specified data direc‐
52 tory is shut down. Three different shutdown methods can be selected
53 with the -m option: ``Smart'' mode waits for online backup mode to fin‐
54 ish and all the clients to disconnect. This is the default. ``Fast''
55 mode does not wait for clients to disconnect and will terminate an
56 online backup in progress. All active transactions are rolled back and
57 clients are forcibly disconnected, then the server is shut down.
58 ``Immediate'' mode will abort all server processes without a clean
59 shutdown. This will lead to a recovery run on restart.
60 restart mode effectively executes a stop followed by a start. This
62 allows changing the postgres command-line options.
63 reload mode simply sends the postgres process a SIGHUP signal, causing
65 it to reread its configuration files (postgresql.conf, pg_hba.conf,
66 etc.). This allows changing of configuration-file options that do not
67 require a complete restart to take effect.
68 status mode checks whether a server is running in the specified data
70 directory. If it is, the PID and the command line options that were
71 used to invoke it are displayed.
72 kill mode allows you to send a signal to a specified process. This is
74 particularly valuable for Microsoft Windows which does not have a kill
75 command. Use --help to see a list of supported signal names.
76 register mode allows you to register a system service on Microsoft Win‐
78 dows.
79 unregister mode allows you to unregister a system service on Microsoft
81 Windows, previously registered with the register command.
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84 -c Attempt to allow server crashes to produce core files, on plat‐
85 forms where this available, by lifting any soft resource limit
86 placed on them. This is useful in debugging or diagnosing prob‐
87 lems by allowing a stack trace to be obtained from a failed
88 server process.
89 -D datadir
91 Specifies the file system location of the database files. If
92 this is omitted, the environment variable PGDATA is used.
93 -l filename
95 Append the server log output to filename. If the file does not
96 exist, it is created. The umask is set to 077, so access to the
97 log file from other users is disallowed by default.
98 -m mode
100 Specifies the shutdown mode. mode can be smart, fast, or immedi‐
101 ate, or the first letter of one of these three.
102 -o options
104 Specifies options to be passed directly to the postgres command.
105 The options are usually surrounded by single or double quotes to
107 ensure that they are passed through as a group.
108 -p path
110 Specifies the location of the postgres executable. By default
111 the postgres executable is taken from the same directory as
112 pg_ctl, or failing that, the hard-wired installation directory.
113 It is not necessary to use this option unless you are doing
114 something unusual and get errors that the postgres executable
115 was not found.
116 -s Only print errors, no informational messages.
118 -t The number of seconds to wait when waiting for start or shutdown
120 to complete.
121 -w Wait for the start or shutdown to complete. The default wait
123 time is 60 seconds. This is the default option for shutdowns. A
124 successful shutdown is indicated by removal of the PID file. For
125 starting up, a successful psql -l indicates success. pg_ctl will
126 attempt to use the proper port for psql. If the environment
127 variable PGPORT exists, that is used. Otherwise, it will see if
128 a port has been set in the postgresql.conf file. If neither of
129 those is used, it will use the default port that PostgreSQL was
130 compiled with (5432 by default). When waiting, pg_ctl will
131 return an accurate exit code based on the success of the startup
132 or shutdown.
133 -W Do not wait for start or shutdown to complete. This is the
135 default for starts and restarts.
136 OPTIONS FOR WINDOWS
138 -N servicename
139 Name of the system service to register. The name will be used as
140 both the service name and the display name.
141 -P password
143 Password for the user to start the service.
144 -U username
146 User name for the user to start the service. For domain users,
147 use the format DOMAIN\username.
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150 PGDATA Default data directory location.
151 PGPORT Default port for psql(1) (used by the -w option).
153 For additional server variables, see postgres(1). This utility, like
155 most other PostgreSQL utilities, also uses the environment variables
156 supported by libpq (see in the documentation).
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159 postmaster.pid
160 The existence of this file in the data directory is used to help
161 pg_ctl determine if the server is currently running or not.
162 postmaster.opts
164 If this file exists in the data directory, pg_ctl (in restart
165 mode) will pass the contents of the file as options to postgres,
166 unless overridden by the -o option. The contents of this file
167 are also displayed in status mode.
168 postgresql.conf
170 This file, located in the data directory, is parsed to find the
171 proper port to use with psql when the -w is given in start mode.
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174 Waiting for complete start is not a well-defined operation and might
175 fail if access control is set up so that a local client cannot connect
176 without manual interaction (e.g., password authentication). For addi‐
177 tional connection variables, see in the documentation, and for pass‐
178 words, also see in the documentation.
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181 STARTING THE SERVER
182 To start up a server:
183 $ pg_ctl start
185 An example of starting the server, blocking until the server has come
188 up is:
189 $ pg_ctl -w start
191 For a server using port 5433, and running without fsync, use:
194 $ pg_ctl -o "-F -p 5433" start
196 STOPPING THE SERVER
199 $ pg_ctl stop
200 stops the server. Using the -m switch allows one to control how the
202 backend shuts down.
203 RESTARTING THE SERVER
205 Restarting the server is almost equivalent to stopping the server and
206 starting it again except that pg_ctl saves and reuses the command line
207 options that were passed to the previously running instance. To restart
208 the server in the simplest form, use:
209 $ pg_ctl restart
211 To restart server, waiting for it to shut down and to come up:
214 $ pg_ctl -w restart
216 To restart using port 5433 and disabling fsync after restarting:
219 $ pg_ctl -o "-F -p 5433" restart
221 SHOWING THE SERVER STATUS
224 Here is a sample status output from pg_ctl:
225 $ pg_ctl status
227 pg_ctl: server is running (pid: 13718)
228 Command line was:
229 /usr/local/pgsql/bin/postgres '-D' '/usr/local/pgsql/data' '-p' '5433' '-B' '128'
230 This is the command line that would be invoked in restart mode.
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234 postgres(1)
235Application 2014-02-17 PG_CTL(1)