1PG_CTL(1) PostgreSQL 11.3 Documentation PG_CTL(1)
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6 pg_ctl - initialize, start, stop, or control a PostgreSQL server
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9 pg_ctl init[db] [-D datadir] [-s] [-o initdb-options]
10 pg_ctl start [-D datadir] [-l filename] [-W] [-t seconds] [-s]
12 [-o options] [-p path] [-c]
13 pg_ctl stop [-D datadir] [-m s[mart] | f[ast] | i[mmediate]] [-W]
15 [-t seconds] [-s]
16 pg_ctl restart [-D datadir] [-m s[mart] | f[ast] | i[mmediate]] [-W]
18 [-t seconds] [-s] [-o options] [-c]
19 pg_ctl reload [-D datadir] [-s]
21 pg_ctl status [-D datadir]
23 pg_ctl promote [-D datadir] [-W] [-t seconds] [-s]
25 pg_ctl kill signal_name process_id
27 On Microsoft Windows, also:
29 pg_ctl register [-D datadir] [-N servicename] [-U username]
31 [-P password] [-S a[uto] | d[emand]] [-e source] [-W]
32 [-t seconds] [-s] [-o options]
33 pg_ctl unregister [-N servicename]
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37 pg_ctl is a utility for initializing a PostgreSQL database cluster,
38 starting, stopping, or restarting the PostgreSQL database server
39 (postgres(1)), or displaying the status of a running server. Although
40 the server can be started manually, pg_ctl encapsulates tasks such as
41 redirecting log output and properly detaching from the terminal and
42 process group. It also provides convenient options for controlled
43 shutdown.
44 The init or initdb mode creates a new PostgreSQL database cluster, that
46 is, a collection of databases that will be managed by a single server
47 instance. This mode invokes the initdb command. See initdb(1) for
48 details.
49 start mode launches a new server. The server is started in the
51 background, and its standard input is attached to /dev/null (or nul on
52 Windows). On Unix-like systems, by default, the server's standard
53 output and standard error are sent to pg_ctl's standard output (not
54 standard error). The standard output of pg_ctl should then be
55 redirected to a file or piped to another process such as a log rotating
56 program like rotatelogs; otherwise postgres will write its output to
57 the controlling terminal (from the background) and will not leave the
58 shell's process group. On Windows, by default the server's standard
59 output and standard error are sent to the terminal. These default
60 behaviors can be changed by using -l to append the server's output to a
61 log file. Use of either -l or output redirection is recommended.
62 stop mode shuts down the server that is running in the specified data
64 directory. Three different shutdown methods can be selected with the -m
65 option. “Smart” mode waits for all active clients to disconnect and
66 any online backup to finish. If the server is in hot standby, recovery
67 and streaming replication will be terminated once all clients have
68 disconnected. “Fast” mode (the default) does not wait for clients to
69 disconnect and will terminate an online backup in progress. All active
70 transactions are rolled back and clients are forcibly disconnected,
71 then the server is shut down. “Immediate” mode will abort all server
72 processes immediately, without a clean shutdown. This choice will lead
73 to a crash-recovery cycle during the next server start.
74 restart mode effectively executes a stop followed by a start. This
76 allows changing the postgres command-line options, or changing
77 configuration-file options that cannot be changed without restarting
78 the server. If relative paths were used on the command line during
79 server start, restart might fail unless pg_ctl is executed in the same
80 current directory as it was during server start.
81 reload mode simply sends the postgres server process a SIGHUP signal,
83 causing it to reread its configuration files (postgresql.conf,
84 pg_hba.conf, etc.). This allows changing configuration-file options
85 that do not require a full server restart to take effect.
86 status mode checks whether a server is running in the specified data
88 directory. If it is, the server's PID and the command line options that
89 were used to invoke it are displayed. If the server is not running,
90 pg_ctl returns an exit status of 3. If an accessible data directory is
91 not specified, pg_ctl returns an exit status of 4.
92 promote mode commands the standby server that is running in the
94 specified data directory to end standby mode and begin read-write
95 operations.
96 kill mode sends a signal to a specified process. This is primarily
98 valuable on Microsoft Windows which does not have a built-in kill
99 command. Use --help to see a list of supported signal names.
100 register mode registers the PostgreSQL server as a system service on
102 Microsoft Windows. The -S option allows selection of service start
103 type, either “auto” (start service automatically on system startup) or
104 “demand” (start service on demand).
105 unregister mode unregisters a system service on Microsoft Windows. This
107 undoes the effects of the register command.
108
110 -c
111 --core-files
112 Attempt to allow server crashes to produce core files, on platforms
113 where this is possible, by lifting any soft resource limit placed
114 on core files. This is useful in debugging or diagnosing problems
115 by allowing a stack trace to be obtained from a failed server
116 process.
117 -D datadir
119 --pgdata=datadir
120 Specifies the file system location of the database configuration
121 files. If this option is omitted, the environment variable PGDATA
122 is used.
123 -l filename
125 --log=filename
126 Append the server log output to filename. If the file does not
127 exist, it is created. The umask is set to 077, so access to the log
128 file is disallowed to other users by default.
129 -m mode
131 --mode=mode
132 Specifies the shutdown mode. mode can be smart, fast, or
133 immediate, or the first letter of one of these three. If this
134 option is omitted, fast is the default.
135 -o options
137 --options=options
138 Specifies options to be passed directly to the postgres command.
139 -o can be specified multiple times, with all the given options
140 being passed through.
141 The options should usually be surrounded by single or double quotes
143 to ensure that they are passed through as a group.
144 -o initdb-options
146 --options=initdb-options
147 Specifies options to be passed directly to the initdb command. -o
148 can be specified multiple times, with all the given options being
149 passed through.
150 The initdb-options should usually be surrounded by single or double
152 quotes to ensure that they are passed through as a group.
153 -p path
155 Specifies the location of the postgres executable. By default the
156 postgres executable is taken from the same directory as pg_ctl, or
157 failing that, the hard-wired installation directory. It is not
158 necessary to use this option unless you are doing something unusual
159 and get errors that the postgres executable was not found.
160 In init mode, this option analogously specifies the location of the
162 initdb executable.
163 -s
165 --silent
166 Print only errors, no informational messages.
167 -t seconds
169 --timeout=seconds
170 Specifies the maximum number of seconds to wait when waiting for an
171 operation to complete (see option -w). Defaults to the value of the
172 PGCTLTIMEOUT environment variable or, if not set, to 60 seconds.
173 -V
175 --version
176 Print the pg_ctl version and exit.
177 -w
179 --wait
180 Wait for the operation to complete. This is supported for the modes
181 start, stop, restart, promote, and register, and is the default for
182 those modes.
183 When waiting, pg_ctl repeatedly checks the server's PID file,
185 sleeping for a short amount of time between checks. Startup is
186 considered complete when the PID file indicates that the server is
187 ready to accept connections. Shutdown is considered complete when
188 the server removes the PID file. pg_ctl returns an exit code based
189 on the success of the startup or shutdown.
190 If the operation does not complete within the timeout (see option
192 -t), then pg_ctl exits with a nonzero exit status. But note that
193 the operation might continue in the background and eventually
194 succeed.
195 -W
197 --no-wait
198 Do not wait for the operation to complete. This is the opposite of
199 the option -w.
200 If waiting is disabled, the requested action is triggered, but
202 there is no feedback about its success. In that case, the server
203 log file or an external monitoring system would have to be used to
204 check the progress and success of the operation.
205 In prior releases of PostgreSQL, this was the default except for
207 the stop mode.
208 -?
210 --help
211 Show help about pg_ctl command line arguments, and exit.
212 If an option is specified that is valid, but not relevant to the
214 selected operating mode, pg_ctl ignores it.
215 Options for Windows
217 -e source
218 Name of the event source for pg_ctl to use for logging to the event
219 log when running as a Windows service. The default is PostgreSQL.
220 Note that this only controls messages sent from pg_ctl itself; once
221 started, the server will use the event source specified by its
222 event_source parameter. Should the server fail very early in
223 startup, before that parameter has been set, it might also log
224 using the default event source name PostgreSQL.
225 -N servicename
227 Name of the system service to register. This name will be used as
228 both the service name and the display name. The default is
229 PostgreSQL.
230 -P password
232 Password for the user to run the service as.
233 -S start-type
235 Start type of the system service. start-type can be auto, or
236 demand, or the first letter of one of these two. If this option is
237 omitted, auto is the default.
238 -U username
240 User name for the user to run the service as. For domain users, use
241 the format DOMAIN\username.
242
244 PGCTLTIMEOUT
245 Default limit on the number of seconds to wait when waiting for
246 startup or shutdown to complete. If not set, the default is 60
247 seconds.
248 PGDATA
250 Default data directory location.
251 Most pg_ctl modes require knowing the data directory location;
253 therefore, the -D option is required unless PGDATA is set.
254 pg_ctl, like most other PostgreSQL utilities, also uses the environment
256 variables supported by libpq (see Section 34.14).
257 For additional variables that affect the server, see postgres(1).
259
261 postmaster.pid
262 pg_ctl examines this file in the data directory to determine
263 whether the server is currently running.
264 postmaster.opts
266 If this file exists in the data directory, pg_ctl (in restart mode)
267 will pass the contents of the file as options to postgres, unless
268 overridden by the -o option. The contents of this file are also
269 displayed in status mode.
270
272 Starting the Server
273 To start the server, waiting until the server is accepting connections:
274 $ pg_ctl start
276 To start the server using port 5433, and running without fsync, use:
278 $ pg_ctl -o "-F -p 5433" start
280 Stopping the Server
282 To stop the server, use:
283 $ pg_ctl stop
285 The -m option allows control over how the server shuts down:
287 $ pg_ctl stop -m smart
289 Restarting the Server
291 Restarting the server is almost equivalent to stopping the server and
292 starting it again, except that by default, pg_ctl saves and reuses the
293 command line options that were passed to the previously-running
294 instance. To restart the server using the same options as before, use:
295 $ pg_ctl restart
297 But if -o is specified, that replaces any previous options. To restart
299 using port 5433, disabling fsync upon restart:
300 $ pg_ctl -o "-F -p 5433" restart
302 Showing the Server Status
304 Here is sample status output from pg_ctl:
305 $ pg_ctl status
307 pg_ctl: server is running (PID: 13718)
309 /usr/local/pgsql/bin/postgres "-D" "/usr/local/pgsql/data" "-p" "5433" "-B" "128"
310 The second line is the command that would be invoked in restart mode.
312
314 initdb(1), postgres(1)
315PostgreSQL 11.3 2019 PG_CTL(1)