1PG_CTL(1) PostgreSQL 14.3 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 logrotate [-D datadir] [-s]
27 pg_ctl kill signal_name process_id
29 On Microsoft Windows, also:
31 pg_ctl register [-D datadir] [-N servicename] [-U username]
33 [-P password] [-S a[uto] | d[emand]] [-e source] [-W]
34 [-t seconds] [-s] [-o options]
35 pg_ctl unregister [-N servicename]
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39 pg_ctl is a utility for initializing a PostgreSQL database cluster,
40 starting, stopping, or restarting the PostgreSQL database server
41 (postgres(1)), or displaying the status of a running server. Although
42 the server can be started manually, pg_ctl encapsulates tasks such as
43 redirecting log output and properly detaching from the terminal and
44 process group. It also provides convenient options for controlled
45 shutdown.
46 The init or initdb mode creates a new PostgreSQL database cluster, that
48 is, a collection of databases that will be managed by a single server
49 instance. This mode invokes the initdb command. See initdb(1) for
50 details.
51 start mode launches a new server. The server is started in the
53 background, and its standard input is attached to /dev/null (or nul on
54 Windows). On Unix-like systems, by default, the server's standard
55 output and standard error are sent to pg_ctl's standard output (not
56 standard error). The standard output of pg_ctl should then be
57 redirected to a file or piped to another process such as a log rotating
58 program like rotatelogs; otherwise postgres will write its output to
59 the controlling terminal (from the background) and will not leave the
60 shell's process group. On Windows, by default the server's standard
61 output and standard error are sent to the terminal. These default
62 behaviors can be changed by using -l to append the server's output to a
63 log file. Use of either -l or output redirection is recommended.
64 stop mode shuts down the server that is running in the specified data
66 directory. Three different shutdown methods can be selected with the -m
67 option. “Smart” mode disallows new connections, then waits for all
68 existing clients to disconnect and any online backup to finish. If the
69 server is in hot standby, recovery and streaming replication will be
70 terminated once all clients have disconnected. “Fast” mode (the
71 default) does not wait for clients to disconnect and will terminate an
72 online backup in progress. All active transactions are rolled back and
73 clients are forcibly disconnected, then the server is shut down.
74 “Immediate” mode will abort all server processes immediately, without a
75 clean shutdown. This choice will lead to a crash-recovery cycle during
76 the next server start.
77 restart mode effectively executes a stop followed by a start. This
79 allows changing the postgres command-line options, or changing
80 configuration-file options that cannot be changed without restarting
81 the server. If relative paths were used on the command line during
82 server start, restart might fail unless pg_ctl is executed in the same
83 current directory as it was during server start.
84 reload mode simply sends the postgres server process a SIGHUP signal,
86 causing it to reread its configuration files (postgresql.conf,
87 pg_hba.conf, etc.). This allows changing configuration-file options
88 that do not require a full server restart to take effect.
89 status mode checks whether a server is running in the specified data
91 directory. If it is, the server's PID and the command line options that
92 were used to invoke it are displayed. If the server is not running,
93 pg_ctl returns an exit status of 3. If an accessible data directory is
94 not specified, pg_ctl returns an exit status of 4.
95 promote mode commands the standby server that is running in the
97 specified data directory to end standby mode and begin read-write
98 operations.
99 logrotate mode rotates the server log file. For details on how to use
101 this mode with external log rotation tools, see Section 25.3.
102 kill mode sends a signal to a specified process. This is primarily
104 valuable on Microsoft Windows which does not have a built-in kill
105 command. Use --help to see a list of supported signal names.
106 register mode registers the PostgreSQL server as a system service on
108 Microsoft Windows. The -S option allows selection of service start
109 type, either “auto” (start service automatically on system startup) or
110 “demand” (start service on demand).
111 unregister mode unregisters a system service on Microsoft Windows. This
113 undoes the effects of the register command.
114
116 -c
117 --core-files
118 Attempt to allow server crashes to produce core files, on platforms
119 where this is possible, by lifting any soft resource limit placed
120 on core files. This is useful in debugging or diagnosing problems
121 by allowing a stack trace to be obtained from a failed server
122 process.
123 -D datadir
125 --pgdata=datadir
126 Specifies the file system location of the database configuration
127 files. If this option is omitted, the environment variable PGDATA
128 is used.
129 -l filename
131 --log=filename
132 Append the server log output to filename. If the file does not
133 exist, it is created. The umask is set to 077, so access to the log
134 file is disallowed to other users by default.
135 -m mode
137 --mode=mode
138 Specifies the shutdown mode. mode can be smart, fast, or
139 immediate, or the first letter of one of these three. If this
140 option is omitted, fast is the default.
141 -o options
143 --options=options
144 Specifies options to be passed directly to the postgres command.
145 -o can be specified multiple times, with all the given options
146 being passed through.
147 The options should usually be surrounded by single or double quotes
149 to ensure that they are passed through as a group.
150 -o initdb-options
152 --options=initdb-options
153 Specifies options to be passed directly to the initdb command. -o
154 can be specified multiple times, with all the given options being
155 passed through.
156 The initdb-options should usually be surrounded by single or double
158 quotes to ensure that they are passed through as a group.
159 -p path
161 Specifies the location of the postgres executable. By default the
162 postgres executable is taken from the same directory as pg_ctl, or
163 failing that, the hard-wired installation directory. It is not
164 necessary to use this option unless you are doing something unusual
165 and get errors that the postgres executable was not found.
166 In init mode, this option analogously specifies the location of the
168 initdb executable.
169 -s
171 --silent
172 Print only errors, no informational messages.
173 -t seconds
175 --timeout=seconds
176 Specifies the maximum number of seconds to wait when waiting for an
177 operation to complete (see option -w). Defaults to the value of the
178 PGCTLTIMEOUT environment variable or, if not set, to 60 seconds.
179 -V
181 --version
182 Print the pg_ctl version and exit.
183 -w
185 --wait
186 Wait for the operation to complete. This is supported for the modes
187 start, stop, restart, promote, and register, and is the default for
188 those modes.
189 When waiting, pg_ctl repeatedly checks the server's PID file,
191 sleeping for a short amount of time between checks. Startup is
192 considered complete when the PID file indicates that the server is
193 ready to accept connections. Shutdown is considered complete when
194 the server removes the PID file. pg_ctl returns an exit code based
195 on the success of the startup or shutdown.
196 If the operation does not complete within the timeout (see option
198 -t), then pg_ctl exits with a nonzero exit status. But note that
199 the operation might continue in the background and eventually
200 succeed.
201 -W
203 --no-wait
204 Do not wait for the operation to complete. This is the opposite of
205 the option -w.
206 If waiting is disabled, the requested action is triggered, but
208 there is no feedback about its success. In that case, the server
209 log file or an external monitoring system would have to be used to
210 check the progress and success of the operation.
211 In prior releases of PostgreSQL, this was the default except for
213 the stop mode.
214 -?
216 --help
217 Show help about pg_ctl command line arguments, and exit.
218 If an option is specified that is valid, but not relevant to the
220 selected operating mode, pg_ctl ignores it.
221 Options for Windows
223 -e source
224 Name of the event source for pg_ctl to use for logging to the event
225 log when running as a Windows service. The default is PostgreSQL.
226 Note that this only controls messages sent from pg_ctl itself; once
227 started, the server will use the event source specified by its
228 event_source parameter. Should the server fail very early in
229 startup, before that parameter has been set, it might also log
230 using the default event source name PostgreSQL.
231 -N servicename
233 Name of the system service to register. This name will be used as
234 both the service name and the display name. The default is
235 PostgreSQL.
236 -P password
238 Password for the user to run the service as.
239 -S start-type
241 Start type of the system service. start-type can be auto, or
242 demand, or the first letter of one of these two. If this option is
243 omitted, auto is the default.
244 -U username
246 User name for the user to run the service as. For domain users, use
247 the format DOMAIN\username.
248
250 PGCTLTIMEOUT
251 Default limit on the number of seconds to wait when waiting for
252 startup or shutdown to complete. If not set, the default is 60
253 seconds.
254 PGDATA
256 Default data directory location.
257 Most pg_ctl modes require knowing the data directory location;
259 therefore, the -D option is required unless PGDATA is set.
260 pg_ctl, like most other PostgreSQL utilities, also uses the environment
262 variables supported by libpq (see Section 34.15).
263 For additional variables that affect the server, see postgres(1).
265
267 postmaster.pid
268 pg_ctl examines this file in the data directory to determine
269 whether the server is currently running.
270 postmaster.opts
272 If this file exists in the data directory, pg_ctl (in restart mode)
273 will pass the contents of the file as options to postgres, unless
274 overridden by the -o option. The contents of this file are also
275 displayed in status mode.
276
278 Starting the Server
279 To start the server, waiting until the server is accepting connections:
280 $ pg_ctl start
282 To start the server using port 5433, and running without fsync, use:
284 $ pg_ctl -o "-F -p 5433" start
286 Stopping the Server
288 To stop the server, use:
289 $ pg_ctl stop
291 The -m option allows control over how the server shuts down:
293 $ pg_ctl stop -m smart
295 Restarting the Server
297 Restarting the server is almost equivalent to stopping the server and
298 starting it again, except that by default, pg_ctl saves and reuses the
299 command line options that were passed to the previously-running
300 instance. To restart the server using the same options as before, use:
301 $ pg_ctl restart
303 But if -o is specified, that replaces any previous options. To restart
305 using port 5433, disabling fsync upon restart:
306 $ pg_ctl -o "-F -p 5433" restart
308 Showing the Server Status
310 Here is sample status output from pg_ctl:
311 $ pg_ctl status
313 pg_ctl: server is running (PID: 13718)
315 /usr/local/pgsql/bin/postgres "-D" "/usr/local/pgsql/data" "-p" "5433" "-B" "128"
316 The second line is the command that would be invoked in restart mode.
318
320 initdb(1), postgres(1)
321PostgreSQL 14.3 2022 PG_CTL(1)