Ubuntu Manpage: pg_ctl - initialize, start, stop, or control a PostgreSQL server

Provided by: postgresql-9.5_9.5.25-0ubuntu0.16.04.1_amd64

NAME

       pg_ctl - initialize, start, stop, or control a PostgreSQL server

SYNOPSIS

       pg_ctl init[db] [-s] [-D datadir] [-o initdb-options]

       pg_ctl start [-w] [-t seconds] [-s] [-D datadir] [-l filename] [-o options] [-p path] [-c]

       pg_ctl stop [-W] [-t seconds] [-s] [-D datadir] [-m s[mart] | f[ast] | i[mmediate]]

       pg_ctl restart [-w] [-t seconds] [-s] [-D datadir] [-c]
              [-m s[mart] | f[ast] | i[mmediate]] [-o options]

       pg_ctl reload [-s] [-D datadir]

       pg_ctl status [-D datadir]

       pg_ctl promote [-s] [-D datadir]

       pg_ctl kill signal_name process_id

       pg_ctl register [-N servicename] [-U username] [-P password] [-D datadir]
              [-S a[uto] | d[emand]] [-w] [-t seconds] [-s] [-o options]

       pg_ctl unregister [-N servicename]

DESCRIPTION

pg_ctl is a utility for initializing a PostgreSQL database cluster, starting, stopping, or
restarting the PostgreSQL database server (postgres(1)), or displaying the status of a
running server. Although the server can be started manually, pg_ctl encapsulates tasks
such as redirecting log output and properly detaching from the terminal and process group.
It also provides convenient options for controlled shutdown.

The init or initdb mode creates a new PostgreSQL database cluster. A database cluster is a
collection of databases that are managed by a single server instance. This mode invokes
the initdb command. See initdb(1) for details.

In start mode, a new server is launched. The server is started in the background, and its
standard input is attached to /dev/null (or nul on Windows). On Unix-like systems, by
default, the server's standard output and standard error are sent to pg_ctl's standard
output (not standard error). The standard output of pg_ctl should then be redirected to a
file or piped to another process such as a log rotating program like rotatelogs; otherwise
postgres will write its output to the controlling terminal (from the background) and will
not leave the shell's process group. On Windows, by default the server's standard output
and standard error are sent to the terminal. These default behaviors can be changed by
using -l to append the server's output to a log file. Use of either -l or output
redirection is recommended.

In stop mode, the server that is running in the specified data directory is shut down.
Three different shutdown methods can be selected with the -m option. “Smart” mode waits
for all active clients to disconnect and any online backup to finish. If the server is in
hot standby, recovery and streaming replication will be terminated once all clients have
disconnected. “Fast” mode (the default) does not wait for clients to disconnect and will
terminate an online backup in progress. All active transactions are rolled back and
clients are forcibly disconnected, then the server is shut down. “Immediate” mode will
abort all server processes immediately, without a clean shutdown. This will lead to a
crash-recovery run on the next restart.

restart mode effectively executes a stop followed by a start. This allows changing the
postgres command-line options. restart might fail if relative paths specified were
specified on the command-line during server start.

reload mode simply sends the postgres process a SIGHUP signal, causing it to reread its
configuration files (postgresql.conf, pg_hba.conf, etc.). This allows changing of
configuration-file options that do not require a complete restart to take effect.

status mode checks whether a server is running in the specified data directory. If it is,
the PID and the command line options that were used to invoke it are displayed. If the
server is not running, the process returns an exit status of 3. If an accessible data
directory is not specified, the process returns an exit status of 4.

In promote mode, the standby server that is running in the specified data directory is
commanded to exit recovery and begin read-write operations.

kill mode allows you to send a signal to a specified process. This is particularly
valuable for Microsoft Windows which does not have a kill command. Use --help to see a
list of supported signal names.

register mode allows you to register a system service on Microsoft Windows. The -S option
allows selection of service start type, either “auto” (start service automatically on
system startup) or “demand” (start service on demand).

unregister mode allows you to unregister a system service on Microsoft Windows. This
undoes the effects of the register command.

OPTIONS

-c
--core-file
Attempt to allow server crashes to produce core files, on platforms where this is
possible, by lifting any soft resource limit placed on core files. This is useful in
debugging or diagnosing problems by allowing a stack trace to be obtained from a
failed server process.

-D datadir
--pgdata datadir
Specifies the file system location of the database configuration files. If this is
omitted, the environment variable PGDATA is used.

-l filename
--log filename
Append the server log output to filename. If the file does not exist, it is created.
The umask is set to 077, so access to the log file is disallowed to other users by
default.

-m mode
--mode mode
Specifies the shutdown mode. mode can be smart, fast, or immediate, or the first
letter of one of these three. If this is omitted, fast is used.

-o options
Specifies options to be passed directly to the postgres command; multiple option
invocations are appended.

The options should usually be surrounded by single or double quotes to ensure that
they are passed through as a group.

-o initdb-options
Specifies options to be passed directly to the initdb command.

The options should usually be surrounded by single or double quotes to ensure that
they are passed through as a group.

-p path
Specifies the location of the postgres executable. By default the postgres executable
is taken from the same directory as pg_ctl, or failing that, the hard-wired
installation directory. It is not necessary to use this option unless you are doing
something unusual and get errors that the postgres executable was not found.

In init mode, this option analogously specifies the location of the initdb executable.

-s
--silent
Print only errors, no informational messages.

-t
--timeout
The maximum number of seconds to wait when waiting for startup or shutdown to
complete. Defaults to the value of the PGCTLTIMEOUT environment variable or, if not
set, to 60 seconds.

-V
--version
Print the pg_ctl version and exit.

-w
Wait for the startup or shutdown to complete. Waiting is the default option for
shutdowns, but not startups. When waiting for startup, pg_ctl repeatedly attempts to
connect to the server. When waiting for shutdown, pg_ctl waits for the server to
remove its PID file. This option allows the entry of an SSL passphrase on startup.
pg_ctl returns an exit code based on the success of the startup or shutdown.

-W
Do not wait for startup or shutdown to complete. This is the default for start and
restart modes.

-?
--help
Show help about pg_ctl command line arguments, and exit.

Options for Windows
-e source
Name of the event source for pg_ctl to use for logging to the event log when running
as a Windows service. The default is PostgreSQL. Note that this only controls the
logging from pg_ctl itself; once started, the server will use the event source
specified by event_source. Should the server fail during early startup, it might also
log using the default event source PostgreSQL.

-N servicename
Name of the system service to register. The name will be used as both the service name
and the display name.

-P password
Password for the user to start the service.

-S start-type
Start type of the system service to register. start-type can be auto, or demand, or
the first letter of one of these two. If this is omitted, auto is used.

-U username
User name for the user to start the service. For domain users, use the format
DOMAIN\username.

ENVIRONMENT

       PGCTLTIMEOUT
           Default limit on the number of seconds to wait when waiting for startup or shutdown to
           complete. If not set, the default is 60 seconds.

       PGDATA
           Default data directory location.

       pg_ctl, like most other PostgreSQL utilities, also uses the environment variables
       supported by libpq (see Section 31.14, “Environment Variables”, in the documentation). For
       additional server variables, see postgres(1).

FILES

       postmaster.pid
           The existence of this file in the data directory is used to help pg_ctl determine if
           the server is currently running.

       postmaster.opts
           If this file exists in the data directory, pg_ctl (in restart mode) will pass the
           contents of the file as options to postgres, unless overridden by the -o option. The
           contents of this file are also displayed in status mode.

EXAMPLES

   Starting the Server
       To start the server:

           $ pg_ctl start

       To start the server, waiting until the server is accepting connections:

           $ pg_ctl -w start

       To start the server using port 5433, and running without fsync, use:

           $ pg_ctl -o "-F -p 5433" start

   Stopping the Server
       To stop the server, use:

           $ pg_ctl stop

       The -m option allows control over how the server shuts down:

           $ pg_ctl stop -m fast

   Restarting the Server
       Restarting the server is almost equivalent to stopping the server and starting it again,
       except that pg_ctl saves and reuses the command line options that were passed to the
       previously running instance. To restart the server in the simplest form, use:

           $ pg_ctl restart

       To restart the server, waiting for it to shut down and restart:

           $ pg_ctl -w restart

       To restart using port 5433, disabling fsync upon restart:

           $ pg_ctl -o "-F -p 5433" restart

   Showing the Server Status
       Here is sample status output from pg_ctl:

           $ pg_ctl status
           pg_ctl: server is running (PID: 13718)
           /usr/local/pgsql/bin/postgres "-D" "/usr/local/pgsql/data" "-p" "5433" "-B" "128"

       This is the command line that would be invoked in restart mode.