pg_ctl start [-w] [-s] [-D datadir] [-l filename] [-o options] [-p path]
pg_ctl stop [-W] [-s] [-D datadir] [-m s[mart] | f[ast] | i[mmediate]
]
pg_ctl restart [-w] [-s] [-D datadir] [-m s[mart] | f[ast] | i[mmediate]
] [-o options]
pg_ctl reload [-s] [-D datadir]
pg_ctl status [-D datadir]
pg_ctl is a utility for starting, stopping, or restarting postmaster, the PostgreSQL backend server, or displaying the status of a running postmaster. Although the postmaster can be started manually, pg_ctl encapsulates tasks such as redirecting log output, properly detaching from the terminal and process group, and it provides convenient options for controlled shutdown.
In start mode, a new postmaster is
launched. The server is started in the background, the standard
input attached to /dev/null. The
standard output and standard error are either appended to a log
file, if the -l option is used, or
are redirected to pg_ctl's
standard output (not standard error). If no log file is chosen,
the standard output of pg_ctl
should be redirected to a file or piped to another process, for
example a log rotating program, otherwise the postmaster will
write its output the the controlling terminal (from the
background) and will not leave the shell's process group.
In stop mode, the postmaster 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 the clients to disconnect. This is the
default. "Fast" mode does not wait for
clients to disconnect. All active transactions are rolled back
and clients are forcibly disconnected, then the database is shut
down. "Immediate" mode will abort all
server processes without clean shutdown. This will lead to a
recovery run on restart.
restart mode effectively executes
a stop followed by a start. This allows the changing of
postmaster command line options.
reload mode simply sends the
postmaster 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
postmaster is running and if so displays the PID and the command line options that were
used to invoke it.
Specifies the file system location of the database files. If this is omitted, the environment variable PGDATA is used.
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 from other users is disallowed by default.
Specifies the shutdown mode. mode may be smart, fast, or immediate, or the first letter of one of these three.
Specifies options to be passed directly to postmaster.
The parameters are usually surrounded by single or double quotes to ensure that they are passed through as a group.
Specifies the location of the postmaster executable. By default the postmaster 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 postmaster was not found.
Only print errors, no informational messages.
Wait for the start or shutdown to complete. Times out after 60 seconds. This is the default for shutdowns.
Do not wait for start or shutdown to complete. This is the default for starts and restarts.
If the file postmaster.opts.default
exists in the data directory, the contents of the file will be
passed as options to the postmaster, unless overridden by the
-o option.
Waiting for complete start is not a well-defined operation and may fail if access control is set up so that a local client cannot connect without manual interaction. It should be avoided.
To start up a postmaster:
$ pg_ctl start
An example of starting the postmaster, blocking until the postmaster comes up is:
$ pg_ctl -w start
For a postmaster using port
5433, and running without fsync,
use:
$ pg_ctl -o "-F -p 5433" start
$ pg_ctl stop
stops the postmaster. Using the -m switch allows one to control how the backend shuts down.
This is almost equivalent to stopping the postmaster 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 postmaster in the simplest form:
$ pg_ctl restart
To restart postmaster, waiting for it to shut down and to come up:
$ pg_ctl -w restart
To restart using port 5433 and disabling fsync after restarting:
$ pg_ctl -o "-F -p 5433" restart