Re: pg_hba.conf changes without restarting postmaster

Si Chen <schen(at)graciousstyle(dot)com> wrote:
>
> Hello.
>
> It seems that every time I make a change to pg_hba.conf, I have to
> restart the database server for the new authentication to take effect.
> Is there a way to have the server use the new pg_hba.conf authentication
> without restarting the production server.

The documentation is your friend.

Excerpt from $PGDATA/pg_hba.conf:
...
# This file is read on server startup and when the postmaster receives
# a SIGHUP signal. If you edit the file on a running system, you have
# to SIGHUP the postmaster for the changes to take effect, or use
# "pg_ctl reload".
...

And...

$ man pg_ctl
...
reload mode simply sends the postmaster 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.
...

Jim