Re: [ADMIN] weird fatal error starting postmaster

Dana Hudes wrote:
>
> Submitted for someone to tell me what the heck is going on....
>
> [root(at)harmony log]# /etc/rc.d/init.d/postgresql stop
> Stopping postgresql service: [ OK ]
> [root(at)harmony log]# /etc/rc.d/init.d/postgresql start
> Checking postgresql installation: looks good!
> Postmaster already running.

The error message 'Postmaster already running.' comes after a check for
a running postmaster using the RedHat initscript function 'pidof' --
which determines the pid of any running postmaster. What processes does
a plain 'ps ax' show?

>From your previous messages, it is plain that there is some other system
issue occuring that you need to troubleshoot before you'll be able to
get PostgreSQL running -- a ps ax|grep of known running processes should
work, otherwise you have something else going on.

By using 'ls -l /proc |grep postgres' -- you should be able to find any
running processes belonging to postgres. Also, you can find out what
the initscript thinks by spawning a subshell, cd to /etc/rc.d/init.d,
and executing:
. functions
pidof postmaster
which will give you the pid of postmaster. You can then kill it from
root.
You can get any process's status by using 'cat /proc/$pid/status', where
$pid is the pid you are wanting to query. This is just in case someone
has rootkitted your ps.

I'm also assuming that you've told init to reload inittab (telinit Q) --
otherwise init is respawning postmaster faster than it can be killed.

--
Lamar Owen
WGCR Internet Radio
1 Peter 4:11