Re: PGDATA

On 24 Nov 2006 04:43:02 -0800, sasan3(at)gmail(dot)com <sasan3(at)gmail(dot)com> wrote:
>
>
>
> I just can't understand the use of this PGDATA variable!!!!!
>
> -I am on FC3. (pgl 7.4)
> -I am installing rpms and then running /etc/init.d/postgresql start
> (which is done by default)
> -The resulting "data" directory is in /var/lib/pgsql/data
>
> I now want the "data" directory to be on
> /home3/myreallylargepartition/pgsql/data
> so:
>
> -I login as postgres
> -I change .bash_profile so that PGDATA points at the new directory
> -I restart the server by doing a "/etc/init.d/postgresql restart"
>
> Shouldn't any new tables I create be in the new area?!!!!!
>
> Thanks.

After you changed PGDATA, and thus, the location of the data files, did you
remember to run "initdb" first?

This is the usual sequence of events for changing where the data files exist
(as root, or via sudo):

/etc/init.d/postgresql stop
mkdir -p /pgsql/data
chown -R pgsql:pgsql /pgsql/data
su -l pgsql
export PGDATA=/pgsql/data # Make sure /etc/init.d/postgresql is aware of
this change.
initdb

Starting the database being the last thing you do.