[ADMIN] running postgresql with a different id other than postgres user

Maki Smith (US - IFS)

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Jul 19, 2016, 3:18:23 PM7/19/16

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To meet our security requirement, we would like to use another account other than postgres to install and run postgreSQL. Is this possible to do?

Thank you for information

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Maki Smith

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Gilberto Castillo

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Jul 19, 2016, 3:23:53 PM7/19/16

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> To meet our security requirement, we would like to use another account
> other than postgres to install and run postgreSQL. Is this possible to
> do?
>
> Thank you for information

Yes, create other user with privilegius of user postgre

> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Maki Smith
>
> ______________________________________________________________________

> The information transmitted, including any attachments, is intended only
> for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain
> confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission,
> dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon,
> this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient
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> from any computer. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP is a Delaware limited
> liability partnership. This communication may come from
> PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP or one of its subsidiaries.
>

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Saludos,
Gilberto Castillo
ETECSA, La Habana, Cuba

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Maki Smith (US - IFS)

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Jul 19, 2016, 3:26:59 PM7/19/16

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Is it possible we can use other user during installation?

Any concern of future patching and upgrade activity?

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Maki Smith US IT - Technical Design Authority Infrastructure | PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

On Tue, Jul 19, 2016 at 4:22 PM, Gilberto Castillo <gilberto...@etecsa.cu> wrote:

> To meet our security requirement, we would like to use another account
> other than postgres to install and run postgreSQL. Is this possible to
> do?
>
> Thank you for information

Yes, create other user with privilegius of user postgre

> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Maki Smith
>
> ______________________________________________________________________
> The information transmitted, including any attachments, is intended only
> for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain
> confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission,
> dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon,
> this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient
> is prohibited, and all liability arising therefrom is disclaimed. If you
> received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material
> from any computer. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP is a Delaware limited
> liability partnership. This communication may come from
> PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP or one of its subsidiaries.
>

--
Saludos,
Gilberto Castillo
ETECSA, La Habana, Cuba

David G. Johnston

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Jul 19, 2016, 3:36:23 PM7/19/16

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On Tue, Jul 19, 2016 at 3:16 PM, Maki Smith (US - IFS) <maki....@pwc.com> wrote:

To meet our security requirement, we would like to use another account other than postgres to install and run postgreSQL. Is this possible to do?

You need to tell us by what method you intend to install PostgreSQL, and on what platform, before this can be usefully answered.

The documentation covers how to go about installing from source. It should cover how to choose a label different than "postgres" if you so desire.

David J.

Wolfgang Wilhelm

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Jul 20, 2016, 4:17:46 AM7/20/16

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Hello,

a little more information would be helpful.

But to make things short: The user who starts the initdb command is the database admin user. When you install PostgreSQL via the tool of your distribution like apt (Debian), yum or whatever then the package manager generates the user postgres and executes initdb as user postgres.

Kind regards,

Wolfgang

Maki Smith (US - IFS)

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Jul 20, 2016, 7:11:22 AM7/20/16

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I successfully installed from source with a different user other than postgres on Ubuntu.

However now I am curious we can do any modification like this when I install PostgreSQL via the tool, like apt-get or yum.

As you mentioned, these tools creates postgres user automatically.

If we use a tool like this, we need to create another superuser as post-installation procedure to switch user, and stop usage of postgres default user..

Just curious.. how people is doing this type of scenario...

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Maki Smith US IT - Technical Design Authority Infrastructure | PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Kris Deugau

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Jul 20, 2016, 4:18:53 PM7/20/16

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Maki Smith (US - IFS) wrote:
> I successfully installed from source with a different user other than
> postgres on Ubuntu.
> However now I am curious we can do any modification like this when I
> install PostgreSQL via the tool, like apt-get or yum.
> As you mentioned, these tools creates postgres user automatically.
>
> If we use a tool like this, we need to create another superuser as
> post-installation procedure to switch user, and stop usage of postgres
> default user..
>
> Just curious.. how people is doing this type of scenario...

Can you explain your security requirement in more detail? It sounds to
me like you're going to a lot of effort for something that isn't going
to do what you want to do, or what you think it'll do.

It may also cause issues on package upgrades, because the packages will
continue to operate on the assumption that the username created by the
package is the one that Postgres is running under. You'd likely end up
running Postgres in a by-hand enough manner that you may as well just
install from source anyway.

-kgd