Server 9.1 doesn't restart and no output/log - data files seem corrupted

[Pascal Polleunus]

Hi,

The server was running correctly.
I didn't changed the configuration.
I did an apt-get upgrade and it didn't restarted.
The problem is maybe not related to the upgrade but appeared during the
restart.

I did the same upgrade on another (very similar) server and didn't have
any problem.
The configuration files and files permissions are the same.


The PostgreSQL packages that were upgraded:
postgresql-9.1:amd64 (9.1.8-1, 9.1.9-0wheezy1)
postgresql-client-9.1:amd64 (9.1.8-1, 9.1.9-0wheezy1)
libpq-dev:amd64 (9.1.8-1, 9.1.9-0wheezy1)
libpq5:amd64 (9.1.8-1, 9.1.9-0wheezy1)


The commands I tried to start the server:
# service postgresql start
[FAIL] Starting PostgreSQL 9.1 database server: main[....] The
PostgreSQL server failed to start. Please check the log output. ... failed!
failed!

# pg_ctlcluster 9.1 main start
The PostgreSQL server failed to start. Please check the log output.


There's nothing in the log files.
I checked their permissions.
I renamed the files but they were not created again.


I created a new cluster and it started.
So I guess there's some corruption in the data files.


I replaced the data files with an old copy from 12 hours before but the
server won't start.


I tried to use pg_resetxlog:
# su postgres -c '/usr/lib/postgresql/9.1/bin/pg_resetxlog
/var/lib/postgresql/9.1/main'
The database server was not shut down cleanly.
Resetting the transaction log might cause data to be lost.
If you want to proceed anyway, use -f to force reset.

Then:
# su postgres -c '/usr/lib/postgresql/9.1/bin/pg_resetxlog -f
/var/lib/postgresql/9.1/main'
Transaction log reset

But it still won't start.


What can I do?

Thanks in advance.



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[Pascal Polleunus]

I managed to solve the problem.

For the record, I did the following:

mkdir -p ~/postgresql/{etc,lib,log}
cp -a /etc/postgresql/9.1/main ~/postgresql/etc/old-install
cp -a /var/lib/postgresql/9.1/main ~/postgresql/lib/old-install
cp -a /var/log/postgresql ~/postgresql/log/old-install

apt-get remove --purge postgresql-9.1 postgresql-client-9.1
postgresql-client-common postgresql-common
rm -rf /etc/postgresql
rm -rf /var/lib/postgresql

apt-get install postgresql
service postgresql stop

cp -a /etc/postgresql/9.1/main ~/postgresql/etc/new-install
cp -a /var/lib/postgresql/9.1/main ~/postgresql/lib/new-install

rm -rf /var/lib/postgresql/9.1/main
cp -a ~/postgresql/lib/old-install /var/lib/postgresql/9.1/main

su postgres -c '/usr/lib/postgresql/9.1/bin/pg_resetxlog -f
/var/lib/postgresql/9.1/main'

I edited /etc/postgresql/9.1/main/postgresql.conf

service postgresql start

And it worked :-)