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PostgreSQL Install-Windows

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A number of folks have asked me to create a post of a PostgreSQL installation on Windows. So, here is my step-by-step PostgreSQL 9.3 installation, and you can go further and learn how to setup your own PostgreSQL database schema.

Download PostgreSQL Database

You can start the download of PostgreSQL from this site. It leads you to the EnterpriseDB site, where you can download the prepackaged software.

Install PostgreSQL 9.3 on Windows

These steps walk you through installing PostgreSQL and the the pgJDBC v9.3, psqlODBC (32 bit), and psqlODBC (64 bit) packages.

PostgreSQL_i01

  1. The first thing you need to do is launch the PostgreSQL file from download folder.

PostgreSQL_i02

  1. After launching the downloaded file, you see an Open File – Security Warning dialog message. Click the Run button to run the PostgreSQL executable file.

PostgreSQL_i03

  1. The first dialog screen is the Setup – PostgreSQL dialog, which welcomes you and prompts you to start the installtion of PostgreSQL. Click the Next button to continue.

PostgreSQL_i04

  1. The Installation Directory dialog sets the location for the PostgreSQL server. Click the Next button to continue.

PostgreSQL_i05

  1. The Data Directory dialog sets the location for the PostgreSQL server’s data repository. Click the Next button to continue.

PostgreSQL_i06

  1. The first Setup dialog sets the database’s superuser password. Click the Next button to continue.

PostgreSQL_i07

  1. The second Setup dialog sets the database’s listener port, which is Port 5432 by default. Click the Next button to continue.

PostgreSQL_i08

  1. The third Setup dialog sets the database’s default Locale. Click the Next button to continue.

PostgreSQL_i09

  1. The Ready to Install dialog lets you start the installation. Click the Next button to continue.

PostgreSQL_i10

  1. The Installing dialog lets you montor the unpacking of programs for the installation. You need not click any buttons to continue.

PostgreSQL_i11

  1. The Completing the PostgreSQL Setup Wizard dialog advises you that you’ve completed the setup. Checking the Stack Builder check box lets you download and install additional tools, drivers, and applications. Click the Next button to continue.

PostgreSQL_i12

  1. This is Welcome dialog to the Stack Builder. Click the Next button to continue.

PostgreSQL_i13

  1. This is dialog lets you select applications that you would like to install. Click the plus symbol for the Database Drivers option to continue.

PostgreSQL_i14

  1. In the modified dialog, click the pgJDBC v9.3, psqlODBC (32 bit), and psqlODBC (64 bit) check boxes. Then, click the Next button to continue.

PostgreSQL_i15

  1. This dialog tells you the pgJDBC v9.3, psqlODBC (32 bit), and psqlODBC (64 bit) installed packages. Click the Next button to continue.

PostgreSQL_i16

  1. This dialog lays a downloading progress bar while loading the additional packages. You don’t need to do anything to continue.

PostgreSQL_i17

  1. This dialog lays a downloading progress bar while loading the additional packages. Click the Next button to continue.

PostgreSQL_i18

  1. The Setup pgJDBC dialog welcomes you to the setup wizard. Click the Next button to continue.

PostgreSQL_i19

  1. The Installation Directory dialog lets you set the pgJDBC installation directory. Click the Next button to continue.

PostgreSQL_i20

  1. The Ready to Install dialog lets you install the pgJDBC package. Click the Next button to install it.

PostgreSQL_i21

  1. The Setup dialog confirms you’ve installed the add-on packages. Click the Finish button to complete the installation.

Configure psqlODBC on Windows

These steps walk you through configuring the psqlODBC packages.

PostgreSQL_i22

  1. The Setup dialog helps you configure the psqlODBC package. Click the Next button to install it.

PostgreSQL_i23

  1. The Installation Directory dialog lets you set the psqlODBC installation directory. Click the Next button to continue.

PostgreSQL_i23

  1. The Ready to Install dialog lets you install the psqlODBC package. Click the Next button to install it.

PostgreSQL_i24

  1. The Ready to Install dialog lets you install the psqlODBC package. Click the Next button to install it.

PostgreSQL_i25

  1. The Installing psqlODBC dialog displays a dialog while installing the psqlODBC package(s). You need not click anything, the dialog dismisses itself when complete.

PostgreSQL_i26

  1. The Installing psqlODBC dialog displays a dialog while installing the psqlODBC package(s). You need not click anything, the dialog dismisses itself when complete.

PostgreSQL_i27

  1. The Stack Builder dialog displays a message that everything is installed. Click the Finish button when complete.

Connect to the Default PostgreSQL database

You have two options for connecting to the PostgreSQL database. One uses the GUI pgAdmin III console and the other uses the command line.

Connect through pgAdmin III to the PostgreSQL Database

PostgreSQL_i27

  1. In Windows, navigate to through the Start to the pgAdmin III menu option.

PostgreSQL_i28

  1. After launching pgAdmin III, you’ll see the pgAdmin II console, displayed at left.

PostgreSQL_i29

  1. Right click on the PostgreSQL 9.3 (localhost:5432) item in the Object browser and click the Connect menu choice from the floating menu.

PostgreSQL_i30

  1. Enter the password you chose when installing the PostgreSQL Server, and click the OK button.

Connect through the Command-line to the PostgreSQL Database

These steps show you how to connect through the PostgreSQL Command Line Interface (CLI) – psql. psql is like Oracle’s sqlplus, MySQL’s mysql, and Microsoft SQL Server’s sqlcmd CLI interfaces. By default, the PostgreSQL binary directory is not in your default %PATH% environment variable, so you need to add it. I recommend an environment file because in a test situation you may not want to use it all the time.

Create the following directory for the environment file:

C:\Data\PostgreSQL\env

You can create an environment file with any text editor or do it at the command line, like this:

COPY CON postgresqlenv.bat
SET PATH=%PATH%;C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\9.3\bin;.
^Z

Then, you can source the environment file like this:

C:\> postgresql.bat

Now, you can connect to the default database provided you understand that PostgreSQL Stack Builder set some values that differ from the defaults if you installed it manually. Specifically, they set the default value of the database to postgres and default value of the user to postgres.

That means you can connect with the following, provided you remember the password you used during installation:

C:\> psql -d postgres -U postgres

You should see the following when you connect:

C:\> psql -d postgres -U postgres
 Password for user postgres:
psql (9.3.3)
WARNING: Console code page (437) differs from Windows code page (1252)
         8-bit characters might not work correctly. See psql reference
         page "Notes for Windows users" for details.
Type "help" for help.

You can now submit interactive SQL statements or run batch files, like:

postgres=# SELECT 'Hello World!';

It displays:

   ?COLUMN?
--------------
 Hello World!
(1 ROW)

Adding a column alias to the string literal gives a more readable formatted output:

postgres=# SELECT 'Hello World!' AS "String Literal";

It displays:

 String Literal
----------------
 Hello World!
(1 ROW)

PostgreSQL’s CLI Help

You have the ability to do a lot with the PostgreSQL psql CLI. The general command to discover help is help, and it displays the following:

postgres=# help
You are USING psql, the command-line interface TO PostgreSQL.
TYPE:  \copyright FOR distribution terms
       \h FOR help WITH SQL commands
       \? FOR help WITH psql commands
       \g OR terminate WITH semicolon TO EXECUTE query
       \q TO quit

You quit PostgreSQL with a \q command:

postgres=# \q

You can find more help with the \HELP or the \? commands:

\HELP

It displays the following:

Available help:
  ABORT                            CLUSTER                          DEALLOCATE                       END
  ALTER AGGREGATE                  COMMENT                          DECLARE                          EXECUTE
  ALTER COLLATION                  COMMIT                           DELETE                           EXPLAIN
  ALTER CONVERSION                 COMMIT PREPARED                  DISCARD                          FETCH
  ALTER DATABASE                   COPY                             DO                               GRANT
  ALTER DEFAULT PRIVILEGES         CREATE AGGREGATE                 DROP AGGREGATE                   INSERT
  ALTER DOMAIN                     CREATE CAST                      DROP CAST                        LISTEN
  ALTER EVENT TRIGGER              CREATE COLLATION                 DROP COLLATION                   LOAD
  ALTER EXTENSION                  CREATE CONVERSION                DROP CONVERSION                  LOCK
  ALTER FOREIGN DATA WRAPPER       CREATE DATABASE                  DROP DATABASE                    MOVE
  ALTER FOREIGN TABLE              CREATE DOMAIN                    DROP DOMAIN                      NOTIFY
  ALTER FUNCTION                   CREATE EVENT TRIGGER             DROP EVENT TRIGGER               PREPARE
  ALTER GROUP                      CREATE EXTENSION                 DROP EXTENSION                   PREPARE TRANSACTION
  ALTER INDEX                      CREATE FOREIGN DATA WRAPPER      DROP FOREIGN DATA WRAPPER        REASSIGN OWNED
  ALTER LANGUAGE                   CREATE FOREIGN TABLE             DROP FOREIGN TABLE               REFRESH MATERIALIZED VIEW
  ALTER LARGE OBJECT               CREATE FUNCTION                  DROP FUNCTION                    REINDEX
  ALTER MATERIALIZED VIEW          CREATE GROUP                     DROP GROUP                       RELEASE SAVEPOINT
  ALTER OPERATOR                   CREATE INDEX                     DROP INDEX                       RESET
  ALTER OPERATOR CLASS             CREATE LANGUAGE                  DROP LANGUAGE                    REVOKE
  ALTER OPERATOR FAMILY            CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW         DROP MATERIALIZED VIEW           ROLLBACK
  ALTER ROLE                       CREATE OPERATOR                  DROP OPERATOR                    ROLLBACK PREPARED
  ALTER RULE                       CREATE OPERATOR CLASS            DROP OPERATOR CLASS              ROLLBACK TO SAVEPOINT
  ALTER OPERATOR                   CREATE INDEX                     DROP INDEX                       RESET
  ALTER OPERATOR CLASS             CREATE LANGUAGE                  DROP LANGUAGE                    REVOKE
  ALTER OPERATOR FAMILY            CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW         DROP MATERIALIZED VIEW           ROLLBACK
  ALTER ROLE                       CREATE OPERATOR                  DROP OPERATOR                    ROLLBACK PREPARED
  ALTER RULE                       CREATE OPERATOR CLASS            DROP OPERATOR CLASS              ROLLBACK TO SAVEPOINT
  ALTER SCHEMA                     CREATE OPERATOR FAMILY           DROP OPERATOR FAMILY             SAVEPOINT
  ALTER SEQUENCE                   CREATE ROLE                      DROP OWNED                       SECURITY LABEL
  ALTER SERVER                     CREATE RULE                      DROP ROLE                        SELECT
  ALTER TABLE                      CREATE SCHEMA                    DROP RULE                        SELECT INTO
  ALTER TABLESPACE                 CREATE SEQUENCE                  DROP SCHEMA                      SET
  ALTER TEXT SEARCH CONFIGURATION  CREATE SERVER                    DROP SEQUENCE                    SET CONSTRAINTS
  ALTER TEXT SEARCH DICTIONARY     CREATE TABLE                     DROP SERVER                      SET ROLE
  ALTER TEXT SEARCH PARSER         CREATE TABLE AS                  DROP TABLE                       SET SESSION AUTHORIZATION
  ALTER TEXT SEARCH TEMPLATE       CREATE TABLESPACE                DROP TABLESPACE                  SET TRANSACTION
  ALTER TRIGGER                    CREATE TEXT SEARCH CONFIGURATION DROP TEXT SEARCH CONFIGURATION   SHOW
  ALTER TYPE                       CREATE TEXT SEARCH DICTIONARY    DROP TEXT SEARCH DICTIONARY      START TRANSACTION
  ALTER USER                       CREATE TEXT SEARCH PARSER        DROP TEXT SEARCH PARSER          TABLE
  ALTER USER MAPPING               CREATE TEXT SEARCH TEMPLATE      DROP TEXT SEARCH TEMPLATE        TRUNCATE
  ALTER VIEW                       CREATE TRIGGER                   DROP TRIGGER                     UNLISTEN
  ANALYZE                          CREATE TYPE                      DROP TYPE                        UPDATE
  BEGIN                            CREATE USER                      DROP USER                        VACUUM
  CHECKPOINT                       CREATE USER MAPPING              DROP USER MAPPING                VALUES
  CLOSE                            CREATE VIEW                      DROP VIEW                        WITH

You can find more help with the \HELP or the \? commands:

\?

It displays the following:

General
  \copyright             show PostgreSQL usage and distribution terms
  \g [FILE] or ;         execute query (and send results to file or |pipe)
  \gset [PREFIX]         execute query and store results in psql variables
  \h [NAME]              help on syntax of SQL commands, * for all commands
  \q                     quit psql
  \watch [SEC]           execute query every SEC seconds
 
Query Buffer
  \e [FILE] [LINE]       edit the query buffer (or file) with external editor
  \ef [FUNCNAME [LINE]]  edit function definition with external editor
  \p                     show the contents of the query buffer
  \r                     reset (clear) the query buffer
  \s [FILE]              display history or save it to file
  \w FILE                write query buffer to file
 
Input/Output
  \copy ...              perform SQL COPY with data stream to the client host
  \echo [STRING]         write string to standard output
  \i FILE                execute commands from file
  \ir FILE               as \i, but relative to location of current script
  \o [FILE]              send all query results to file or |pipe
  \qecho [STRING]        write string to query output stream (see \o)
 
Informational
  (options: S = show system objects, + = additional detail)
  \d[S+]                 list tables, views, and sequences
  \d[S+]  NAME           describe table, view, sequence, or index
  \da[S]  [PATTERN]      list aggregates
  \db[+]  [PATTERN]      list tablespaces
  \dc[S+] [PATTERN]      list conversions
  \dC[+]  [PATTERN]      list casts
  \dd[S]  [PATTERN]      show object descriptions not displayed elsewhere
  \ddp    [PATTERN]      list default privileges
  \dD[S+] [PATTERN]      list domains
  \det[+] [PATTERN]      list foreign tables
  \des[+] [PATTERN]      list foreign servers
  \deu[+] [PATTERN]      list user mappings
  \dew[+] [PATTERN]      list foreign-data wrappers
  \df[antw][S+] [PATRN]  list [only agg/normal/trigger/window] functions
  \dF[+]  [PATTERN]      list text search configurations
  \dFd[+] [PATTERN]      list text search dictionaries
  \dFp[+] [PATTERN]      list text search parsers
  \dFt[+] [PATTERN]      list text search templates
  \dg[+]  [PATTERN]      list roles
  \di[S+] [PATTERN]      list indexes
  \dl                    list large objects, same as \lo_list
  \dL[S+] [PATTERN]      list procedural languages
  \dm[S+] [PATTERN]      list materialized views
  \dn[S+] [PATTERN]      list schemas
  \do[S]  [PATTERN]      list operators
  \dO[S+] [PATTERN]      list collations
  \dp     [PATTERN]      list table, view, and sequence access privileges
  \drds [PATRN1 [PATRN2]] list per-database role settings
  \ds[S+] [PATTERN]      list sequences
  \dt[S+] [PATTERN]      list tables
  \dT[S+] [PATTERN]      list data types
  \du[+]  [PATTERN]      list roles
  \dv[S+] [PATTERN]      list views
  \dE[S+] [PATTERN]      list foreign tables
  \dx[+]  [PATTERN]      list extensions
  \dy     [PATTERN]      list event triggers
  \l[+]   [PATTERN]      list databases
  \sf[+] FUNCNAME        show a function's definition
  \z      [PATTERN]      same as \dp
 
Formatting
  \a                     toggle between unaligned and aligned output mode
  \C [STRING]            set table title, or unset if none
  \f [STRING]            show or set field separator for unaligned query output
  \H                     toggle HTML output mode (currently off)
  \pset NAME [VALUE]     set table output option
                         (NAME := {format|border|expanded|fieldsep|fieldsep_zero|footer|null|
                         numericlocale|recordsep|recordsep_zero|tuples_only|title|tableattr|pager})
  \t [on|off]            show only rows (currently off)
  \T [STRING]            set HTML <table> tag attributes, or unset if none
  \x [on|off|auto]       toggle expanded output (currently off)
 
Connection
  \c[onnect] {[DBNAME|- USER|- HOST|- PORT|-] | conninfo}
                         connect to new database (currently "studentdb")
  \encoding [ENCODING]   show or set client encoding
  \password [USERNAME]   securely change the password for a user
  \conninfo              display information about current connection
 
Operating System
  \cd [DIR]              change the current working directory
  \setenv NAME [VALUE]   set or unset environment variable
  \timing [on|off]       toggle timing of commands (currently off)
  \! [COMMAND]           execute command in shell or start interactive shell
 
Variables
  \prompt [TEXT] NAME    prompt user to set internal variable
  \set [NAME [VALUE]]    set internal variable, or list all if no parameters
  \unset NAME            unset (delete) internal variable
 
Large Objects
  \lo_export LOBOID FILE
  \lo_import FILE [COMMENT]
  \lo_list
  \lo_unlink LOBOID      large object operations

Have fun exploring PostgreSQL. You can click here to learn how to setup your own tablespace, database, and user. As always, I hope this helps those looking to discover how to install and use PostgreSQL.

Written by maclochlainn

March 2nd, 2014 at 7:59 pm