Start/stop postgresql with pg_ctl or service without root access on RHEL

Jean-Michel Scheiwiler <jm.scheiwiler@gmail.com> writes:

We plan to use postgresql on RHEL 6.
DBAs won't have root access but they will need to start/stop the databases.
They'll be able to do so with pg_ctl as postgres.
However databases should also start automatically when the server reboots
and so we should use services (/etc/init.d/postgresql-9.x).

Don't do that.

When postgres is started with service (as root) and stopped with pg_ctl as
postgres, the pid file in $PGDATA is deleted but not the specific pid and
lock files (respectively in /var/run and /var/lock/subsys) created by the
init.d script.
It leads to an inconsistent state where service postgresql-9.x status
throws"postgresql-9.x
dead but pid file exists".

That's one reason why you shouldn't do that. There are others; for
instance I don't think you end up with the same selinux context for
the daemon if you don't go through "service start".

So what is the best practice and solution for this situation?

I'd go with the restricted sudo approach. Customized init scripts are
a pain --- either they get overwritten by package upgrades, or they
fail to track changes in the script, and either result is bad.

regards, tom lane

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