Centos 7 environment variables for Postgres service

Question

Recently I had the problem of starting a postgresql service with custom PGDATA path. It tried to look in the default data directory (/var/lib/pgsql/9.3/data/) which was not initialized and therefore triggered these errors. It appears the problem is that the service starter on Centos 7 strips all the environment variables, including PGDATA.

Interesting thread on the issue

Is there a way to configure

service postgresql-9.3 start

to use custom environment variables? Are there configuration files for services where these variables have to be defined?

Thank you in advance!

As that link says the general mechanism for this is that the service init file sources a file from /etc/default/$servicename when it runs and you can configure variables there. Does the pgsql init script do that? I don't know you'd have to look. — Etan Reisner
– Etan Reisner, Commented Nov 10, 2014 at 16:37
I only have [grub nss useradd] files inside the /etc/default/ directory. Do I have to make a special postgresql-9.3 script inside that directory accordingly? — Vitaly Stanchits
– Vitaly Stanchits, Commented Nov 10, 2014 at 16:41
You need to look at the postgresql init.d file. See if it looks for a file in the /etc/default directory and then create that with whatever variables/etc. you need. grep /etc/rc.d/init.d/postgresql-9.3 /default is likely a good start. — Etan Reisner
– Etan Reisner, Commented Nov 10, 2014 at 16:45
I made changes to /etc/rc.d/init.d/postgresql and it works for me. I think I took it from github.com/postgres/postgres/blob/master/contrib/start-scripts/… — Jayadevan
– Jayadevan, Commented Nov 10, 2014 at 16:47
I created the file /etc/systemd/system/postgresql-9.3.service as it states in the comments of /usr/lib/systemd/system/postgresql-9.3.service and set the PGDATA variable there. For some reason it still does not want to accept this variable. — Vitaly Stanchits
– Vitaly Stanchits, Commented Nov 10, 2014 at 17:00

mvermaes · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-18 05:32:43Z

13

Thanks for the above answer, we just ran into this change today. You can also keep the default settings and only override the PGDATA variable by putting the following in /etc/systemd/system/postgresql-9.3.service:

# Include the default config:
.include /lib/systemd/system/postgresql-9.3.service

[Service]
Environment=PGDATA=<your path here>/pgsql/9.3/data

This removes the need to reintegrate changes in /usr/lib/systemd/system/postgresql-9.3.service back to your local copy.

answered Apr 18, 2016 at 5:32

mvermaes

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4 Comments

Strahinja Kustudic Over a year ago

This solution is a better answer, since it keeps all changes in the original service file.

Robert Kubiak Over a year ago

The systemctl daemon-reload is also needed here.

Kannan Ramamoorthy Over a year ago

what is <your path here> represents ?

user1717828 Over a year ago

@KannanRamamoorthy It means the path to where you want the database files stored, usually a different drive so you don't run out of space.

Vitaly Stanchits · Accepted Answer · 2014-11-10 17:13:09Z

5

OK, I got a solution that worked for me.

nano /etc/systemd/system/postgresql-9.3.service

with the contents copied over from /usr/lib/systemd/system/postgresql-9.3.service and PGDATA variable changed. Then

systemctl daemon-reload

And then I started the service normally and it worked fine. The trick was making changes to this service configuration file.

answered Nov 10, 2014 at 17:13

Vitaly Stanchits

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1 Comment

Adesso Over a year ago

not a very elegant solution, more like a hack, but it does work

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