Hi Michael,
Here is a FAQ from Tek-Tips.
http://www.tek-tips.com/faqs.cfm?spid=699&sfid=2952I know this is an overwhelming amount of info, but be patient. It will take some time, but once you get into it, everything will come together.
Here is the pg_hba.conf file from Red Hat 7.3 which is much better commented than the RH 8.0 version.
###################################################3
#
# PostgreSQL HOST-BASED ACCESS (HBA) CONTROL FILE
#
#
# This file controls:
# o which hosts are allowed to connect
# o how users are authenticated on each host
# o databases accessible by each host
#
# It is read on postmaster startup and when the postmaster receives a SIGHUP.
# If you edit the file on a running system, you have to SIGHUP the postmaster
# for the changes to take effect.
#
# Each line is a new record. Records cannot be continued across multiple
# lines. Comments begin with # and continue to the end of the line.
# Blank lines are ignored. A record consists of tokens separated by
# multiple spaces or tabs.
#
# Each record specifies the authentication method to be used for connections
# of a certain type that match a certain set of IP addresses (if relevant
# for the connection type) and a certain database or databases. The
# postmaster finds the first record that matches the connection type,
# client address, and database name, and uses that record to perform client
# authentication. If no record matches, the connection is rejected.
#
# The first token of a record indicates its type. The remainder of the
# record is interpreted based on its type.
#
# Record Types
# ============
#
# There are three types of records:
# o host
# o hostssl
# o local
#
# host
# ----
#
# This record identifies networked hosts that are permitted to connect
# via IP connections.
#
# Format:
#
# host DBNAME IP_ADDRESS ADDRESS_MASK AUTH_TYPE [AUTH_ARGUMENT]
#
# DBNAME can be:
# o the name of a PostgreSQL database
# o "all" to indicate all databases
# o "sameuser" to allow access only to databases with the same
# name as the connecting user
#
# The superuser needs access to the 'template1' database because it is used
# by a variety of PostgreSQL utility commands.
#
# IP_ADDRESS and ADDRESS_MASK are standard dotted decimal IP address and
# mask values. IP addresses can only be specified numerically, not as
# domain or host names.
#
# AUTH_TYPE and AUTH_ARGUMENT are described below.
#
#
# hostssl
# -------
#
# The format of this record is identical to "host".
#
# This record identifies a set of network hosts that are permitted to
# connect to databases over secure SSL IP connections. Note that a "host"
# record will also allow SSL connections. "hostssl" matches *only*
# SSL-secured connections.
#
# This keyword is only available if the server was compiled with SSL
# support enabled.
#
#
# local
# -----
#
# This record identifies the authentication to use when connecting to
# the server via a local UNIX domain socket. UNIX-socket connections are
# allowed only if this record type appears.
#
# Format:
# local DBNAME AUTH_TYPE [AUTH_ARGUMENT]
#
# This format is identical to the "host" record type except the IP_ADDRESS
# and ADDRESS_MASK fields are omitted.
#
#
#
# Authentication Types (AUTH_TYPE)
# ================================
#
# AUTH_TYPE indicates the method used to authenticate users. The username
# is specified in the connection request. A different AUTH_TYPE can be
# specified for each record in the file.
#
# trust: No authentication is done. Any valid username is accepted,
# including the PostgreSQL superuser. This option should
# be used only for hosts where all users are trusted.
#
# password: Authentication is done by matching a password supplied
# in clear by the host. If no AUTH_ARGUMENT is used, the
# password is compared with the user's entry in the
# pg_shadow table.
#
# If AUTH_ARGUMENT is specified, the username is looked up
# in that file in the $PGDATA directory. If the username
# is found but there is no password, the password is looked
# up in pg_shadow. If a password exists in the file, it is
# used instead. These secondary files allow fine-grained
# control over who can access which databases and whether
# a non-default password is required. The same file can be
# used in multiple records for easier administration.
# Password files can be maintained with the pg_passwd(1)
# utility. Remember, these passwords override pg_shadow
# passwords.
#
# md5: Same as "password", but the password is encrypted while
# being sent over the network. This method is preferable to
# "password" except for pre-7.2 clients that don't support it.
# NOTE: md5 can use usernames stored in secondary password
# files but ignores passwords stored there. The pg_shadow
# password will always be used.
#
# crypt: Same as "md5", but uses crypt for pre-7.2 clients. You can
# not store encrypted passwords in pg_shadow if you use this
# method.
#
# ident: For TCP/IP connections, authentication is done by contacting
# the ident server on the client host. Remember, this is
# only as secure as the client machine. On machines that
# support unix-domain socket credentials (currently Linux,
# FreeBSD, NetBSD, and BSD/OS), this method also works for
# "local" connections.
#
# AUTH_ARGUMENT is required: it determines how to map
# remote user names to Postgres user names. The
# AUTH_ARGUMENT is a map name found in the
# $PGDATA/pg_ident.conf file. The connection is accepted
# if that file contains an entry for this map name with
# the ident-supplied username and the requested Postgres
# username. The special map name "sameuser" indicates an
# implied map (not in pg_ident.conf) that maps each ident
# username to the identical PostgreSQL username.
#
# krb4: Kerberos V4 authentication is used. Allowed only for
# TCP/IP connections, not for local UNIX-domain sockets.
#
# krb5: Kerberos V5 authentication is used. Allowed only for
# TCP/IP connections, not for local UNIX-domain sockets.
#
# pam: Authentication is passed off to PAM (PostgreSQL must be
# configured --with-pam), using the default service name
# "postgresql" - you can specify your own service name, by
# setting AUTH_ARGUMENT to the desired service name.
#
# reject: Reject the connection. This is used to reject certain hosts
# that are part of a network specified later in the file.
# To be effective, "reject" must appear before the later
# entries.
#
#
#
# Examples
# ========
#
#
# Allow any user on the local system to connect to any database under any
# username using Unix-domain sockets (the default for local connections):
# TYPE DATABASE IP_ADDRESS MASK AUTH_TYPE AUTH_ARGUMENT
# local all trust
#
# The same using local loopback IP connections:
# TYPE DATABASE IP_ADDRESS MASK AUTH_TYPE AUTH_ARGUMENT
# host all 127.0.0.1 255.255.255.255 trust
#
# Allow any user from any host with IP address 192.168.93.x to
# connect to database "template1" as the same username that ident reports
# for the connection (typically his Unix username):
#
# TYPE DATABASE IP_ADDRESS MASK AUTH_TYPE AUTH_ARGUMENT
# host template1 192.168.93.0 255.255.255.0 ident sameuser
#
# Allow a user from host 192.168.12.10 to connect to database "template1"
# if the user's password in pg_shadow is correctly supplied:
#
# TYPE DATABASE IP_ADDRESS MASK AUTH_TYPE AUTH_ARGUMENT
# host template1 192.168.12.10 255.255.255.255 md5
#
# In the absence of preceding "host" lines, these two lines will reject
# all connection from 192.168.54.1 (since that entry will be matched
# first), but allow Kerberos V5-validated connections from anywhere else
# on the Internet. The zero mask means that no bits of the host IP address
# are considered, so it matches any host:
#
#
# TYPE DATABASE IP_ADDRESS MASK AUTH_TYPE AUTH_ARGUMENT
# host all 192.168.54.1 255.255.255.255 reject
# host all 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 krb5
#
# Allow users from 192.168.x.x hosts to connect to any database if they
# pass the ident check. For example, if ident says the user is "james" and
# he requests to connect as PostgreSQL user "guest", the connection is
# allowed if there is an entry in $PGDATA/pg_ident.conf with map name
# "phoenix" that says "james" is allowed to connect as "guest":
#
# TYPE DATABASE IP_ADDRESS MASK AUTH_TYPE AUTH_ARGUMENT
# host all 192.168.0.0 255.255.0.0 ident phoenix
#
# If these are the only two lines for local connections, they will allow
# local users to connect only to their own databases (database named the
# same as the user name), except for administrators who may connect to
# all databases. The file $PGDATA/admins lists the user names who are
# permitted to connect to all databases. Passwords are required in all
# cases. (If you prefer to use ident authorization, an ident map can
# serve a parallel purpose to the password list file used here.)
#
# TYPE DATABASE IP_ADDRESS MASK AUTH_TYPE AUTH_ARGUMENT
# local sameuser md5
# local all md5 admins
#
# See $PGDATA/pg_ident.conf for more information on Ident maps.
#
#
#
# Put your actual configuration here
# ==================================
#
# This default configuration allows any local user to connect with any
# PostgreSQL username, over either UNIX domain sockets or IP.
#
# If you want to allow non-local connections, you will need to add more
# "host" records. Also, remember IP connections are only enabled if you
# start the postmaster with the -i option.
#
# CAUTION: if you are on a multiple-user machine, the default
# configuration is probably too liberal for you. Change it to use
# something other than "trust" authentication.
#
# TYPE DATABASE IP_ADDRESS MASK AUTH_TYPE AUTH_ARGUMENT
local all trust
host all 127.0.0.1 255.255.255.255 trust
# Using sockets credentials for improved security. Not available everywhere,
# but works on Linux, *BSD (and probably some others)
local all ident sameuser
###################################################3
Be sure and set your user with ample permissions to perform their duties.
LelandJ
