PostgreSQL Admin - passwords?

I just installed PostgreSQL 7.3.1 from source on RedHat 8.0. I have the system up, running and accessible from Unix sockets and TCP/IP. I can get into the system by doing the /usr/local/pgsql/bin/psql test command (as user postgres) or from my W2K box with pgAdmin2 (user: postgres and blank password) after I made changes to the pg_hba.conf file.

My question is, how do I make the system more secure by actually requiring real passwords?

(1) I can only get into the database from the shell by su'ing to the user postgres but it never asks for a password - is this okay?
(2) I want to make sure that when I connect via TCP/IP from my W2K box that a password is required as well.

Thanks for any security tips you guys might have.


-Cliff

Hi,

I came to this forum to post a similar question, so I will add to this thread. In reply to your first point, I can only su to postgres from root which I think is OK.
In order to get a PHP script to connect to a database, I had to set up "wwwrun" (the user that apache runs as on my system) as a user for postgres, using the "createuser" command, then grant permissions for this user.
But what worries me is, as you said, there is no password, so what is to stop anyone connecting to this database from a remote machine as the user "wwwrun"? I also couldn't define the host making the connection when granting permissions as you can in MySQL ( GRANT ..... TO user@localhost .....).
So - should I set a password for wwwrun? There must be a standard way making a connection in a secure way - could someone please point me in the right direction?
Hope this is some help to you - I found this tutorial helpful:
http://www-it.hive.no/database/pgsq...rial/intro.html

You have to edit pg_hba.conf to setup the requirements. You also set allowed hosts there, pmm.

No, it's not. Again, edit pg_hba.conf to require passwords. You will also need to give the postgres user a password with ALTER USER and be sure to give a password to any new users when using CREATE USER.