PostgreSQL Database Server Installation

This guide is for setting up a PostgreSQL database server for CS422 under Windows 2K/XP/Vista. Note that installing PostgreSQL on your own computer is not required for the class as you can use the one on CS3, but you may find it more convenient to have a local database setup, and it also allows you experiment with some database management functionality (e.g. security) that require superuser privilege. 

The software is freely available for download at PostgreSQL.org. There are two packages to choose from: One Click Installer and pgInstaller. I recommend pgInstaller because One-Click Installer does not run on some versions of Windows (e.g. Windows XP SP3) where Windows Scripting Host is disabled by default.

After the package is downloaded, unzip it and run SETUP.bat. Follow the installation wizard:

• De-select the Application Stack Builder option
• Select the Development option
• Select UTF8 for Encoding (Server)
• Leave everything else to default

It is recommended that you do not use the PostgreSQL superuser account postgres to perform day-to-day database operations, so create another user and a database with the same name as the user.

A screen capture video illustrating the installation process is available at http://sun.calstatela.edu/~cysun/videos/postgresql.wmv.