Repmgr and PostgreSQL data_directory permission problem

Question

I've followed the instructions to set up a replica server of PostgreSQL with repmgr , But I can't start the PostgreSQL service because of a permission problem.

On the stand by server, I have this on my /etc/repmgr.conf file:

node_id=2
node_name=aws-replica
conninfo='host=<REDACTED> user=repmgr dbname=repmgr port=5432'
data_directory='/mnt/data/postgres/data'
log_file='/var/log/repmgr.log'

As you can see, I've changed the location of the data directory to /mnt/data/postgres/data and also updated the postgresql.conf file with the same information.

When I try to start the PostgreSQL service, I get this error on journalctl :

FATAL:  data directory "/mnt/data/postgres/data" has wrong ownership
HINT:  The server must be started by the user that owns the data directory.

The folder in question is owned by a normal user, the same one that runs repmgr . If I set the ownership of the folder to postgres:postgres , then repmgr can't perform any operations because it can't access the folder. I tried joining the postgres group, but the service won't start unless the folder has 700 permissions, so it's pointless to join the group.

So, I'm either not being able to start postgresql or repmgr . What can I do to make it work?

Answer 1

The problem was that I created a postgres DB using innitdb , which wasn't necessary. I deleted the database and then ran repmgr as the postgres user, and it worked.