Install PostgreSQL Database Server#

Install and set up the database for use by the Mattermost server. You can install either PostgreSQL or MySQL.

Assume that the IP address of this server is 10.10.10.1.

Install PostgreSQL on Ubuntu Server 20.04#

  1. Log in to the server that will host the database and issue the following command:

sudo apt install postgresql postgresql-contrib

When the installation is complete, the PostgreSQL server is running, and a Linux user account called postgres has been created.

Confirm this version is PostgreSQL version 10 or higher. You can do this by running psql -V. If this isn’t version 10 or higher you can reference the PostgreSQL documentation here to install an updated version of PostgreSQL.

  1. Access PostgreSQL with one of the following options:

  • sudo --login --user postgres then psql

  • sudo -u postgres psql

  1. Create the Mattermost database.

postgres=# CREATE DATABASE mattermost;

  1. Create the Mattermost user mmuser.

postgres=# CREATE USER mmuser WITH PASSWORD 'mmuser-password';

Note

Use a password that’s more secure than mmuser-password.

  1. Grant the user access to the Mattermost database.

postgres=# GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE mattermost to mmuser;

  1. Exit the PostgreSQL interactive terminal.

postgres=# \q

  1. Log out of the postgres account.

exit

  1. (Optional) If you use a different server for your database and the Mattermost server, you may allow PostgreSQL to listen on all assigned IP addresses. To do so, open /etc/postgresql/{version}/main/postgresql.conf in a text editor as root user. Replace {version} with the version of PostgreSQL that’s currently running. As a best practice, ensure that only the Mattermost server is able to connect to the PostgreSQL port using a firewall.

  1. Find the following line:

#listen_addresses = 'localhost'

  1. Uncomment the line and change localhost to *:

listen_addresses = '*'

  1. Restart PostgreSQL for the change to take effect:

sudo systemctl restart postgresql

  1. Modify the file pg_hba.conf to allow the Mattermost server to communicate with the database.

If the Mattermost server and the database are on the same machine:

  1. Open /etc/postgresql/{version}/main/pg_hba.conf as root in a text editor.

  2. Find the following lines:

local   all             all                        peer

host    all             all         ::1/128        ident

  1. Change peer and ident to trust:

local   all             all                        trust

host    all             all         ::1/128        trust

If the Mattermost server and the database are on different machines:

  1. Open /etc/postgresql/{version}/main/pg_hba.conf in a text editor as root user.

  2. Add the following line to the end of the file, where {mattermost-server-IP} is the IP address of the Mattermost server.

host all all {mattermost-server-IP}/32 md5

  1. Reload PostgreSQL:

sudo systemctl reload postgresql

  1. Verify that you can connect with the user mmuser.

  • If the Mattermost server and the database are on the same machine, use the following command:

    psql --dbname=mattermost --username=mmuser --password

  • If the Mattermost server is on a different machine, log into that machine and use the following command:

    psql --host={postgres-server-IP} --dbname=mattermost --username=mmuser --password

Note

You might have to install the PostgreSQL client software to use the command.

The PostgreSQL interactive terminal starts. To exit the PostgreSQL interactive terminal, type \q and press Enter on Windows or Linux, or ↵ on Mac.

With the database installed and the initial setup complete, you can now install the Mattermost server.