Postgres could not connect to server

After I did `brew update` and `brew upgrade`, my postgres got some problem. I tried to uninstall postgres and install it again, but it didn't work as well.

This is the error message. (I also got this error message when I try to do `rake db:migrate`)

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$ psql
psql: could not connect to server: No such file or directory
Is the server running locally and accepting
connections on Unix domain socket "/tmp/.s.PGSQL.5432"?

How can I solve it?

Mac version: Mountain lion.

homebrew version: 0.9.3

postgres version: psql (PostgreSQL) 9.2.1

And this is what I did:

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$ brew uninstall postgresql
Uninstalling /usr/local/Cellar/postgresql/9.2.1...
$ brew uninstall postgresql
Uninstalling /usr/local/Cellar/postgresql/9.1.4...
$ psql --version
bash: /usr/local/bin/psql: No such file or directory
$ brew install postgresql
==> Downloading

[To see links please register here]

Already downloaded: /Library/Caches/Homebrew/postgresql-9.2.1.tar.bz2
......
......
==> Summary
/usr/local/Cellar/postgresql/9.2.1: 2814 files, 38M, built in 2.7 minutes
$ initdb /usr/local/var/postgres -E utf8
The files belonging to this database system will be owned by user "laigary".
This user must also own the server process.

The database cluster will be initialized with locale "en_US.UTF-8".
The default text search configuration will be set to "english".

initdb: directory "/usr/local/var/postgres" exists but is not empty
If you want to create a new database system, either remove or empty
the directory "/usr/local/var/postgres" or run initdb
with an argument other than "/usr/local/var/postgres".
$ mkdir -p ~/Library/LaunchAgents
$ cp /usr/local/Cellar/postgresql/9.2.1/homebrew.mxcl.postgresql.plist ~/Library/LaunchAgents/
$ launchctl load -w ~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.postgresql.plist
homebrew.mxcl.postgresql: Already loaded
$ pg_ctl -D /usr/local/var/postgres -l /usr/local/var/postgres/server.log start
server starting
$ env ARCHFLAGS="-arch x86_64" gem install pg
Building native extensions. This could take a while...
Successfully installed pg-0.14.1
1 gem installed
$ psql --version
psql (PostgreSQL) 9.2.1
$ psql
psql: could not connect to server: No such file or directory
Is the server running locally and accepting
connections on Unix domain socket "/tmp/.s.PGSQL.5432"?

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Now, after I reinstalled homebrew, when I use `$ psql`, it doesn't show any error message.

But I run `rake db:migrate` in my Rails app, it shows:


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could not connect to server: No such file or directory
Is the server running locally and accepting
connections on Unix domain socket "/var/pgsql_socket/.s.PGSQL.5432"?

/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/activerecord-3.2.8/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql_adapter.rb:1213:in `initialize'
/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/activerecord-3.2.8/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql_adapter.rb:1213:in `new'
/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/activerecord-3.2.8/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql_adapter.rb:1213:in `connect'
/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/activerecord-3.2.8/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql_adapter.rb:329:in `initialize'
/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/activerecord-3.2.8/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql_adapter.rb:28:in `new'
/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/activerecord-3.2.8/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql_adapter.rb:28:in `postgresql_connection'
/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/activerecord-3.2.8/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:309:in `new_connection'
/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/activerecord-3.2.8/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:319:in `checkout_new_connection'
/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/activerecord-3.2.8/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:241:in `block (2 levels) in checkout'
/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/activerecord-3.2.8/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:236:in `loop'
/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/activerecord-3.2.8/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:236:in `block in checkout'
/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/1.9.1/monitor.rb:211:in `mon_synchronize'
/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/activerecord-3.2.8/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:233:in `checkout'
/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/activerecord-3.2.8/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:96:in `block in connection'
/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/1.9.1/monitor.rb:211:in `mon_synchronize'
/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/activerecord-3.2.8/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:95:in `connection'
/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/activerecord-3.2.8/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:404:in `retrieve_connection'
/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/activerecord-3.2.8/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_specification.rb:170:in `retrieve_connection'
/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/activerecord-3.2.8/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_specification.rb:144:in `connection'
/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/activerecord-3.2.8/lib/active_record/railties/databases.rake:107:in `rescue in create_database'
/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/activerecord-3.2.8/lib/active_record/railties/databases.rake:51:in `create_database'
/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/activerecord-3.2.8/lib/active_record/railties/databases.rake:40:in `block (3 levels) in <top (required)>'
/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/activerecord-3.2.8/lib/active_record/railties/databases.rake:40:in `each'
/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/activerecord-3.2.8/lib/active_record/railties/databases.rake:40:in `block (2 levels) in <top (required)>'
/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/1.9.1/rake/task.rb:205:in `call'
/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/1.9.1/rake/task.rb:205:in `block in execute'
/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/1.9.1/rake/task.rb:200:in `each'
/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/1.9.1/rake/task.rb:200:in `execute'
/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/1.9.1/rake/task.rb:158:in `block in invoke_with_call_chain'
/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/1.9.1/monitor.rb:211:in `mon_synchronize'
/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/1.9.1/rake/task.rb:151:in `invoke_with_call_chain'
/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/1.9.1/rake/task.rb:144:in `invoke'
/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/1.9.1/rake/application.rb:116:in `invoke_task'
/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/1.9.1/rake/application.rb:94:in `block (2 levels) in top_level'
/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/1.9.1/rake/application.rb:94:in `each'
/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/1.9.1/rake/application.rb:94:in `block in top_level'
/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/1.9.1/rake/application.rb:133:in `standard_exception_handling'
/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/1.9.1/rake/application.rb:88:in `top_level'
/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/1.9.1/rake/application.rb:66:in `block in run'
/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/1.9.1/rake/application.rb:133:in `standard_exception_handling'
/usr/local/Cellar/ruby/1.9.3-p327/lib/ruby/1.9.1/rake/application.rb:63:in `run'
/usr/local/bin/rake:32:in `<main>'
Couldn't create database for {"adapter"=>"postgresql", "encoding"=>"unicode", "database"=>"riy_development", "pool"=>5, "username"=>nil, "password"=>nil}

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**Finally I've found a solution.**

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sudo mkdir /var/pgsql_socket/
sudo ln -s /private/tmp/.s.PGSQL.5432 /var/pgsql_socket/

This solution is a little tricky, but it works. Hope anyone has a better solution

**Update**

This works for me as well.

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rm /usr/local/var/postgres/postmaster.pid

Check that the socket file exists.

$ ls -l /tmp/.s.PGSQL.5432
srwxrwxrwx 1 you wheel 0 Nov 16 09:22 /tmp/.s.PGSQL.5432

If it doesn't then check your postgresql.conf for unix_socket_directory change.

$ grep unix_socket /usr/local/var/postgres/postgresql.conf
#unix_socket_directory = '' # (change requires restart)
#unix_socket_group = '' # (change requires restart)
#unix_socket_permissions = 0777 # begin with 0 to use octal notation

Changing postresql or database.yml config settings, changing $PATH, or creating symlinks were all unnecessary for me. All I needed to do was `gem uninstall pg` and then `bundle` (or `gem install pg`).

The issue was that the pg gem had been installed before homebrew postgres, so was picking up the settings from the version of postgres that comes with MacOS. Reinstalling it (and thus rebuilding the native extension) fixed the problem.

I ran into this issue after trying to restore/drop/create a db while other processes were accessing them. MacOSX/Homebrew fix was:

1. close all other accessing processes `rails server`, `rails console`, `guard`, etc...
2. load/unload using the commands found in `brew info postgres`
3. run restore/drop/create from before

Psql option

-h hostname
--host=hostname

: Specifies the host name of the machine on which the server is running.
**If the value begins with a slash, it is used as the directory for the Unix-domain socket.**

$ grep "port\|unix_socket" /etc/postgresql/9.1/main/postgresql.conf
port = 5433 # (change requires restart)
unix_socket_directory = '/var/run/postgresql' # (change requires resta

$ netstat -nalp | grep postgres
unix 2 [ ACC ] STREAM LISTENING 106753 4349/postgres /tmp/.s.PGSQL.5432
unix 2 [ ACC ] STREAM LISTENING 10377 1031/postgres /var/run/postgresql/.s.PGSQL.5433


Run psql with -host Option

$ psql -p 5433 -h /var/run/postgresql

No need to make a soft link

For anyone reading this and using Postgres.app, you may need `host: localhost` in your database.yml.

[To see links please register here]

I got this same error. Turns out postgres just wasn't running at all (it is usually always running in the background, but for whatever reason it wasn't today).

If this is the case, just type `postgres` in the command line of your project directory

After a tremendous amount of back and forth, it really came down to the `pg` gem version I was using. On mavericks, `pg` version `0.15.1` would not connect to port 5432 but version `0.17.1` works just fine - very odd.

Just two steps to run the database after the Installation (Before that ensure your logged as `postgres` user)

> # Installed-Dirs/bin/postmaster -D Installed-Dirs/pgsql/data

For an example:

[postgres@localhost bin]$ /usr/local/pgsql/bin/postmaster -D /usr/local/pgsql/data

Step-2 : Run psql from the Installed path (To check where you installed '#which postgres' will use to find out the installed location)

[postgres@localhost bin]$ psql

FWIW this happened to me today, but what happened was that I was running Ubuntu updates at the time, which were likely updating Postgres. Once the update completed, I was able to connect without a hitch.

For completeness' sake, I was trying to retrieve records from the database from a Rails console:

development (main):0 > a = MyModel.find 73694
PG::ConnectionBad: could not connect to server: No such file or directory
Is the server running locally and accepting
connections on Unix domain socket "/var/run/postgresql/.s.PGSQL.5432"?