Symptoms
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Attempts to access PostgreSQL database hosted on the Plesk server using network connection to
localhost:5432fail with the following error:psql: FATAL: Ident authentication failed for user “jdoe”
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Websites using Ruby applications which access PostgreSQL database show the following error:
500 external Server Error
If you are the administrator of this website, then please read this web application’s log file and/or the web server’s log file to find out what went wrong.
Cause
PostgreSQL is configured to use ident authentication for network connections.
Resolution
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Connect to the server via SSH
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Change authentication configuration of host type from ident to md5 in
pg_hba.conffile. By default it is located for example at the following paths:-
/var/lib/pgsql/data/pg_hba.confon RedHat-based systems -
/var/lib/postgresql/9.1/main/pg_hba.confon Debian-based systems
Update the following lines:
host all all 127.0.0.1/32 ident
host all all ::1/128 ident
host all all 203.0.113.2/32 identTo the following:
host all all 127.0.0.1/32 md5
host all all ::1/128 md5
host all all 203.0.113.2/32 md5 -
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Restart PostgreSQL service to apply changes:
# service postgresql restart
