It's the user created by the one-click installer. I believe it owns the postgres data directory and is used to start the server. Other than that, the intention is for this user to have no other file privileges. The default is "postgres" but it could be anything.
doing the default install, the installer uses cacls to correctly set the access privileges to the database files for the created user.
AS the database directory was zipped and copied from computer to computer; something different happened .... I know it is possible to transfer NTFS files keeping their ACL, but I have no information HOW the files were transferred.
HOW containing information as in: - under which user account - using which method - preserving or not preserving ACLs
I don't know. It is not my computer, it is my client's computer. We will investigate if anything like that is going on. He was only available until 4PM today and we just discovered what was happening shortly before that point. The people that do their security should be available Monday and we can ask them this type of question.
>Are there any group-policies or similar, or "security-applications" present,
>which can change the rights of this user postgres? (Or, can change the
>access-properties of files on the system?)
please check out the "cacls" command line utitlity of windows. With this you should be able to print out all privileges of the PostgreSQL data directory to a text file, which can be transferred to you. You can then compare the privileges of the files on the non-working computer with the working computer.
You can especially check the privileges for the toast-files (the ones named in the error message)
>Any idea of what to look for?
when working with the first PostgreSQL versions on windows, I was surprised by a group policy randomly taking away the "run as service" privilege for the local user. Just want to point out that system-level changes which can affect PostgreSQL WITHOUT anything in PostgreSQL.
That somebody was me, experimenting over the years. But I have not been messing around with this particular application. However, I'm not sure what the client did, as they copied the data files between the two computers at a time when I wasn't available. (They zipped, then unzipped after logging in as the proper user.)
Okay, that experimenting is good thing to do :) on development systems.
As a developer for multiple clients, I need easy access to my development copies of my clients' postgres data files. Therefore I have experimented with allowing my own userid to have access to the "data" directory and the subdirectories and files. I believe postgres doesn't care if you allow extra users, as long as "postgres" still has the proper access.
Postgres does not even know about extra access privileges. Only the installer does something with access rights during database installation; after that everything changing the access permissions is from outside.
(One possible scenario: the postgres service being started with its authorization set to "local system" - that would explain your files with owner "system". And "local system" (or similar) is the default for SQL Server and Oracle ... the danger that one good-willing local administrator changed the logon-credentials?)
Harald
John
>Spielberger StraAYe 49
>
>Harald
>
>
>--
>GHUM Harald Massa
>persuadere et programmare
>Harald Armin Massa
>70435 Stuttgart
>0173/9409607
>no fx, no carrier pigeon
>-
>Using PostgreSQL is mostly about sleeping well at night.
>
--
GHUM Harald Massa
persuadere et programmare
Harald Armin Massa
Spielberger Straße 49
70435 Stuttgart
0173/9409607
no fx, no carrier pigeon
-
Using PostgreSQL is mostly about sleeping well at night.
