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<chapter id="client-authentication">
<title>Client Authentication</title>
<indexterm zone="client-authentication">
<primary>client authentication</primary>
</indexterm>
<para>
When a client application connects to the database server, it
specifies which <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> user name it
wants to connect as, much the same way one logs into a Unix computer
as a particular user. Within the SQL environment the active database
user name determines access privileges to database objects -- see
<xref linkend="user-manag"> for more information. Therefore, it is
essential to restrict which database users can connect.
</para>
<para>
<firstterm>Authentication</firstterm> is the process by which the
database server establishes the identity of the client, and by
extension determines whether the client application (or the user
who runs the client application) is permitted to connect with the
user name that was requested.
</para>
<para>
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> offers a number of different
client authentication methods. The method used to authenticate a
particular client connection can be selected on the basis of
(client) host address, database, and user.
</para>
<para>
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> user names are logically
separate from user names of the operating system in which the server
runs. If all the users of a particular server also have accounts on
the server's machine, it makes sense to assign database user names
that match their operating system user names. However, a server that
accepts remote connections may have many users who have no local
account, and in such cases there need be no connection between
database user names and OS user names.
</para>
<sect1 id="auth-pg-hba-conf">
<title>The <filename>pg_hba.conf</filename> file</title>
<indexterm zone="auth-pg-hba-conf">
<primary>pg_hba.conf</primary>
</indexterm>
<para>
Client authentication is controlled by the file
<filename>pg_hba.conf</filename> in the data directory, e.g.,
<filename>/usr/local/pgsql/data/pg_hba.conf</filename>.
(<acronym>HBA</> stands for host-based authentication.) A default
<filename>pg_hba.conf</filename> file is installed when the data
directory is initialized by <command>initdb</command>.
</para>
<para>
The general format of the <filename>pg_hba.conf</filename> file is of
a set of records, one per line. Blank lines are ignored, as is any
text after the <quote>#</quote> comment character. A record is made
up of a number of fields which are separated by spaces and/or tabs.
Fields can contain white space if the field value is quoted. Records
cannot be continued across lines.
</para>
<para>
Each record specifies a connection type, a client IP address range
(if relevant for the connection type), a database name, a user name,
and the authentication method to be used for connections matching
these parameters. The first record with a matching connection type,
client address, requested database, and user name is used to perform
authentication. There is no <quote>fall-through</> or
<quote>backup</>: if one record is chosen and the authentication
fails, subsequent records are not considered. If no record matches,
access is denied.
</para>
<para>
A record may have one of the three formats
<synopsis>
local <replaceable>database</replaceable> <replaceable>user</replaceable> <replaceable>authentication-method</replaceable> <optional><replaceable>authentication-option</replaceable></optional>
host <replaceable>database</replaceable> <replaceable>user</replaceable> <replaceable>IP-address</replaceable> <replaceable>IP-mask</replaceable> <replaceable>authentication-method</replaceable> <optional><replaceable>authentication-option</replaceable></optional>
hostssl <replaceable>database</replaceable> <replaceable>user</replaceable> <replaceable>IP-address</replaceable> <replaceable>IP-mask</replaceable> <replaceable>authentication-method</replaceable> <optional><replaceable>authentication-option</replaceable></optional>
</synopsis>
The meaning of the fields is as follows:
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><literal>local</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
This record matches connection attempts using Unix domain
sockets. Without a record of this type, Unix-domain socket
connections are disallowed
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><literal>host</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
This record matches connection attempts using TCP/IP networks.
Note that TCP/IP connections are disabled unless the server is
started with the <option>-i</option> option or the
<literal>tcpip_socket</> <filename>postgresql.conf</>
configuration parameter is enabled.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><literal>hostssl</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
This record matches connection attempts using SSL over TCP/IP.
<literal>host</literal> records will match either SSL or
non-SSL connection attempts, but <literal>hostssl</literal>
records require SSL connections.
</para>
<para>
To be able make use of this option the server must be built
with SSL support enabled. Furthermore, SSL must be enabled by
enabling the option <literal>ssl</literal> in
<filename>postgresql.conf</filename> (see <xref
linkend="runtime-config">).
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><replaceable>database</replaceable></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Specifies which databases this record matches. The value
<literal>all</literal> specifies that it matches all databases.
The value <literal>sameuser</> specifies that the record
matches if the requested database has the same name as the
requested user. The value <literal>samegroup</> specifies that
the requested user must a member of the group with the same
name as the requested database. Otherwise, this is the name of
a specific <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> database.
Multiple database names can be supplied by separating them with
commas. A file containing database names can be specified by
preceding the file name with <literal>@</>. The file must be in
the same directory as <filename>pg_hba.conf</>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><replaceable>user</replaceable></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Specifies which PostgreSQL users this record matches. The value
<literal>all</literal> specifies that it matches all users.
Otherwise, this is the name of a specific
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> user. Multiple user names
can be supplied by separating them with commas. Group names can
be specified by preceding the group name with <literal>+</>. A
file containing user names can be specified by preceding the
file name with <literal>@</>. The file must be in the same
directory as <filename>pg_hba.conf</>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><replaceable>IP-address</replaceable></term>
<term><replaceable>IP-mask</replaceable></term>
<listitem>
<para>
These two fields contain IP address/mask values in standard
dotted decimal notation. (IP addresses can only be specified
numerically, not as domain or host names.) Taken together they
specify the client machine IP addresses that this record
matches. The precise logic is that
<blockquote>
<informalfigure>
<programlisting>(<replaceable>actual-IP-address</replaceable> xor <replaceable>IP-address-field</replaceable>) and <replaceable>IP-mask-field</replaceable></programlisting>
</informalfigure>
</blockquote>
must be zero for the record to match. (Of course IP addresses
can be spoofed but this consideration is beyond the scope of
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname>.)
</para>
<para>
These fields only apply to <literal>host</literal> and
<literal>hostssl</literal> records.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><replaceable>authentication-method</replaceable></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Specifies the authentication method to use when connecting via
this record. The possible choices are summarized here; details
are in <xref linkend="auth-methods">.
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><literal>trust</></term>
<listitem>
<para>
The connection is allowed unconditionally. This method
allows anyone that can connect to the
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> database to login as
any <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> user they like,
without the need for a password. See <xref
linkend="auth-trust"> for details.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><literal>reject</></term>
<listitem>
<para>
The connection is rejected unconditionally. This is useful for
<quote>filtering out</> certain hosts from a group.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><literal>md5</></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Requires the client to supply an MD5 encrypted password for
authentication. This is the only method that allows encrypted
passwords to be stored in <structname>pg_shadow</structname>.
See <xref linkend="auth-password"> for details.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><literal>crypt</></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Like <literal>md5</literal> method but uses older crypt
encryption, which is needed for pre-7.2 clients.
<literal>md5</literal> is preferred for 7.2 and later clients.
See <xref linkend="auth-password"> for details.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><literal>password</></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Same as "md5", but the password is sent in cleartext over the
network. This should not be used on untrusted networks.
See <xref linkend="auth-password"> for details.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><literal>krb4</></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Kerberos V4 is used to authenticate the user. This is only
available for TCP/IP connections. See <xref
linkend="kerberos-auth"> for details.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><literal>krb5</></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Kerberos V5 is used to authenticate the user. This is only
available for TCP/IP connections. See <xref
linkend="kerberos-auth"> for details.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><literal>ident</></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Obtain the operating system user name of the client (for
TCP/IP connections by contacting the ident server on the
client, for local connections by getting it from the
operating system) and check if the user is allowed to
connect as the requested database user by consulting the map
specified after the <literal>ident</literal> key word.
</para>
<para>
If you use the map <literal>sameuser</literal>, the user
names are assumed to be identical. If not, the map name is
looked up in the <literal>$PGDATA/pg_ident.conf</literal>
file. The connection is accepted if that file contains an
entry for this map name with the ident-supplied user name
and the requested <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> user
name.
</para>
<para>
For local connections, this only works on machines that
support Unix-domain socket credentials (currently Linux,
FreeBSD, NetBSD, and BSD/OS).
</para>
<para>
See <xref linkend="auth-ident"> below for details.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><literal>pam</></term>
<listitem>
<para>
Authenticate using the Pluggable Authentication Modules
(PAM) service provided by the operating system. See <xref
linkend="auth-pam"> for details.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><replaceable>authentication-option</replaceable></term>
<listitem>
<para>
The meaning of this optional field depends on the chosen
authentication method and is described in the next section.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</para>
<para>
Since the <filename>pg_hba.conf</filename> records are examined
sequentially for each connection attempt, the order of the records is
significant. Typically, earlier records will have tight connection
match parameters and weaker authentication methods, while later
records will have looser match parameters and stronger authentication
methods. For example, one might wish to use <literal>trust</>
authentication for local TCP connections but require a password for
remote TCP connections. In this case a record specifying
<literal>trust</> authentication for connections from 127.0.0.1 would
appear before a record specifying password authentication for a wider
range of allowed client IP addresses.
</para>
<important>
<para>
Do not prevent the superuser from accessing the template1
database. Various utility commands need access to template1.
</para>
</important>
<para>
<indexterm>
<primary>SIGHUP</primary>
</indexterm>
The <filename>pg_hba.conf</filename> file is read on start-up and when
the <application>postmaster</> receives a
<systemitem>SIGHUP</systemitem> signal. If you edit the file on an
active system, you will need to signal the <application>postmaster</>
(using <literal>pg_ctl reload</> or <literal>kill -HUP</>) to make it
re-read the file.
</para>
<para>
An example of a <filename>pg_hba.conf</filename> file is shown in
<xref linkend="example-pg-hba.conf">. See below for details on the
different authentication methods.
<example id="example-pg-hba.conf">
<title>An example <filename>pg_hba.conf</filename> file</title>
<programlisting>
# Allow any user on the local system to connect to any database under
# any user name using Unix-domain sockets (the default for local
# connections).
#
# TYPE DATABASE USER IP-ADDRESS IP-MASK METHOD
local all all trust
# The same using local loopback TCP/IP connections.
#
# TYPE DATABASE USER IP-ADDRESS IP-MASK METHOD
host all all 127.0.0.1 255.255.255.255 trust
# Allow any user from any host with IP address 192.168.93.x to connect
# to database "template1" as the same user name that ident reports for
# the connection (typically the Unix user name).
#
# TYPE DATABASE USER IP-ADDRESS IP-MASK METHOD
host template1 all 192.168.93.0 255.255.255.0 ident sameuser
# Allow a user from host 192.168.12.10 to connect to database
# "template1" if the user's password is correctly supplied.
#
# TYPE DATABASE USER IP-ADDRESS IP-MASK METHOD
host template1 all 192.168.12.10 255.255.255.255 md5
# In the absence of preceding "host" lines, these two lines will
# reject all connection from 192.168.54.1 (since that entry will be
# matched first), but allow Kerberos V connections from anywhere else
# on the Internet. The zero mask means that no bits of the host IP
# address are considered so it matches any host.
#
# TYPE DATABASE USER IP-ADDRESS IP-MASK METHOD
host all all 192.168.54.1 255.255.255.255 reject
host all all 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 krb5
# Allow users from 192.168.x.x hosts to connect to any database, if
# they pass the ident check. If, for example, ident says the user is
# "bryanh" and he requests to connect as PostgreSQL user "guest1", the
# connection is allowed if there is an entry in pg_ident.conf for map
# "omicron" that says "bryanh" is allowed to connect as "guest1".
#
# TYPE DATABASE USER IP-ADDRESS IP-MASK METHOD
host all all 192.168.0.0 255.255.0.0 ident omicron
# If these are the only three lines for local connections, they will
# allow local users to connect only to their own databases (databases
# with the same name as their user name) except for administrators and
# members of group "support" who may connect to all databases. The file
# $PGDATA/admins contains a list of user names. Passwords are required in
# all cases.
#
# TYPE DATABASE USER IP-ADDRESS IP-MASK METHOD
local sameuser all md5
local all @admins md5
local all +support md5
# The last two lines above can be combined into a single line:
local all @admins,+support md5
# The database column can also use lists and file names, but not groups:
local db1,db2,@demodbs all md5
</programlisting>
</example>
</para>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="auth-methods">
<title>Authentication methods</title>
<para>
The following describes the authentication methods in more detail.
</para>
<sect2 id="auth-trust">
<title>Trust authentication</title>
<para>
When <literal>trust</> authentication is specified,
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> assumes that anyone who can
connect to the postmaster is authorized to access the database as
whatever database user he specifies (including the database superuser).
This method should only be used when there is adequate system-level
protection on connections to the postmaster port.
</para>
<para>
<literal>trust</> authentication is appropriate and very convenient
for local connections on a single-user workstation. It is usually
<emphasis>not</> appropriate by itself on a multiuser machine.
However, you may be able to use <literal>trust</> even on a multiuser
machine, if you restrict access to the postmaster's socket file using
file-system permissions. To do this, set the parameter
<varname>unix_socket_permissions</varname> (and possibly
<varname>unix_socket_group</varname>) in <filename>postgresql.conf</>,
as described in <xref linkend="runtime-config-general">. Or you could
set <varname>unix_socket_directory</varname> to place the socket file
in a suitably restricted directory.
</para>
<para>
Setting file-system permissions only helps for Unix-socket connections.
Local TCP connections are not restricted by it; therefore, if you want
to use permissions for local security, remove the <literal>host ...
127.0.0.1 ...</> line from <filename>pg_hba.conf</>, or change it to a
non-<literal>trust</> authentication method.
</para>
<para>
<literal>trust</> authentication is only suitable for TCP connections
if you trust every user on every machine that is allowed to connect
to the postmaster by the <filename>pg_hba.conf</> lines that specify
<literal>trust</>. It is seldom reasonable to use <literal>trust</>
for any TCP connections other than those from localhost (127.0.0.1).
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="auth-password">
<title>Password authentication</title>
<indexterm>
<primary>MD5</>
</indexterm>
<indexterm>
<primary>crypt</>
</indexterm>
<indexterm>
<primary>password</primary>
</indexterm>
<para>
Password-based authentication methods include <literal>md5</>,
<literal>crypt</>, and <literal>password</>. These methods operate
similarly except for the way that the password is sent across the
connection. If you are at all concerned about password
<quote>sniffing</> attacks then <literal>md5</> is preferred, with
<literal>crypt</> a second choice if you must support pre-7.2
clients. Plain <literal>password</> should especially be avoided for
connections over the open Internet (unless you use SSL, SSH, or
other communications security wrappers around the connection).
</para>
<para>
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> database passwords are
separate from operating system user passwords. Ordinarily, the
password for each database user is stored in the pg_shadow system
catalog table. Passwords can be managed with the query language
commands <command>CREATE USER</command> and <command>ALTER
USER</command>, e.g., <userinput>CREATE USER foo WITH PASSWORD
'secret';</userinput>. By default, that is, if no password has been
set up, the stored password is <literal>NULL</literal> and password
authentication will always fail for that user.
</para>
<para>
To restrict the set of users that are allowed to connect to certain
databases, list the users separated by commas, or in a separate
file. The file should contain user names separated by commas or one
user name per line, and be in the same directory as
<filename>pg_hba.conf</>. Mention the (base) name of the file
preceded with <literal>@</>in the <literal>USER</> column. The
<literal>DATABASE</> column can similarly accept a list of values or
a file name. You can also specify group names by preceding the group
name with <literal>+</>.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="kerberos-auth">
<title>Kerberos authentication</title>
<indexterm zone="kerberos-auth">
<primary>Kerberos</primary>
</indexterm>
<para>
<productname>Kerberos</productname> is an industry-standard secure
authentication system suitable for distributed computing over a
public network. A description of the
<productname>Kerberos</productname> system is far beyond the scope
of this document; in all generality it can be quite complex (yet
powerful). The <ulink
url="http://www.nrl.navy.mil/CCS/people/kenh/kerberos-faq.html">Kerberos
<acronym>FAQ</></ulink> or <ulink
url="ftp://athena-dist.mit.edu">MIT Project Athena</ulink> can be
a good starting point for exploration. Several sources for
<productname>Kerberos</> distributions exist.
</para>
<para>
In order to use <productname>Kerberos</>, support for it must be
enabled at build time. Both Kerberos 4 and 5 are supported
(<literal>./configure --with-krb4</> or <literal>./configure
--with-krb5</> respectively), although only one version can be
supported in any one build.
</para>
<para>
<productname>PostgreSQL</> operates like a normal Kerberos service.
The name of the service principal is
<replaceable>servicename/hostname@realm</>, where
<replaceable>servicename</> is <literal>postgres</literal> (unless a
different service name was selected at configure time with
<literal>./configure --with-krb-srvnam=whatever</>).
<replaceable>hostname</> is the fully qualified domain name of the
server machine. The service principal's realm is the preferred realm
of the server machine.
</para>
<para>
Client principals must have their <productname>PostgreSQL</> user
name as their first component, for example
<replaceable>pgusername/otherstuff@realm</>. At present the realm of
the client is not checked by <productname>PostgreSQL</>; so if you
have cross-realm authentication enabled, then any principal in any
realm that can communicate with yours will be accepted.
</para>
<para>
Make sure that your server key file is readable (and preferably only
readable) by the <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> server
account (see <xref linkend="postgres-user">). The location of the
key file is specified with the <varname>krb_server_keyfile</> run
time configuration parameter. (See also <xref
linkend="runtime-config">.) The default is <filename>/etc/srvtab</>
if you are using Kerberos 4 and
<filename>FILE:/usr/local/pgsql/etc/krb5.keytab</> (or whichever
directory was specified as <varname>sysconfdir</> at build time)
with Kerberos 5.
</para>
<para>
To generate the keytab file, use for example (with version 5)
<screen>
<prompt>kadmin% </><userinput>ank -randkey postgres/server.my.domain.org</>
<prompt>kadmin% </><userinput>ktadd -k krb5.keytab postgres/server.my.domain.org</>
</screen>
Read the <productname>Kerberos</> documentation for details.
</para>
<para>
When connecting to the database make sure you have a ticket for a
principal matching the requested database user name. An example: For
database user name <literal>fred</>, both principal
<literal>fred@EXAMPLE.COM</> and
<literal>fred/users.example.com@EXAMPLE.COM</> can be used to
authenticate to the database server.
</para>
<para>
If you use <application>mod_auth_krb</application> and
<application>mod_perl</application> on your
<productname>Apache</productname> web server, you can use
<literal>AuthType KerberosV5SaveCredentials</literal> with a
<application>mod_perl</application> script. This gives secure
database access over the web, no extra passwords required.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="auth-ident">
<title>Ident-based authentication</title>
<indexterm>
<primary>ident</primary>
</indexterm>
<para>
The ident authentication method works by inspecting the client's
operating system user name and determining the allowed database
user names by using a map file that lists the permitted
corresponding user name pairs. The determination of the client's
user name is the security-critical point, and it works differently
depending on the connection type.
</para>
<sect3>
<title>Ident Authentication over TCP/IP</title>
<para>
The <quote>Identification Protocol</quote> is described in
<citetitle>RFC 1413</citetitle>. Virtually every Unix-like
operating system ships with an ident server that listens on TCP
port 113 by default. The basic functionality of an ident server
is to answer questions like <quote>What user initiated the
connection that goes out of your port <replaceable>X</replaceable>
and connects to my port <replaceable>Y</replaceable>?</quote>.
Since <productname>PostgreSQL</> knows both <replaceable>X</> and
<replaceable>Y</> when a physical connection is established, it
can interrogate the ident server on the host of the connecting
client and could theoretically determine the operating system user
for any given connection this way.
</para>
<para>
The drawback of this procedure is that it depends on the integrity
of the client: if the client machine is untrusted or compromised
an attacker could run just about any program on port 113 and
return any user name he chooses. This authentication method is
therefore only appropriate for closed networks where each client
machine is under tight control and where the database and system
administrators operate in close contact. In other words, you must
trust the machine running the ident server.
Heed the warning:
<blockquote>
<attribution>RFC 1413</attribution>
<para>
The Identification Protocol is not intended as an authorization
or access control protocol.
</para>
</blockquote>
</para>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Ident Authentication over Local Sockets</title>
<para>
On systems supporting <symbol>SO_PEERCRED</symbol> requests for
Unix-domain sockets (currently <systemitem
class="osname">Linux</>, <systemitem class="osname">FreeBSD</>,
<systemitem class="osname">NetBSD</>, and <systemitem
class="osname">BSD/OS</>, ident authentication can also be applied
to local connections. In this case, no security risk is added by
using ident authentication; indeed it is a preferable choice for
local connections on such systems.
</para>
<para>
On systems without <symbol>SO_PEERCRED</> requests, ident
authentication is only available for TCP/IP connections. As a
work around, it is possible to specify the <systemitem
class="systemname">localhost</> address <systemitem
class="systemname">127.0.0.1</> and make connections to this
address.
</para>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Ident Maps</title>
<para>
When using ident-based authentication, after having determined the
name of the operating system user that initiated the connection,
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> checks whether that user is
allowed to connect as the database user he is requesting to connect
as. This is controlled by the ident map argument that follows the
<literal>ident</> keyword in the <filename>pg_hba.conf</filename>
file. There is a predefined ident map <literal>sameuser</literal>,
which allows any operating system user to connect as the database
user of the same name (if the latter exists). Other maps must be
created manually.
</para>
<para>
<indexterm><primary>pg_ident.conf</primary></indexterm> Ident maps
other than <literal>sameuser</literal> are defined in the file
<filename>pg_ident.conf</filename> in the data directory, which
contains lines of the general form:
<synopsis>
<replaceable>map-name</> <replaceable>ident-username</> <replaceable>database-username</>
</synopsis>
Comments and whitespace are handled in the usual way. The
<replaceable>map-name</> is an arbitrary name that will be used to
refer to this mapping in <filename>pg_hba.conf</filename>. The other
two fields specify which operating system user is allowed to connect
as which database user. The same <replaceable>map-name</> can be
used repeatedly to specify more user-mappings within a single map.
There is no restriction regarding how many database users a given
operating system user may correspond to and vice versa.
</para>
<para>
<indexterm>
<primary>SIGHUP</primary>
</indexterm>
The <filename>pg_ident.conf</filename> file is read on start-up and
when the <application>postmaster</> receives a
<systemitem>SIGHUP</systemitem> signal. If you edit the file on an
active system, you will need to signal the <application>postmaster</>
(using <literal>pg_ctl reload</> or <literal>kill -HUP</>) to make it
re-read the file.
</para>
<para>
A <filename>pg_ident.conf</filename> file that could be used in
conjunction with the <filename>pg_hba.conf</> file in <xref
linkend="example-pg-hba.conf"> is shown in <xref
linkend="example-pg-ident.conf">. In this example setup, anyone
logged in to a machine on the 192.168 network that does not have the
Unix user name <systemitem>bryanh</>, <systemitem>ann</>, or
<systemitem>robert</> would not be granted access. Unix user
<systemitem>robert</> would only be allowed access when he tries to
connect as <productname>PostgreSQL</> user <systemitem>bob</>, not
as <systemitem>robert</> or anyone else. <systemitem>ann</> would
only be allowed to connect as <systemitem>ann</>. User
<systemitem>bryanh</> would be allowed to connect as either
<systemitem>bryanh</> himself or as <systemitem>guest1</>.
</para>
<example id="example-pg-ident.conf">
<title>An example <filename>pg_ident.conf</> file</title>
<programlisting>
# MAPNAME IDENT-USERNAME PG-USERNAME
omicron bryanh bryanh
omicron ann ann
# bob has user name robert on these machines
omicron robert bob
# bryanh can also connect as guest1
omicron bryanh guest1
</programlisting>
</example>
</sect3>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="auth-pam">
<title>PAM Authentication</title>
<para>
This authentication type operates similarly to
<firstterm>password</firstterm> except that it uses PAM (Pluggable
Authentication Modules) as the authentication mechanism. The
default PAM service name is <literal>postgresql</literal>. You can
optionally supply you own service name after the <literal>pam</>
keyword in the file. For more information about PAM, please read
the <ulink
url="http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/libs/pam/"><productname>Linux-PAM</>
Page</ulink> and the <ulink
url="http://www.sun.com/software/solaris/pam/"><systemitem
class="osname">Solaris</> PAM Page</ulink>.
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="client-authentication-problems">
<title>Authentication problems</title>
<para>
Genuine authentication failures and related problems generally
manifest themselves through error messages like the following.
</para>
<para>
<ProgramListing>
No pg_hba.conf entry for host 123.123.123.123, user andym, database testdb
</ProgramListing>
This is what you are most likely to get if you succeed in contacting
the server, but it does not want to talk to you. As the message
suggests, the server refused the connection request because it found
no authorizing entry in its <filename>pg_hba.conf</filename>
configuration file.
</para>
<para>
<ProgramListing>
Password authentication failed for user 'andym'
</ProgramListing>
Messages like this indicate that you contacted the server, and it is
willing to talk to you, but not until you pass the authorization
method specified in the <filename>pg_hba.conf</filename> file. Check
the password you are providing, or check your Kerberos or ident
software if the complaint mentions one of those authentication
types.
</para>
<para>
<ProgramListing>
FATAL 1: user "andym" does not exist
</ProgramListing>
The indicated user name was not found.
</para>
<para>
<ProgramListing>
FATAL 1: Database "testdb" does not exist in the system catalog.
</ProgramListing>
The database you are trying to connect to does not exist. Note that
if you do not specify a database name, it defaults to the database
user name, which may or may not be the right thing.
</para>
<para>
Note that the server log may contain more information about an
authentication failure than is reported to the client. If you are
confused about the reason for a failure, check the log.
</para>
</sect1>
</chapter>