[SOLVED]Cannot start postgresql using systemctl

Question

I am thinking about switching entirely to systemd. So I have been playing around to learn systemd way of starting services.
[root@myhost sudeep]# systemctl start postgresql.service
Job failed. See system journal and 'systemctl status' for details.
[root@myhost sudeep]# systemctl status postgresql.service
postgresql.service - PostgreSQL database server
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/postgresql.service; disabled)
Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Mon, 04 Jun 2012 19:14:44 +0530; 11s ago
Process: 1473 ExecStartPre=/usr/lib/systemd/scripts/postgresql-initdb (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
CGroup: name=systemd:/system/postgresql.service
Jun 04 19:14:44 myhost postgres[1473]: Creating symlink /var/lib/postgres ->
I also tried
[root@myhost sudeep]# initdb -D /var/lib/postgres/data
initdb: cannot be run as root
Please log in (using, e.g., "su") as the (unprivileged) user that will
own the server process.
And obviously I cannot run systemctl as a normal user. What is the problem?
Last edited by TwiNight (2012-06-06 04:52:30)

Answer 1

deltaecho wrote:
Try editing /etc/conf.d/postgresql, and uncomment the line for PGROOT="/var/lib/postgres" (although it is listed as having a default value, doing this resolved the issue for me).
EDIT: I found that config by looking in the postgesql.service file, which set the option ExecStartPre=/usr/lib/systemd/scripts/postgresql-initdb.  Looking in the corresponding file, I noticed that it made several references to $PGROOT, and since the statement "Creating symlink /var/lib/postgres -> $PGROOT" returned the empty string for $PGROOT, I figured that it was not correctly set.  At the top of that script, you will notice where it imports the postgres config: ". /etc/conf.d/postgresql".  Within that file is where the postgres options are set.
I tried this. Still I am getting error as follows:
[root@myhost sudeep]# systemctl start postgresql.service
[root@myhost sudeep]# systemctl status postgresql.service
postgresql.service - PostgreSQL database server
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/postgresql.service; disabled)
Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Wed, 06 Jun 2012 14:13:24 +0530; 8s ago
Process: 1668 ExecStop=/bin/su - postgres -m -c /usr/bin/pg_ctl -s -D /var/lib/postgres/data stop -m fast (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
Process: 1661 ExecStart=/bin/su - postgres -m -c /usr/bin/pg_ctl -s -D /var/lib/postgres/data start (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Process: 1658 ExecStartPre=/usr/lib/systemd/scripts/postgresql-initdb (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Main PID: 1666 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
CGroup: name=systemd:/system/postgresql.service
Jun 06 14:13:22 myhost su[1661]: pam_unix(su:session): session opened for user postgres by (uid=0)
Jun 06 14:13:24 myhost su[1668]: pam_unix(su:session): session opened for user postgres by (uid=0)
Jun 06 14:13:24 myhost postgres[1668]: pg_ctl: PID file "/var/lib/postgres/data/postmaster.pid" does not exist