This is an original planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, an official standard, or legal advice. Example addresses use documentation ranges. Review every command before you paste it.
What this hour is for
How to Enable TLS/SSL Connections in PostgreSQL is one lab note for PostgreSQL. TLS is one certificate for one name you control. The private key stays on the host.
PostgreSQL. The client is psql. A new authentication line uses scram-sha-256 for one host you name. A trust line for every address is a line you delete. Do not pipe a downloaded script to a shell. The file, when there is one, is postgresql.conf or pg_hba.conf, and you read which file the line belongs in. A starter may set listen_addresses to a star. Replace that with an address you administer, and keep pg_hba to one host.
Do not disable certificate checks to make a client connect. Do not put the private key in the note. Do not request a certificate for a name you do not hold. example.com is documentation. Do not enable TLS during the reading. The name on the certificate matches the ticket, the key is not in the note, and nothing was reloaded.
The generator drafts text in the browser. It does not log in. A header on a script says to review it before running, and a destructive line is supposed to stay a comment. You still read the draft. 192.0.2.10, 198.51.100.0/24, 203.0.113.0/24, and 2001:db8::/32 are documentation. example.com is a documentation name. They belong in the note. They are not values you leave on a database because a draft included them.
The change you can finish
Apply nothing while you are writing the note. When the lab window opens, it is one change on the database named in the ticket. Read the draft, then the database, then decide.
Rollback is the backup, the file, or the snapshot you saved first. You do not invent a rollback after the only copy is gone.
- Write the database name and confirm you administer it.
- Save a backup, a file, or a snapshot before any draft is applied.
- Read the draft and delete every line this ticket did not name.
- Replace a sample password, a bind to every address, and any secret.
- Apply one change only when the lab window is open.
- Read the result back and compare it with the ticket.
- Stop. The next change is a different page.
Mistakes that outlive the statement
How to Enable TLS/SSL Connections in PostgreSQL goes wrong in a small set of ways. The list is here so the ticket can forbid them before the window.
- Pasting a draft you did not read.
- The wrong database.
- A secret or a sample password left in the note.
- A listen address of every interface left in the file.
- Two changes in one window.
- No copy saved before the change.
- Disabling authentication, a firewall, or TLS to make a check pass.
- Calling the generator output a finished production change.
- Do not disable certificate checks to make a client connect. Do not put the private key in the note. Do not request a certificate for a name you do not hold. example.com is documentation. Do not enable TLS during the reading.
Decisions to write down
One decision for How to Enable TLS/SSL Connections in PostgreSQL: The database is PostgreSQL. The change is only this TLS listener. A sample password was replaced or was never present. A listen on every address was removed or was never present. Nothing was applied during the reading. And the proof you expect is: The name on the certificate matches the ticket, the key is not in the note, and nothing was reloaded.
Checks before you call it done
Confirm this before you call the change done: The database name matches the ticket. The draft was read. No secret is in the note. Authentication was not disabled. The listen address is not every interface. And nothing was applied, or the lab window is still closed. If one of those fails, stop.
# PostgreSQL. TLS listener.
# Review before you run.
# Replace a sample password.
# Delete a bind to every address.
# Do not disable authentication.
# 192.0.2.10, 198.51.100.0/24, 203.0.113.0/24, and 2001:db8::/32 are documentation. example.com is a documentation name. They belong in the note. They are not values you leave on a database because a draft included them.Before you leave the database
How to Enable TLS/SSL Connections in PostgreSQL ends when the database in the prompt is the database in the ticket. If it is not, you are on the wrong database. Stop.
The draft stays a draft until a person has read the names in it. A generator does not log into the database. You delete a line that names a host, a database, or an account you did not write down.
192.0.2.10, 198.51.100.0/24, 203.0.113.0/24, and 2001:db8::/32 are documentation. example.com is a documentation name. They belong in the note. They are not values you leave on a database because a draft included them.
prompt-for-this is a reminder that a secret is missing. It is not a password, a key, or a token you save in the ticket or in git. A sample password in a draft is replaced. It is not a password you keep.
One change is the window. If two things move and the result is wrong, you will not know which one did it.
If the same step fails twice, stop for the day. Restore the copy you took first.
Tools for this guide
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Related pillar guides
More in this cluster
The pillar for this page, and the next published pages filed with it.
- Pillar: PostgreSQL Administration Guide
- How-To: How to Encrypt PostgreSQL Data at Rest
- How-To: How to Set Up Auditing in PostgreSQL
- How-To: Partitioning and Sharding in PostgreSQL
Companion: Security: Server Hardening Guide.