Enable remote connections to PostgreSQL

Normally PostgreSQL only accepts connections from the local machine. To enable remote connections, you need to edit the configuration file.

Modify the PostgreSQL configuration file

The location of the configuration file depends on the version of PostgreSQL. For example, in PostgreSQL 12, the configuration file is located at /etc/postgresql/12/main/postgresql.conf.

Note : In Amazon Linux or CentOS, the file location is /var/lib/pgsql/data/postgresql.conf.

Open the configuration file:

sudo nano /etc/postgresql/<postgresql-version>/main/postgresql.conf

Uncomment the line listen_addresses and change the value to *:

# From #listen_addresses = 'localhost' to
listen_addresses = '*'

Restart the PostgreSQL service:

sudo systemctl restart postgresql

Allow remote connections to PostgreSQL

Open the pg_hba.conf file:

sudo nano /etc/postgresql/<postgresql-version>/main/pg_hba.conf
# or from Amazon Linux or CentOS
sudo nano /var/lib/pgsql/data/pg_hba.conf

Find the line:

# IPv4 local connections: 
host    all             all             127.0.0.1/32            md5

Modify it to:

# IPv4 local connections:
host    all             all             0.0.0.0/0            md5

Note : In PostgreSQL 15 maybe using 'ident' instead of 'md5'.

Restart the PostgreSQL service:

sudo systemctl restart postgresql

Still can't connect to PostgreSQL?

Please don't forget to allow port 5432 in the firewall