How to install PostgreSQL on Debian 11?

Hello, friends. In this post, you will learn how to install PostgreSQL on Debian 11.

PostgreSQL is one of the oldest and most powerful relational database managers available today. And although MariaDB is emerging as one of the most popular along with SQLite, PostgreSQL is also the best known.

So if you are a developer, it would be convenient to know how to install it and get it ready for development.

Install PostgreSQL on Debian 11

PostgreSQL is included in the Debian 11 repositories, so the installation is effortless. However, in this post, we will help you to get the latest stable version.

So, open a terminal or via SSH connect to your server. Once you have the terminal, update the system.

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

Then, install some necessary packages. Most likely they are already there, but better to be certain.

sudo apt install curl apt-transport-https

Add the GPG key from the PostgreSQL repository:

curl -fsSL https://www.postgresql.org/media/keys/ACCC4CF8.asc | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/postgresql-keyring.gpg

Next, add the PostgreSQL repository to the system:

echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/postgresql-keyring.gpg] http://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt/ bullseye-pgdg main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/postgresql.list

After this, refresh APT

sudo apt update

Finally, install PostgreSQL

sudo apt install postgresql-15

By default, it will be started and enabled to start with the system. You can verify this by running.

systemctl status postgresql

Sample output

Configuring PostgreSQL on Debian 11

There is not too much to configure to get it set up. The first thing is that PostgreSQL listens by default on 127.0.0.1 so if you use it on a server or virtual machine you have to change this.

Open the configuration file:

sudo nano /etc/postgresql/15/main/postgresql.conf

Search for listen_addresses and add the IP address of the machine or use the wildcard *.

listen_addresses = '192.168.1.55'.

Save the changes and close the editor.

Restart it to apply the changes

sudo systemctl restart postgresql

Now you can access the PostgreSQL console

sudo -u postgres psql

The previous command, what it does is that from the user postgres it executes psql.

Once inside the console, you can use

psql
psql (15.2 (Debian 15.2-1.pgdg110+1))
Type "help" for help.

Conclusion

PostgreSQL is a jewel of open source and the father of many great projects, and it is always good to have it at hand.