Ubuntu – Ident authentication failed for user on Ubuntu (Postgres)

postgresqlSecurityUbuntu

I installed Postgres on Ubuntu.

Via pgAdmin i can connect Postgres with a user i created BUT when i try other application that use the same user name and password I get : Ident authentication failed for user.

Why via pgAdmin i can connect and via a python client i get the above error message ?

Thanks!

Best Answer

ident works by checking which system user is trying to connect, and allows it to connect with that as its criteria. Network can be added as a criteria as well.

A few points to guide on troubleshooting the issue:

  • Are you 100% sure that the part that initiates the connection is running within the context of the user you want to authenticate as?
  • Is the python client providing the same username?
  • Is it running as a different user (through sudo, for example)?
  • Are you running pgAdmin and the python client on the same host, so we can rule out other differences as a factor?
  • Is the python client connecting to the same address as pgAdmin (External address vs. localhost address)?

Configuring Postgresql to use remote authentication based with md5/sha1 is probably the easiest way to reliably fix this. It will allow authentication by other users, if they know the password - but you should have control of who knows the password anyway.

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