These instructions are an update of this post: http://imperialwicket.com/aws-install-postgresql-90-on-amazon-linux/

Create and configure the AWS Services Snapshot utility EC2 instance

The high level steps are:

Launch an EC2 instance
Launch an EBS volume and mount it for our database cluster
Add the pgrpms repository and disable PostgreSQL in the Amazon repositories
Install and configure PostgreSQL access, ports, and listeners
Start the PostgreSQL server
Create Users for external access

Note: These instructions

Use the nano editor
Assume familiarity with the AWS EC2 console and Linux
Assume a VPC EC2 install
Assume the existing ability to connect to an EC2 instance

Create an AWS EC2 Linux instance

Open the AWS EC2 console
Select "Launch Instance" and select the current Amazon Linux AMI, which will be at the top of the list
Select the instance size

Note: The AWS snapshot utility was developed using a t2.small instance; you may require a larger instance size for production use create new EC2 instance using latest AWS Linux AMI

Configure the instance details

Note: The subnet and role must include all required network access and permissions for the EC2 instance

Storage:

Root: SSD general purpose storage
Add a second disk volume: 10GB SSD general purpose
Note: For scheduled use in a production environment, you may require more storage on the second disk volume

Security Group:

If required, create "postgresql" security group allowing port 5432 and add it to the EC2 instance

Connect to your EC2 instance, and execute the following commands

Note: “/dev/sdb” must match the assigned device, and the volume will be mounted at “/pgdata”

sudo su -
yes | mkfs -t ext3 /dev/sdb
mkdir /pgdata
mount /dev/sdb /pgdata
exit
exit

Open a new SSH session on the instance

Set the volume to auto-mount on EC2 instance reboot:

Note: Tthis section uses AWS docs here: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/ebs-using-volumes.html

Get the file system type of the mounted device:

mount

Display the available devices:

df

Get the UUID of the device:

ls -al /dev/disk/by-uuid/

Backup the fstab file:

sudo cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab.orig

Edit the fstab file:

sudo nano /etc/fstab

Sample fstab entry:

UUID=de9a1ccd-a2dd-44f1-8be8-0123456abcdef       /pgdata   ext3    defaults,nofail        0       2

Test the mounts:

sudo mount -a

Update the yum repositories

We want to install the latest stable postgresql from pgrpms.org. We could just download the rpm and manually install from the file, but that inevitably results in some dependency issues. I prefer to configure an alternate yum repository for a particular keyword. So we need to update the configuration for the Amazon repositories

Note: Be sure to update both “main” and “updates” sections and do not forget the asterisk

nano /etc/yum.repos.d/amzn-main.repo

At the bottom of the [amzn-main] section, after enabled=1, add exclude=postgresql*

nano /etc/yum.repos.d/amzn-updates.repo

At the bottom of the [amzn-updates] section, after enabled=1, add exclude=postgresql*

Download the postgresql 9.6 repo:

rpm -ivh https://download.postgresql.org/pub/repos/yum/9.6/redhat/rhel-6-x86_64/pgdg-ami201503-96-9.6-2.noarch.rpm

Update the repo manager with the new repo:

yum update

Install and configure PostgreSQL 9.6 on AWS Linux

After updating the yum repository configurations, “yum install postgresql96” should provide us with the latest postgresql packages from pgrmps.org. Notice that a few dependencies will come from the amazon repositories, but most of the pertinent postgresql* packages are coming from pgrpms. It is extremely likely that you do not need all of these packages. Limit the installation however you feel is appropriate.

Typical install:

yum install postgresql96 postgresql96-contrib postgresql96-devel postgresql96-server

Now we need to initialize the database cluster, edit the configuration and start the server. First remove the /pgdata/lost+found directory. PostgreSQL’s initdb will fail to initialize a database cluster in /pgdata/ when there are files/directories present. Then we will change ownership of the /pgdata directory to the postgres user and group, and change to the postgres user. As the postgres user, we can configure and launch the server.

Be careful with this
Remove the lost+found to enable install:

sudo rm -rf /pgdata/lost+found

Change the user:group ownership for the postgresql data directory:

sudo chown -R postgres:postgres /pgdata

Change to root Linux user:

sudo su -

Change to postgres Linux user:

su postgres -

Initialize the database:

/usr/pgsql-9.6/bin/initdb -D /pgdata

The following commands require the postgres Linux user
To change to the postgres Linux user:

sudo su - postgres

Note: For the postgres Linux user, the console prompt should be: -bash-4.2$

Edit the postgresql.conf file (be sure you are still using the postgres user):

nano /pgdata/postgresql.conf

Update the lines:

#listen_addresses = 'localhost' ...
#port = 5432 ...

To read:

listen_addresses = '*' ...
port = 5432

Edit the pg_hba.conf file (be sure you are still using the postgres user):

nano /pgdata/pg_hba.conf

Update the bottom of the file to read:

    # TYPE  DATABASE        USER            CIDR-ADDRESS            METHOD
    # "local" is for Unix domain socket connections only
    local   all             postgres                                trust
    local   all             ec2-user                                trust
    # IPv4 local connections:
    host    all             dbadmin         0.0.0.0/0               md5  
    host    all             ec2-user        0.0.0.0/0               md5
    # IPv6 local connections:
    host    all             all             ::1/128                 md5

Note: for PostgreSQL clients such as Navicat, set the role password as "encrypted" in the client for any PostreSQL USER with a METHOD set to md5 in the pg_hba.conf file

Start the server:

/usr/pgsql-9.6/bin/pg_ctl -D /pgdata -l logfile start

Create users for external access

Create the dbadmin as a superuser:

/usr/pgsql-9.6/bin/createuser dbadmin
Shall the new role be a superuser? (y/n) y

Alternatively, use psql to create the role dbadmin:

/usr/pgsql-9.6/bin/psql -p 5432

CREATE ROLE dbadmin WITH SUPERUSER LOGIN;  
ALTER USER dbadmin WITH PASSWORD 'aVerySecurePassword';

Create the ec2-user as a superuser:

/usr/pgsql-9.6/bin/createuser ec2-user
Shall the new role be a superuser? (y/n) n
Shall the new role be allowed to create databases? (y/n) n
Shall the new role be allowed to create more new roles? (y/n) n

Alternatively, use psql to create the role ec2-user:

/usr/pgsql-9.6/bin/psql -p 5432

CREATE ROLE ec2-user WITH SUPERUSER LOGIN;
ALTER USER ec2-user WITH PASSWORD 'aVerySecurePassword';

Connect to the database as postgres, and set the new user passwords (Be sure you are still logged in as postgres)

/usr/pgsql-9.6/bin/psql -p 5432

postgres=# ALTER USER dbadmin WITH PASSWORD 'aVerySecurePassword';
postgres=# ALTER USER ec2-user WITH PASSWORD 'aVerySecurePassword';

Create the snapshot database:

postgres=# CREATE DATABASE aws_snapshot WITH OWNER ec2-user;

Create a password for the postgres user:

ALTER USER postgres WITH PASSWORD 'aVerySecurePassword';

Exit psql:

\q

or

\quit

Create a .pgpass file for user ec2-user to enable auto-login for the default AWS EC2 Linux user:

Change to the postgres Linux user:

sudo su - postgres

Create a .pgpass file:

nano /home/ec2-user/.pgpass

Enter this text:

    # file to provide logon info to postgreSQL
    # format:
    # hostname:port:database:username:password
    #
    localhost:5432:aws_snapshot:ec2-user:aVerySecurePassword

Set permissions on the .pgpass file:

chmod 600 /home/ec2-user/.pgpass

Set the database to start on instance reboot:

sudo chkconfig postgresql-9.6 on

Confirm database is set to start on reboot:

chkconfig --list postgresql-9.6

If that does not work (it did not work for me), use this to start postgresql on boot:

Create shell script to start postgresql:

Change to postgres Linux user:

sudo su - postgres

Create the bash shell script file:

sudo nano /etc/init.d/start-postgresql.sh

Enter this text:

    #! /bin/bash
    #
    # starts postgresql using non-default data directory
    #
    sudo su -c "/usr/pgsql-9.6/bin/pg_ctl start -D /pgdata" postgres > 'start-postgresql.log'

Set the shell script to execute:

sudo chmod +x /etc/init.d/start-postgresql.sh

Set the script to run on boot:

sudo crontab -e

Add this line:

@reboot /etc/init.d/start-postgresql.sh

Save and exit the file:

[esc]:wq

Create and populate the AWS services and AWS CLI commands tables

Using a PostgreSQL client such as Navicat, connect to the database as PostgreSQL role ec2-user

Execute the SQL script: setup-aws-snapshot-db.sql

Copy the contents of the Excel workbook driver_aws_cli_commands-X-X-X.xlsx tab aws_cli_commands into the empty postgresql table aws_snapshot.aws_sps__commands._driver_aws_cli_commands and commit the transactions

Copy the contents of the Excel workbook driver_aws_cli_commands-X-X-X.xlsx tab aws_cli_commands_recursive into the empty postgresql table aws_snapshot.aws_sps__commands._driver_aws_cli_commands_recursive and commit the transactions

Copy the contents of the Excel workbook driver_aws_cli_commands-X-X-X.xlsx tab aws_services into the empty postgresql table aws_snapshot.aws_sps__commands._driver_aws_services and commit the transactions

Create AWS CLI profile(s)

Create AWS CLI profiles with required AWS IAM permissions for each AWS account that you want to snapshot

Create AWS IAM user IDs in each AWS account you wish to snapshot
Attach the required IAM policies to the IAM user

Sample IAM policy JSON for "sts:GetCallerIdentity"

     {
       "Version": "2012-10-17",
       "Statement": 
           {
           "Effect": "Allow",
           "Action": "sts:GetCallerIdentity",
           "Resource": "*"
           }
       }

Sample IAM policy JSON for "iam:ListAccountAliases"

       {
       "Version": "2012-10-17",
       "Statement": 
           {
           "Effect": "Allow",
           "Action": "iam:ListAccountAliases",
           "Resource": "*"
           }
       }

Open an SSH session on the EC2 instance
Execute this command: aws configure --profile profileName

Example: aws configure --profile MyProfileName

Enter the keys for the AWS account userID for the profile
If desired, enter a default region, e.g. us-west-1

Copy the AWS Services Snapshot utility to the EC2 instance

Using an FTP client, copy the AWS Services Snapshot utility file to the AWS EC2 instance
File: aws-services-snapshot.sh

Alternatively, create the file on the instance using nano:

Open the AWS Services Snapshot utility
select all
Open an SSH session on the EC2 instance as ec2-user
Execute this command: nano aws-services-snapshot.sh
paste
CTRL O
CTRL X

Setup is now complete

Running the utility

Open an SSH session on the EC2 instance as ec2-user
Execute this command: bash ./aws-services-snapshot.sh -r myRegion -p myAwsCliProfile

Utility output

The utility creates a unique directory on the EC2 instance and a unique schema on the PostgreSQL database for each run.

The unique EC2 directory contains:

Summary report
Error report (if any)
Log (if set with -g parameter)
subdirectory snapshot-files containing the JSON results files for each AWS CLI command executed

The unique PostreSQL schema contains:

AWS services and AWS CLI commands tables used in that run
JSON results tables for each AWS CLI command executed

Selecting which AWS services and AWS CLI commands to snapshot

To select which AWS services and AWS CLI commands to snapshot, edit the Excel workbook driver_aws_cli_commands-X-X-X.xlsx and copy the contents of the tabs into the database tables in schema: aws_sps__commands

Misc:

To restart the DB:

sudo su - postgres
/usr/pgsql-9.6/bin/pg_ctl restart -D /pgdata

To reload the hba.conf configuration:

sudo su - postgres
/usr/pgsql-9.6/bin/pg_ctl reload -D /pgdata

To start psql:

sudo -u postgres psql

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postgresql-install.md

postgresql-install.md

Create and configure the AWS Services Snapshot utility EC2 instance

Create an AWS EC2 Linux instance

Update the yum repositories

Install and configure PostgreSQL 9.6 on AWS Linux

Create users for external access

Create and populate the AWS services and AWS CLI commands tables

Create AWS CLI profile(s)

Copy the AWS Services Snapshot utility to the EC2 instance

Setup is now complete

Running the utility

Utility output

Selecting which AWS services and AWS CLI commands to snapshot

Misc:

Files

postgresql-install.md

Latest commit

History

postgresql-install.md

File metadata and controls

Create and configure the AWS Services Snapshot utility EC2 instance

Create an AWS EC2 Linux instance

Update the yum repositories

Install and configure PostgreSQL 9.6 on AWS Linux

Create users for external access

Create and populate the AWS services and AWS CLI commands tables

Create AWS CLI profile(s)

Copy the AWS Services Snapshot utility to the EC2 instance

Setup is now complete

Running the utility

Utility output

Selecting which AWS services and AWS CLI commands to snapshot

Misc: