Setting up a direct connection to PostgreSQL

No additional configuration is necessary to make a direct connection to a geodatabase in PostgreSQL if you are connecting from ArcGIS Desktop, ArcGIS Engine, or ArcGIS Server. However, if you want to create a custom client using the ArcSDE C or Java API, from which you want to make a direct connection to a geodatabase in PostgreSQL, you must install the PostgreSQL client files on the client computer.

Steps:

1. Install or copy the PostgreSQL client files to the bin directory of your custom application.
   • If your custom application is installed on a Red Hat Linux server, you can run the library RPM provided on the ArcSDE installation media to install the PostgreSQL libraries—postgresql-lilbs-8.3.8-1PGDG.rhel15.rpm—to install the libraries into the bin directory of your custom application.
   • If your custom application is installed on Windows, you can copy the following libraries from the PostgreSQL lib directory and paste them in your applications bin directory.
     • comerr32.dll
     • gssapi32.dll
     • k5sprt32.dll
     • krb5_32.dll
     • libeay32.dll
     • libiconv2.dll
     • libintl3.dll
     • libpq.dll
     • ssleay32.dll
2. Alter the PostgreSQL pg_hba.conf file on the database server to accept client connections. See Configuring a PostgreSQL database cluster on Linux to accept client connections, Configuring a PostgreSQL database cluster on Windows to accept client connections, or the PostgreSQL documentation for information on altering the pg_hba.conf file.
3. By default, Public has CONNECT permissions to the PostgreSQL instance; therefore, you only need to grant CONNECT to individual users if you revoked the CONNECT privilege from Public.