Using psql to connect to postgresql in ssl mode

Question

I am trying to configure ssl certificate for postgreSQL server. I have created a certificate file (server.crt) and key (server.key) in data directory and update the parameter SSL to "on" to enable secure connection.

I just want only the server to be authenticated with server certificates on the client side and dont require the authenticity of client at server side. I am using psql as a client to connect and execute the commands.

I am using PostgreSQL 8.4 and linux. I tried with the below command to connect to server with ssl enabled

       psql "postgresql://localhost:2345/postgres?sslmode=require"

but I am getting

       psql: invalid connection option "postgresql://localhost:2345/postgres?sslmode"

What am doing wrong here? Is the way I am trying to connect to server with ssl mode enabled is correct? Is it fine to authenticate only server and not the client ?

Please help me out.

Answer 1

psql below 9.2 does not accept this URL-like syntax for options.

The use of SSL can be driven by the sslmode=value option on the command line or the PGSSLMODE environment variable, but the default being prefer, SSL connections will be tried first automatically without specifying anything.

Example with a conninfo string (updated for psql 8.4)

psql "sslmode=require host=localhost dbname=test"

Read the manual page for more options.

Answer 2

psql -h <host> -p <port> -U <user> -d <db>

and update /var/lib/pgsql/10/data/pg_hba.conf to change the auth method to cert. Check the following link for more information:

https://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.1/auth-pg-hba-conf.html

Answer 3

psql --set=sslmode=require -h localhost -p 2345 -U thirunas \
-d postgres -f test_schema.ddl

Answer 4

psql "sslmode=require host=localhost port=2345 dbname=postgres" --username=some_user

According to the postgres psql documentation, only the connection parameters should go in the conninfo string(that's why in our example, --username is not inside that string)