I need to install postgres and create a new db.And then load a dump file.

How do I go about doing this

You can do all of this at the command-line.

Firstly, install postgres and start the postmaster service.
Secondly, add a new user. Normally, you will need to be the postgres user to do this; the best command I've found to work portably is:
(This is because, in some setups, you can only log in if your UNIX name matches your postgresql user name).
You will be prompted if your user should be allowed to create databases; say yes. (You can create users as well if you like).

Next, create the database:
Then, load the dump file:
See www.postgresql.org/docs/ for more information.

How do I get the postmaster service running.

I am new at this

This depends on your distribution. In general, you just have to install the RPM or DEB package (or run something like “apt-get postgres”) and Postgresql will be installed.

See your distribution's configuration tool (eg. yast for SuSE).

To start the service, you may find the config tool also provides an interface to this (and automating the start-up so it comes up again after rebooting). But to start it by hand you can just do

Below is the error I get when trying to get a connection to my DB from another pc.

GlobalDBBind.getConnection() - A connection error has occurred FATAL no pg_hba.conf entry for host " ffff 192.168.0.199", user "postgres", database "hgoltp2d"

What does this mean, and what do I need to fix it??

This means that you don't have access permissions from a remote machine.

The access permissions are stored in the file pg_hba.conf. You need to edit this file, add an appropriate entry for a network connection, and then run .

Details at http://www.postgresql.org/docs/7.4/i...TH-PG-HBA-CONF

i have the rpm for postgresql installed, but when i do the it says that the pg_ctl command wasnt found..
any ideas?

Either:

1) You haven't installed postgresql-server

or

2) pg_ctl isn't on your path. Run to find the file, then run the command including the full path. For example:

I didn't have the server installed.. you were right.