[Tinyos-help] PostgreSQL install problem

[Giri Baleri]

Do you have administrative privileges when you try to install MoteView?
Otherwise, Postgres installation will fail since it won't have
permissions create "postgres" user account. Here's some useful feedback
from one of our users and how they were able to overcome this.
 
**************
The problem occurs during the installation of Postgres (which fails with
several error messages, and then rolls back). MoteView itself can be
installed without any problem, just doesn't work very well/at all
without the database. 

Here is what we have found out. 

1) Common Domain (users are all non-administrators by default) 
The problem with this system was simply that our IT group has disabled
the "Secondary Login" privilege, this was preventing the Postgres user,
once created, from logging on and starting the database. Enabling
"Secondary logins" and having an administrator available to do the
installation allowed for a complete install, and provided secondary
logins was left active, MoteView functions perfectly well. Our IT
department is not happy with the solution, as one might expect from such
a body! 


2)Extended Domain (main user has some administrator rights) 
There were two problems in this system. First, the "Secondary Logins"
issue described above. Fixing this however, did not result in the
Postgres installation completing. 

The second problem proves to be the presence of a user group "NT
Authenticated Users" as part of the Administrators group. I'm not clear
of the details, but by having this user group in the Admin. group,
either Postgres refuses to install, or fails install because the
Postgres user account that is created is going to get/gets administrator
privileges. This specific failure mode is not documented in the material
I have seen on troubleshooting, but I discovered it when running the
Postgres installation from the current release from the Postgres site.
This installer pops up a warning about this user group (NT Authenticated
Users) and then refuses to install. The problem happens silently with
your install package. 

The solution is to delete this User Group from the Administration group.
Installation progresses normally, and MoteView functions as expected.
Unfortunately, not having NT Authenticated Users as part of the Admin
group, at the moment, has unacceptable side effects on the our Extended
Domain users (they are deprived of admin rights), so it has to be added
back to the Admin group. When this is done, the Postgres database will
not mount, and MoteView can only connect to remote databases. 

I am still trying to get some of these issues sorted internally.
However, it is clear this is no fault of Crossbow - you are caught in
the "crossfire" between Postgres' pathologic aversion to administrator
rights, and the strict controls that our IT department have put on how
we gain and use admin rights. I'm not sure how far our guys will move -
I doubt there is a Postgres solution. 

At the moment, I can cope. The Common Domain installation is OK, and
this can server most of our corporate needs. My needs, and the needs of
the IT staff on our project (all of whom are Extended domain users) are
harder to service, but I can fiddle with the NT Authenticated User group
as a last resort. It's damned inconvenient, and sorting this out has
taken a lot of time, but we can at least move forward. 
**************
You might also want to search through the Postgres archives for similar
issues.
 
Good luck,
Giri

________________________________

From: tinyos-help-bounces at millennium.berkeley.edu
[mailto:tinyos-help-bounces at millennium.berkeley.edu] On Behalf Of
Patrick Brady
Sent: Friday, May 16, 2008 3:54 AM
To: tinyos-help
Subject: Re: [Tinyos-help] PostgreSQL install problem


hi,
i'm having a problem installing PostgreSQL 8.0.0-rc1 on XP. I'm using
the insallation disk that came with the X-Bow developer kit i'm using.
Everything goes fine(installing moteview etc.) untill the installation
of of PastgreSQL. The files seem to get copied and then i get the
following message:
Failed to create process for initdb: The service cannot be started
either because it is disabled or because it has no enabled devices
associated with it.
I've enabled all services that were disabled on my pc and tried
re-installing from scratch but still getting the same problem.
Has anyone had similar problems or know how to fix this???

Thanks,
Pat.

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