Postgresql – What am I doing wrong with pg_hba.conf

If you have to connect via TCP/IP using IPv4, i.e., the most common situation, you should check what is your IP address. Ince you have it, add this line to pg_hba.conf file on the server. This line should be added after all lines that start with local and before other lines that start with host:

host databasename username ipaddress/32 md5

if youo don't know your ip address, or if it is variable (for a dialup line), then use 0.0.0.0/0 instead of ipaddress/32. This way you will allow connection from any IP address.

But, if your provider is responsible for postgresql, then he should make thee changes. Are you sure you need to configure that file on the server?

If you are only responsible for your client machine, and you want to connect via pgAdminIII, then just use the hostname portnumber username and password provided by your provider. If you cannot connect using these settings, please come back here and write what is the exact error you get from pgAdminIII.

I can see how one might think listen_addresses = 'localhost' is somehow related to the authentication method local. But it is not. I quote the manual on listen_addresses:

listen_addresses (string)

Specifies the TCP/IP address(es) on which the server is to listen for connections from client applications.

And the chapter The pg_hba.conf File in the manual:

local

This record matches connection attempts using Unix-domain sockets. Without a record of this type, Unix-domain socket connections are disallowed.

Bold emphasis mine.

For connections via localhost (TCP/IP, local loopback) you actually need an entry for the authentication method host in your pg_hba.conf file (not for local).