Editing PostgreSQL Cookbook (section)

== Starting and stopping the server ==

=== Starting the server ===

<pre>
$ pg_ctl -l $PGDATA/server.log start
</pre>

This assumes that `PGDATA` has been defined in the shell profile, e.g.

<pre>
export PGDATA=`/usr/local/var/postgres`
</pre>

=== Stopping the server ===

<pre>
$ pg_ctl stop -m fast
</pre>

=== Restarting the server ===

* Run '''pgAdmin 4'''. 
* Connect to the local server.
* '''Tools''' > '''Server Configuration''' > '''pg_hba.conf''' or '''postgresql.conf''' > '''File''' > '''Reload Server'''

==== Restarting manually ====

<pre>
$ pg_ctl reload
</pre>

<div class="alert alert-warning">I am including the information below because it's the most commonly documented method. It did not work reliably on Windows, however. It seems like not every process would be killed, and that some of them would still be attached to port 5432. The service could not be restarted after the server was stopped.</div>

The PostgreSQL service name includes the version number. 

With powershell run with Administrator privileges, navigate to the `bin\` directory in the PostgreSQL installation directory.

<syntaxhighlight lang="powershell">
> .\wp_ctl.exe restart -w -D "c:\ProgramData\PostgreSQL\9.4\data\"
</syntaxhighlight>

* `-w` Wait for the server to stop and start.
* `-D` Path to data directory. The version number may be different depending on the installation.<ref>[http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.4/static/app-pg-ctl.html pg_ctl] (PostgreSQL documentation)</ref>

This appears to stop the PostgreSQL service & requires the service to be manually restarted.

* '''Start Menu''' > '''Services''' ''(command line: `services.msc`)''
* Check the status of the postgresql service. (Its name will end with the version number.)