How to set password for PostgreSQL 14.5 on Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS?

Question

I follow a tutorial at https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-install-postgresql-on-ubuntu-22-04-quickstart . I buy a Virtual Private Server (VPC) what use Ubuntu 22.04 LTS , 4 GB RAM, 100 GB SSD disk, 2 cores. My commands:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install postgresql postgresql-contrib
sudo -i -u postgres
psql

In this case, How to set password postgres for user postgres on PostgreSQL 14.5 on Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS?

Answer 1

Try to use \password <username> when You are logged to DB, after that You will be asked to enter password twice

Answer 2

In general, you can use the ALTER ROLE command to set the password.

 ALTER ROLE postgres WITH PASSWORD 'postgres';

^{Reference: ALTER ROLE (PostgreSQL | Docs)}

But setting a password on the postgres user seems counter-productive. If you're connecting locally you have identity authentication, so a password is not needed. If you're connecting over a network the postgres account is a prime target for password guessing attacks, so it's better to create an alternative database superuser account and use that.

 CREATE ROLE mydbadmin WITH SUPERUSER PASSWORD 'correct_horse_battery_staple';

^{Reference: CREATE ROLE (PostgreSQL | Docs)}