https://www.postgresscripts.com/tags/pg_ident_file_mappings/Recent content in Pg_ident_file_mappings on Postgres ScriptsHugo -- gohugo.ioenPostgresScripts.comTue, 03 Nov 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://www.postgresscripts.com/post/check-pg-ident-conf-user-maps-with-pg-ident-file-mappings/Tue, 03 Nov 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://www.postgresscripts.com/post/check-pg-ident-conf-user-maps-with-pg-ident-file-mappings/ <h2 id="check-pg_identconf-user-maps-with-pg_ident_file_mappings">Check pg_ident.conf User Maps with pg_ident_file_mappings</h2> <p>A deploy ships a new pg_ident.conf. The next morning, every peer login from the application host fails with <code>no match in usermap</code>. The server is up, pg_hba.conf looks right, and the map file is the suspect. The <a href="https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/view-pg-ident-file-mappings.html"><code>pg_ident_file_mappings</code></a> view lists the map lines in that file, one row per line, and its <code>error</code> column says what is wrong with each bad line.</p> <script async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1012089347386563" crossorigin="anonymous"></script> <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-1012089347386563" data-ad-slot="7945792173" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script> <h2 id="purpose-and-overview">Purpose and Overview</h2> <p>pg_ident.conf maps an external user name, such as an operating system login, to a PostgreSQL role. A map has no effect until a pg_hba.conf line names it <a href="https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/auth-username-maps.html">with <code>map=map-name</code> in the options field</a>. That option works for every authentication method that receives an external user name: <a href="https://thebuild.com/blog/all-your-gucs-in-a-row-identfile/">ident, peer, gssapi, sspi, cert, and from PostgreSQL 18, oauth</a>. By default the file is named pg_ident.conf and sits with postgresql.conf in <a href="https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/runtime-config-file-locations.html">the directory that <code>-D</code> or <code>PGDATA</code> points to</a>. In a default installation that is the data directory. When <code>data_directory</code> is set to move the data somewhere else, the configuration files stay where <code>-D</code> points.</p>