Cannot connect to remote PostgreSQL server via PHP

Question

Connecting to a PostgreSQL database via a remote IP address, I have been successful via Windows using pgAdmin III, but I get errors whenever I try connecting from my local CentOS 6 Apache web server using the standard php-pgsql library using pg_connect().

Notes:

1. I am not in control of the remote server, but could inquire about additional info if needed.
2. My password does contain a special character (although it's not a quote character).

Creds are as follows:

Host (IP): xx.xx.xx.xx
Port: 5432
DBname: sandbox
Username: abc
Password: ***
MaintenanceDB: template1

This is the PHP code I have attempted to run in my local server:

pg_connect("host=xx.xx.xx.xx port=5432 dbname=sandbox user=abc password=***");

I've also tried:

pg_connect("host=xx.xx.xx.xx port=5432 dbname=template1 user=abc password=***");

When I attempt to connect, I receive the following error:

Warning: pg_connect(): Unable to connect to PostgreSQL server: could not connect to server: Permission denied Is the server running on host "xx.xx.xx.xx" and accepting TCP/IP connections on port 5432?

I have added/uncommented extension=pgsql.so in the /etc/php.d/ directory and service httpd restart. I've even gone as far as opening my iptables ports as such so there should be no doubt about local firewall ports being blocked:

-A INPUT -m state --state NEW -m tcp -p tcp --dport 5432 -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -m state --state NEW -m udp -p udp --dport 5432 -j ACCEPT

Thanks in advance :-)

Answer 1

As per your postgresql connection problem, this solution may work. i just take this answer from php manual and i am not sure about it, so please see here for more http://php.net/manual/en/function.pg-connect.php#38291

You should try to leave the host= and port= parts out of the connection string. This sounds strange, but this is an "option" of Postgre. If you have not activated the TCP/IP port in postgresql.conf then postgresql doesn't accept any incoming requests from an TCP/IP port.