4.4. Connections settings

The connection settings widget handles the configuration of database connections to be used by several features in pgModeler. All the connection attributes are based on the PostgreSQL client library parameters, thus you can get a detailed description of them in the official documentation.

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Connections
#	Field	Description
1	Connections	Lists all the configured connections. The New button, which starts a new connection, is not shown in the capture because it is hidden while a connection is being edited. The other buttons beside the list are described below.
2	Cancel editing	Cancel : cancels the editing of the selected connection.
3	Duplicate connection	Duplicate : creates a copy of the selected connection to be edited and added with another alias.
4	Edit connection	Edit : loads the selected connection in the fields below so it can be edited.
5	Delete connection	Delete : deletes the selected connection.
6	Test	Test : tests the connection with the configured parameters. On success, a message shows the details of the server: process ID (PID), protocol, version, and encoding. The button is enabled when the alias, host, user, and database are filled.
7	Add / Update	Add / Update : adds the new connection to the list or, while a connection is being edited, updates it with the values of the form (the button takes the place of Add during the edition). The changes are saved to connections.conf when Apply is pressed.

Basic parameters
#	Field	Description
8	Alias	Defines an alias for the connection. The alias identifies the connection in the combo boxes where connections are listed. It is required to test and save the connection.
9	Database	The initial database to connect to. This is the first database accessed before starting to manage the others. Generally, this is the postgres database. It is required to test and save the connection.
10	Auto browse	Automatically browses the named database when this connection is used to manage databases in the Manage view.
11	Host / Port	The network address of the server. It can be an IP address or an FQDN (fully qualified domain name). It is required to test and save the connection.
12	Port	The port number of the server. It is paired with the host field.
13	Username	The account used to access the initial database. It is recommended that this user has permissions to create databases and to read the system catalogs if you intend to use the export, import, and diff features. It is required to test and save the connection.
14	Password	The password of the user account. If the server allows authentication without a password, you can leave this field empty. The button at the end of the field shows the password in plain text and hides it again.
15	Timeout	Connection timeout, in seconds.
16	Set role	When successfully connecting to the database the current user will be switched to the one specified in this field via SET ROLE \[role_name].
17	Others	Additional connection parameters, in the form parameter=value, separated by blank spaces. They are the connection parameters described in the libpq chapter of the PostgreSQL documentation.
18	Diff (default for)	Uses this connection by default in the Diff view. The check boxes Diff, Export, Import, and Validation define the default connection of each operation.
19	Export (default for)	Uses this connection by default in the Export view.
20	Import (default for)	Uses this connection by default in the Import view.
21	Validation (default for)	Uses this connection by default in the validation of the model.

Security parameters
#	Field	Description
22	SSL mode	Defines how SSL is used in the connection: Disable, Allow, Require, CA verification, or full verification (the application shows the CA option as 'AC verification'). The fields Client certificate, Client key, Root certificate, and Revoked certs are enabled when the mode is not Disable.
23	Client certificate	Path of the client SSL certificate file (sslcert connection parameter).
24	Client key	Path of the secret key file used by the client certificate (sslkey connection parameter).
25	Root certificate	Path of the file with the SSL certificate authority (CA) certificates used to verify the server (sslrootcert connection parameter).
26	Revoked certs	Path of the SSL certificate revocation list (CRL) file (sslcrl connection parameter).
27	Kerberos server	Defines the server address for Kerberos-based authentication. draft
28	Force GSSAPI	This option has effect only when Kerberos authentication is used. It forces the connection to authenticate the credentials with the GSSAPI library (gsslib=gssapi connection parameter).

warning

WARNING: Connections' passwords are stored in plain text format in the settings. To avoid security issues, either prefer using SSL certificates in connections or make sure to protect the access to the directory where pgModeler settings are saved in the local user's storage (OS-dependent) from users other than the one running the tool. There are plans to encrypt stored passwords in future releases.

References

Connection parameters
https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/libpq-connect.html#LIBPQ-PARAMKEYWORDS

SSL support

https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/libpq-ssl.html