Fix “Peer Authentication Failed” Error in Second Odoo Instance

When encountering a “Peer authentication failed for user” error while trying to run a second Odoo instance on Ubuntu, it typically indicates an authentication issue between PostgreSQL and the Odoo application. This error commonly arises due to PostgreSQL’s default authentication method not matching the authentication method expected by Odoo. Here’s how you can resolve this issue:

Understanding the Error

PostgreSQL uses various authentication methods, such as peer, md5, password, etc. The default method peer relies on the operating system user credentials, whereas Odoo typically expects a password or md5 authentication method.

Steps to Resolve “Peer authentication failed” Error

Follow these steps to configure PostgreSQL to authenticate properly with your second Odoo instance:

1. Configure PostgreSQL Authentication Method

1. Edit PostgreSQL Configuration:

• Open the PostgreSQL configuration file for editing. It’s usually located at /etc/postgresql/<version>/main/pg_hba.conf.

2. Adjust Authentication Method:

• Find the lines that define local connections. They typically look like this:
  # "local" is for Unix domain socket connections only local all all peer
• Change peer to md5 or password for the database and user Odoo will connect with. This change ensures PostgreSQL uses a password-based authentication method.
• Example:
  # "local" is for Unix domain socket connections only local all all md5
  Here, md5 indicates PostgreSQL should expect a password to authenticate local connections.

3. Reload PostgreSQL:

• After making changes, restart PostgreSQL to apply the new configuration:
  bash sudo systemctl restart postgresql

2. Configure Odoo to Use Password Authentication

Odoo needs to be configured to authenticate with PostgreSQL using passwords rather than relying on the operating system user credentials (peer authentication).

1. Update Odoo Configuration:

• Open the Odoo configuration file (odoo.conf) for your second instance.
• Ensure the db_user and db_password parameters are correctly set with the PostgreSQL username and password for the second Odoo instance. Example configuration in odoo.conf:

   [options]
   db_host = localhost
   db_port = 5432
   db_user = odoo_user
   db_password = your_password

2. Restart Odoo:

• Restart your second Odoo instance to apply the new configuration:
  bash sudo systemctl restart odoo-instance2

3. Test Connection

After making these changes, verify if the second Odoo instance can now connect to PostgreSQL without encountering the authentication error.

1. Check Odoo Logs:

• Check the logs of your second Odoo instance (/var/log/odoo/odoo-instance2.log) for any PostgreSQL-related errors.

2. Connectivity Test:

• Attempt to access the Odoo web interface of the second instance. If the page loads without errors, it indicates successful connection to the database.

Additional Considerations

• Security: Ensure that you use strong passwords and follow best practices for securing PostgreSQL and Odoo instances.
• Backup: Before making significant changes to configuration files, always back up your data to prevent accidental data loss or corruption.

By configuring PostgreSQL to use a password-based authentication method (md5) and ensuring Odoo’s configuration matches this setup, you should be able to resolve the “Peer authentication failed for user” error and successfully run multiple Odoo instances on your Ubuntu server.

Conclusion

Resolving the “Peer authentication failed for user” error, you can follow the troubleshooting steps to configure the PostgreSQL Authentication Method and use of the password-based authentication method and verify the odoo configurations with this setup. After following all of these steps, you can resolve the Peer authentication failed for user” error and successfully run multiple Odoo instances on your Ubuntu server, which is part of the best Odoo server solutions.