Prerequisites

  • An up-and-running PostgreSQL instance. Instructions for installing PostgreSQL and creating an initial database are outside the scope of this tutorial; our instructions assume that you have a PostgreSQL instance up and running. For help installing and getting started with PostgreSQL, refer to the Postgres documentation.

    Note: The database must be running version 9.3 or higher.

  • Database privileges that allow you to create users and grant privileges. This is required to create a database user for Stitch.

Step 1: Verify your Stitch account's data pipeline region

First, you’ll log into Stitch and verify the data pipeline region your account is using. Later in this guide, you’ll need to grant Stitch access by whitelisting our IP addresses.

The IP addresses you’ll whitelist depend on the Data pipeline region your account is in.

  1. Sign into your Stitch account, if you haven’t already.
  2. Click User menu (your icon) > Edit User Settings and locate the Data pipeline region section to verify your account’s region.

  3. Locate the list of IP addresses for your region:

Keep this list handy - you’ll need it later.

Step 2: Configure database connection settings

In this step, you’ll configure the database server to allow traffic from Stitch to access it. There are two ways to connect your database:

  • A direct connection will work if your database is publicly accessible.
  • An SSH tunnel is required if your database isn’t publicly accessible. This method uses a publicly accessible instance, or an SSH server, to act as an intermediary between Stitch and your database. The SSH server will forward traffic from Stitch through an encrypted tunnel to the private database.

Click the option you’re using below and follow the instructions.

I'm using a direct connection.

For the connection to be successful, you’ll need to configure your firewall to allow access from our IP addresses.

The IP addresses you’ll whitelist depend on the Data pipeline region your account is in.

  1. Sign into your Stitch account, if you haven’t already.
  2. Click User menu (your icon) > Edit User Settings and locate the Data pipeline region section to verify your account’s region.

  3. Locate the list of IP addresses for your region:

  4. Whitelist the appropriate IP addresses.

I'm using an SSH tunnel to connect.

  1. Follow the steps in the Setting up an SSH Tunnel for a database connection guide to set up an SSH tunnel for PostgreSQL.
  2. Complete the steps in this guide after the SSH setup is complete.

Step 3: Create a PostgreSQL Stitch user

In the following tabs are the instructions for creating a Stitch PostgreSQL database user and explanations for the permissions Stitch requires.

  1. If you haven’t already, connect to your PostgreSQL instance using your SQL client.

  2. After connecting, run this command to create a user named stitch. Replace <password> with a secure password:

    CREATE USER stitch WITH PASSWORD '<password>';

  3. Next, you’ll assign the CREATE permissions to the Stitch user. For <database_name>, enter the name of the database where all Stitch-replicated data should be loaded.

    Note: This must be a pre-existing database.

    GRANT CREATE ON DATABASE <database_name> TO stitch

  4. If you restricted access to the system tables, you’ll also need to run the following commands to grant the Stitch user SELECT permissions.

    GRANT SELECT ON ALL TABLES IN SCHEMA information_schema TO stitch

GRANT SELECT ON ALL TABLES IN SCHEMA pg_catalog TO stitch

In the table below are the database user privileges Stitch requires to connect to and load data into PostgreSQL.

Privilege name Reason for requirement
CREATE ON DATABASE

Required to create the necessary database objects to load and store your data.

CREATE permissions on the database are required to successfully load data. When Stitch loads data, it will run a CREATE SCHEMA IF NOT EXISTS command, which will create a schema if it doesn’t already exist. To run this command, the Stitch user must have the CREATE ON DATABASE permission.

Note: The CREATE ON SCHEMA permission is not a sufficient alternative for CREATE ON DATABASE. As outlined in PostgreSQL’s documentation, this permission only allows a user to create objects within a schema, but not the schema itself.
SELECT ON ALL TABLES IN information_schema

Required to select rows from tables in the information_schema schema. Prior to loading data, Stitch will use the data in this schema to verify the existence and structure of integration schemas and tables.

Note: Stitch will only ever read data from systems tables.
SELECT ON ALL TABLES IN pg_catalog

Required to select rows from tables in the pg_catalog schema. Prior to loading data, Stitch will use the data in this schema to verify the existence and structure of integration schemas and tables.

Note: Stitch will only ever read data from systems tables.

Step 4: Connect Stitch

To complete the setup, you need to enter your PostgreSQL connection details into the Destination Settings page in Stitch.

Step 4.1: Enter connection details into Stitch

  1. If you aren’t signed into your Stitch account, sign in now.

  2. Click the Destination tab.

  3. Locate and click the PostgreSQL icon.

  4. Fill in the fields as follows:

    • Display Name: Enter a display name for your destination, to distinguish various connections of the same type.

    • Description (optional): Enter a description for your destination.

    • Host (Endpoint): Enter the host address (endpoint) used by the PostgreSQL instance. For example: This could be a network address such as 192.68.0.1, or a server endpoint like dbname.hosting-provider.com.

    • Port: Enter the port used by the PostgreSQL instance. The default is 5432.

    • Username: Enter the Stitch PostgreSQL database user’s username.

    • Password: Enter the password for the Stitch PostgreSQL database user.

    • **: Enter the name of the PostgreSQL database you want to connect to Stitch.

Step 4.2: Define SSH connection details

If you’re using an SSH tunnel to connect your PostgreSQL database to Stitch, you’ll also need to define the SSH settings. Refer to the Setting up an SSH Tunnel for a database connection guide for assistance with completing these fields.

  1. Click the Encryption Type menu.

  2. Select SSH to display the SSH fields.

  3. Fill in the fields as follows:

    • Remote Address: Enter the public IP address or hostname of the server Stitch will SSH into.

    • SSH Port: Enter the SSH port on your server. (22 by default)

    • SSH User: Enter the Stitch Linux (SSH) user’s username.

Step 4.3: Define SSL connection details

  1. Check the Connect using SSL checkbox. Note: The database must support and allow SSL connections for this setting to work correctly.

  2. Fill in the fields as follows:

    • SSL Certificate: Optional: Provide the certificate (typically a CA or server certificate) Stitch should verify the SSL connection against. The connection will succeed only if the server’s certificate verifies against the certificate provided here.

      Note: Providing a certificate isn’t required to use SSL. This is only if Stitch should verify the connection against a specific certificate.

Step 4.4: Save the destination

When finished, click Check and Save.

Stitch will perform a connection test to the PostgreSQL database; if successful, a Success! message will display at the top of the screen. Note: This test may take a few minutes to complete.

Related Troubleshooting
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