🔌Add a PostgreSQL connection

How to configure a postgreSQL connection in Toucan.

Connector Features

You can use the Toucan PostgreSQL connector to connect to a PostgreSQL cluster with a basic authentication and access tables or views with a SQL query or by using our no-code form .

With a PostgreSQL connection, you can fetch data from your PostgreSQL database to fill your charts and dashboards.

Changelog December 23 - this connector is NativeSQL compatible

April 24 - This connector supports materialized views November 2024 - This connector supports hybrid pipelines

July 25 - This data connector is supported for connection and NativeSQL by our new Data Execution system

Configuring a PostgreSQL connection

Follow the steps described in Add a connector, choose PostgreSQL and fill in the connection information

Field
Format / Type
Description
Example

Name (mandatory)

String

Use it to identify your connection

MyPostGreSQLConnection

Host (mandatory)

String

The domain name or IP address of your database server

"db.example.com" or "192.168.1.100"

Port (mandatory)

Integer

The listening port of your database server

3306

User (mandatory)

String

Your login username

myuser

Password (mandatory)

String

Your login password

secretpassword123

Default database (optional)

String

The default database to connect to

postgres

Charset (optional)

String

Character encoding for the connection

"utf8mb4" (default)

Connect Timeout (optional)

Integer

Connection timeout in seconds

30

Retry Policy (optional)

Boolean

Boolean allows to configure a retry policy if the connection is flaky.

  • max attempts: maximum number of retries before giving up

  • max_delay: in seconds, above the connection is dropped

  • wait_time: time in seconds between each retry

Slow Queries' Cache Expiration Time (optional)

Integer

Slow queries' cache expiration time in seconds

Include materialized views

Boolean

Show or hide materialized views when you are connected to your Postgres cluster

N/A

  • Click on the TEST CONNECTION button then SAVE the connection

Create a dataset from a PostgreSQL connection

This data connector is supported in simple and code/SQL mode with:

To create a dataset from PostgreSQL, refer to this dedicated guide to:

  • Select a Database

  • Select a Schema

  • Select Table or Views

  • Keep the columns you need

How to troubleshoot a PostgreSQL connection

Generally ensure all mandatory fields (Name, Host, Port, User, Password) are filled.

Test connection modal

Use the Test connection modal to troubleshoot a misconfiguration

  • If the modal displays a title Cannot establish connection with a warning icon in front of a line, check this specific connection step

  • Inspect the modal error message for details—typically indicates network issues, authentication errors, or database unavailability.

Network access

If the modal displays a warning icon on Host resolved line and a displayed message:

failed to lookup address information: Name or service not known

[Errno -2] Name or service not known

  • Verify that the Host (IP or DNS) is reachable from Toucan IP and is not blocked by firewalls.

If the modal displays a warning icon on Port opened line and a displayed message:

warning icon on port opened Connection refused (os error 111)

  • Check that the Port (default is 5432) matches the PostgreSQL server’s configuration and is open.

If encountering SSL-related errors, check server SSL configuration

Authentication

If the modal displays a warning icon on Authenticated to PostgreSQL line and the message displayed is:

error returned from database: password authentication failed for user or

(psycopg.OperationalError) connection failed: connection to server at "{{your_server_ip}}", port 28561 failed: FATAL: password authentication failed for user "{{your_user}}" connection to server at "{{your_server_ip}}", port {{your_server_port}} failed: FATAL: password authentication failed for user "{{your_user}}"

  • Confirm User and Password are valid and have been granted connect permissions to the target database.

Other options

Default database

If the modal displays a warning icon on Authenticated to PostgreSQL line and the message displayed is:

error returned from database: database "{{default_database}}" does not exist or

(psycopg.OperationalError) connection failed: connection to server at "{{your_server_ip}}", port {{your_server_port}} failed: FATAL: database "{{database}}" does not exist

  • Check the default database exists or that your user has acceess to it.

Charset

  • If specified, make sure Charset is supported by the database instance.

Connect timeout

  • Adjust Connect Timeout if timeouts occur, especially in remote or slow network situations.

Advanced troubleshooting

  • Review logs on PostgreSQL server for more detailed error information.

  • For persistent issues, attempt to connect using CLI with the same parameters to isolate issues.

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