Blackmagic Forum

I would like to test collaboration options but I can neither install Postgres nor the project server.

This happens on a MBA M1 (16 Gig RAM, 8 Core, 512 GB SSD) when installing Resolve Studio.
Under custom installation options I cannot choose Postgres or project server.
The only options given are Resolve itself, Panel Setup, Raw Player and Audio Accelerator.

I have read that DaVinci Resolve 17 provides a separate installer for the project server but I cannot seem to find proof of this anywhere.

I would greatly appreciate any ideas on how to address this issue.

The Project Server has been separated and will get it's own installer, which isn't ready yet.

You may have to wait a bit.

I suspect this is part of the change to Collaboration, which will now be available even in the Free version once Resolve goes Gold.

Right now, if you want the Project Server and PostgreSQL install options, you'll need to use 17.1b7.

Note that to access the PostgreSQL install option on Mac, when you run the normal Resolve installer, and it gets to the Installation Type step, you'll need to select the Customize button in the lower left, to access the PostgreSQL Server checkbox.

The same will be true with the stand alone Project Server app when it becomes available.

You can download certified installers of PostgreSQL from the source directly:

https://www.enterprisedb.com/downloads/ ... -downloads

Make sure you download and install the 9.5.x release version. Plus you get the benefit of running latest release off the 9.5 branch, not the vulnerability filled 9.5.4 version that's been previously offered with Resolve.

I would not recommend doing that if you plan to use the Resolve Project Server app.

Mac versions of the Resolve installer starting with 16.1, install 9.5.19, for compatibility with Catalina and Big Sur. (assuming PostgreSQL was not already installed on the system)

The DaVinci Resolve Project Server is now on the support web site for download.

Peter Chamberlain wrote:The DaVinci Resolve Project Server is now on the support web site for download.

Shall we expect 17.1 Project Server for M1 Macs or it will be just the Intel version?

Dwaine Maggart wrote:Right now, if you want the Project Server and PostgreSQL install options, you'll need to use 17.1b7.

Note that to access the PostgreSQL install option on Mac, when you run the normal Resolve installer, and it gets to the Installation Type step, you'll need to select the Customize button in the lower left, to access the PostgreSQL Server checkbox.

The same will be true with the stand alone Project Server app when it becomes available.

Thanks a lot everyone for their suggestions. I followed these instructions and it seems to work now.
I can create and access postgresql databases and I do also see the project server app.

Dwaine Maggart wrote:Right now, if you want the Project Server and PostgreSQL install options, you'll need to use 17.1b7.

Note that to access the PostgreSQL install option on Mac, when you run the normal Resolve installer, and it gets to the Installation Type step, you'll need to select the Customize button in the lower left, to access the PostgreSQL Server checkbox.

The same will be true with the stand alone Project Server app when it becomes available.

I'm looking at the Customize window in the release version of Studio for MacOS Big Sur and I'm not seeing anything about Postgres as an available option.

Today I installed 17.1 as an upgrade and now the Postgres server does not appear to be running and the Database screen is telling me it can't connect to my sql projects.

What to do? Thanks for your help.

Ed Nixon wrote:What to do? Thanks for your help.

Just install the separate Project Server, no need for any Customisation when I did it.

Tom Early wrote:

Ed Nixon wrote:What to do? Thanks for your help.

Just install the separate Project Server, no need for any Customisation when I did it.

Thanks for this. I'm not interested in a multi-user or shared work environment and I don't understand what's different about doing a separate DB install. Is this the new way of distributing sql project storage?

Dwaine is saying, at least in the b7 version, there is/was an option to install Postgres. That's a solution I've seen and used previously, in earlier versions. I'd like to sort out my confusion about what's what and were it is before I make a bigger mess. If it weren't Big Sur and some of its magical disappearing tricks, I'd be more inclined to experiment. But I'm not there yet. Thanks again.

For Mac Resolve 17, the option to install PostgreSQL has been moved out of the Resolve installer, and is now in the new Project Server installer.

So the same deal. Run the 17/17.1 Project Server installer, and at the Installation Type step, select Customize, and that will expose the PostgreSQL Server checkbox. Once that box is checked, continue with the install. It will install both the Project Server app, and PostgreSQL. It will install PostgreSQL 9.5.19.

Note that if there is ANY version of PostgreSQL already on the system, the installer will NOT attempt to install PostgreSQL, and there is no feedback from the installer about that, one way or the other.

After the installer is finished, assuming there was no PostgreSQL already on the system, PostgreSQL should be running. You can verify that with the Mac Activity Monitor, with the View menu set to show ALL Processes. With the CPU tab selected, sort on the Process Name column and scroll to the P's. If PostgreSQL is running, there will be multiple postgres processes running.

You can also launch the Project Server app. It won't open unless PostgreSQL is running.

Edit: I'll amend my post to say that the PostgreSQL checkbox is checked automatically on the Mac Project Server installer. So if there is no PostgreSQL on the system when you first run the Project Server installer, it should automatically install PostgreSQL on Mac.

On Windows, the Project Server installer window will show a PostgreSQL 9.5.4 install checkbox if PostgreSQL is not already on the system, and the checkbox will be checked. If PostgreSQL is already installed on the system, the Windows installer will not show you the PostgreSQL install checkbox.

Since the Project Server won't work unless PostgreSQL is installed, we assume that if you are installing the Project Server, you'll want PostgreSQL installed as well, if it's not already.

Thanks, Dwaine. I inferred this might be the way to go and have attempted to install a 17.1 Project Server. However, it appears the installer found a PostgreSQL installation because, after a reboot, I still have no postgres process viewable through activity monitor and I don't have the Project Server finding anything to connect to.

However, none of the indications of there being a previous installation, e.g., there is no Postgres folder in the /Library hierarchy -- are visible to me. Even though I used it previously during the 17-beta process. It seems to have disappeared in the course of my upgrading to Big Sur during the BMD beta run. Whatever postgreSQL is installed appears to be broken.

What would you suggest I do at this point?

Thanks for your help.

Updating this post: There is some discussion of Big Sur changing data folder permissions in the /Library hierarchy. But I don't think that's the issue here. I looked around for a 'pgsql' folder, for example in /usr but found nothing. However there are a bunch of Qt related postgresql files hanging around. It would be useful to know what / where the Project Server gets its information about a previous PostgreSQL installation. But even better to know how to get the base process and infrastructure up and running again.

Ed Nixon wrote:However, it appears the installer found a PostgreSQL installation

Did you choose to customise and see that the Postgres box was unticked?

I installed Resolve 17 with a fresh install of Big Sur, but couldn't restore my Postgres databases (as detailed here viewtopic.php?f=21&t=136874&p=738269#p738269). I then installed 16.2.8 and the Postgres checkbox was unticked, so I ticked it and then reinstalled 17.1 and that fixed things.

After a fresh install of Big Sur for an unrelated problem I went straight to installing Project Server 17.1 with Resolve 17.1 and can restore and connect to Postgres databases just fine.

Ed Nixon wrote:I still have no postgres process viewable through activity monitor

Nor do I but I can load my Postgres database projects still. I suggest you just look for that checkbox in the Project Server installer and tick it if it's unticked.

Ed Nixon wrote:I still have no postgres process viewable through activity monitor

Nor do I but I can load my Postgres database projects still. I suggest you just look for that checkbox in the Project Server installer and tick it if it's unticked.[/quote]

As a matter of fact, I did check the Customize window on the way through (and again just now): what I saw was a greyed out entry indicating the Project Server would be installed. In addition, there was a PostgreSQL Upgrade entry that was also ticked.

As I have said, there has to be some evidence on my machine that PostgreSQL exists and I have not found it, at least according to all the 'standard' indications both here and elsewhere, i.e., in the /Library/Application Support folder hierarchy, in the /usr folder hierarchy, in the Users tab of System Services where once there was a Postgres user entry.

What I do see are a set of shell scripts in the /Application Support/Blackmagic Design/Da Vinci Project Server folder, one of which is called 'install_postgres.sh' which, in turn, references a zip file called postgresql.zip. There are a number of other scripts as well: backup, restore, upgrade.

Before I start poking away at those, I'd like some "official" confirmation that this is the code that, for some reason, was not executed by the Project Server installation procedure. For example, not executed because a ghost installation was found or, alternatively, because it was not allowed to execute because of Big Sur security settings. I've looked at the install_postgres code and it appears to do all of the stuff that would lead to a running postgresql task, a User Account, a directory structure in /Applications for PostgreSQL.

So, thanks for your suggestions. If it's OK, I'll wait until Dwaine or one of his colleagues weighs in. If for no other reason than to have the current state of affairs documented... somewhere. Since everything I've read in the manuals seems to be sitting still in version 16 land. Which obviously is not helpful.

Ed Nixon wrote:For example, not executed because a ghost installation was found or, alternatively, because it was not allowed to execute because of Big Sur security settings.

When you installed Project Server, did you get a warning about (something like) the Postgres process needing to be approved in Security settings? If not (or if you don't approve it), it won't be able to run.

Tom Early wrote:

Ed Nixon wrote:For example, not executed because a ghost installation was found or, alternatively, because it was not allowed to execute because of Big Sur security settings.

When you installed Project Server, did you get a warning about (something like) the Postgres process needing to be approved in Security settings? If not (or if you don't approve it), it won't be able to run.

Good question! I did not. But I haven't found, while running Catalina and now Big Sur, that it is a 100% reliable behaviour. So, I should have checked the General tab of Security & Privacy for some indication. The 'statute of limitations' has expired on that signal now unfortunately.

Ed Nixon wrote:

Tom Early wrote:

Ed Nixon wrote:For example, not executed because a ghost installation was found or, alternatively, because it was not allowed to execute because of Big Sur security settings.

When you installed Project Server, did you get a warning about (something like) the Postgres process needing to be approved in Security settings? If not (or if you don't approve it), it won't be able to run.

Good question! I did not. But I haven't found, while running Catalina and now Big Sur, that it is a 100% reliable behaviour. So, I should have checked the General tab of Security & Privacy for some indication. The 'statute of limitations' has expired on that signal now unfortunately.

Firewall is off by default on installing a new OS, try turning it on then installing Project Server.

Dwaine Maggart wrote:For Mac Resolve 17, the option to install PostgreSQL has been moved out of the Resolve installer, and is now in the new Project Server installer.

So the same deal. Run the 17/17.1 Project Server installer, and at the Installation Type step, select Customize, and that will expose the PostgreSQL Server checkbox. Once that box is checked, continue with the install. It will install both the Project Server app, and PostgreSQL. It will install PostgreSQL 9.5.19.

Note that if there is ANY version of PostgreSQL already on the system, the installer will NOT attempt to install PostgreSQL, and there is no feedback from the installer about that, one way or the other.

After the installer is finished, assuming there was no PostgreSQL already on the system, PostgreSQL should be running. You can verify that with the Mac Activity Monitor, with the View menu set to show ALL Processes. With the CPU tab selected, sort on the Process Name column and scroll to the P's. If PostgreSQL is running, there will be multiple postgres processes running.

You can also launch the Project Server app. It won't open unless PostgreSQL is running.

Edit: I'll amend my post to say that the PostgreSQL checkbox is checked automatically on the Mac Project Server installer. So if there is no PostgreSQL on the system when you first run the Project Server installer, it should automatically install PostgreSQL on Mac.

On Windows, the Project Server installer window will show a PostgreSQL 9.5.4 install checkbox if PostgreSQL is not already on the system, and the checkbox will be checked. If PostgreSQL is already installed on the system, the Windows installer will not show you the PostgreSQL install checkbox.

Since the Project Server won't work unless PostgreSQL is installed, we assume that if you are installing the Project Server, you'll want PostgreSQL installed as well, if it's not already.

Maybe this exchange has fallen off the radar at BMD so I'll see if a Quote gets some attention.

If you read down beyond this response you'll find that for some reason the Project Server installation script does *not* install PostgreSQL on my Big Sur MacBookPro. But, I can't find any evidence that there *is* a PostgreSQL installation; I don't know what happened to it because I was using it during the 17 beta run. However, I *did* upgrade to Big Sur during that time period. I'm interested in what happened but I'm more interested in getting my sql project data back.

So the question is: how to I convince Project Server install that it must install PostgreSQL on my machine? Or perhaps there's a rights issue that prevents the code (un-announced) from running? The scrips are there in the Project Server folder in my /Applications tree. Perhaps I can just run them myself? If so, which one(s)? How?

Thanks for your help.

Open Finder. Look in the /Library folder. Is there a PostgreSQL folder?

Look in the Applications folder. Is there a PostgreSQL folder?

Also in Applications, do you have the Mac OS Server app installed?

Dwaine Maggart wrote:Open Finder. Look in the /Library folder. Is there a PostgreSQL folder?

Thanks, Dwaine. Yes, I found it finally. My apologies.

I now have the BMD version of PostgreSQL running and have recovered databases from my version 16 backups made prior to the beta testing of v17.

* For purposes of routine, daily backup, is the actual project data base found in the /Library/PostgreSQL folder?
* Is it possible to retrieve or connect to a database structure from a different installation? E.g., the broken EDB install that was causing my problems earlier this week?

Thanks for your help.

If PostgreSQL is running on your local machine, you'd use the Resolve Project Server app to backup and restore databases.

You cannot directly access the data in the PostgreSQL folder. You need to use the Resolve tools to backup and restore databases.

Or you can use pgAdmin4, but we can't provide any guidance on that.

So to answer your question about retrieving data from a different installation, if that installation has made a database backup with Resolve, then you can restore that backup with Resolve.

You also mentioned "connecting" to a different system. If that system is running PostgreSQL and has the Resolve Project Server app and has shared the database, then you can create an access key on that system to allow the local system to connect to it, assuming that they are both on the same IP subnet.