Django database settings for production server - database

Question

I have a problem with Django database configuration with 'postgresql_psycopg2'
If I give any arbitrary name to my database like below,
DATABASES = {
'default': {
'ENGINE': 'postgresql_psycopg2', # Add 'postgresql_psycopg2', 'postgresql', 'mysql', 'sqlite3' or 'oracle'.
'NAME': 'xyz', # Or path to database file if using sqlite3.
'USER': 'postgres', # Not used with sqlite3.
'PASSWORD': '${my_password}', # Not used with sqlite3.
'HOST': '', # Set to empty string for localhost. Not used with sqlite3.
'PORT': '', # Set to empty string for default. Not used with sqlite3.
'OPTIONS': {
"autocommit": True,
}
}
}
>
OperationalError at /
FATAL: database "xyz" does not exist
I surf a lot and findout same that with SQLite we have to specify absolute path to our database; with PostGRE likewise above.
I would like to know:
1) Why I am getting error message with above specification and
2) How I use my database which i am using with Development server lay out in filesystem (windows).

Answer 1

I surf a lot and findout same that
with SQLite we have to specify
absolute path to our database; with
PostGRE likewise above.
Just to be clear (your wording isn't) with postgresql there is no absolute path, it's just the name of the database.
1: The error message is pretty clear, database xyz does not exist.
Go to the dbshell (python manage.py dbshell) and type in \l. If database xyz isn't in there, type in create database xyz, exit the postgres shell and try syncdb again.
2: For your development server, I recommend using sqlite3 for its ease of use.
sqlite is included in python 2.5+, so no extra settings are required. Simply set your ENGINE to sqlite3, specify an absolute path to where you want the database saved, and python manage.py syncdb