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Add the PGDG repository

sudo install -d /usr/share/postgresql-common/pgdg
sudo curl -o /usr/share/postgresql-common/pgdg/apt.postgresql.org.asc --fail https://www.postgresql.org/media/keys/ACCC4CF8.asc

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/postgresql-common/pgdg/apt.postgresql.org.asc] https://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt $(lsb_release -cs)-pgdg main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pgdg.list'

sudo apt update

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Install PostgreSQL 17

sudo apt install -y postgresql-17 postgresql-client-17

sudo systemctl enable postgresql
sudo systemctl start postgresql
Verify the version:
  psql --version
  # psql (PostgreSQL) 17.7 (Ubuntu 17.7-3.pgdg24.04+1)

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Set password and create app user

sudo -u postgres psql -c "ALTER USER postgres PASSWORD 'CHANGE_ME';"
sudo -u postgres psql -c "CREATE USER prod_user WITH PASSWORD 'CHANGE_ME';"
sudo -u postgres psql -c "CREATE DATABASE prod_db OWNER prod_user;"
Grant ownership/full privileges explicitly if Prisma migrations fail with permission errors:
  sudo -u postgres psql -d prod_db -c "GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE prod_db TO prod_user;"
  sudo -u postgres psql -d prod_db -c "ALTER DATABASE prod_db OWNER TO prod_user;"

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Remote access (optional)

Only do this if you need TCP access from outside localhost (e.g. Docker bridge, remote tooling): 
sudo sed -i "s/#listen_addresses = 'localhost'/listen_addresses = '*'/" /etc/postgresql/17/main/postgresql.conf
echo "host    all             all             0.0.0.0/0               scram-sha-256" | sudo tee -a /etc/postgresql/17/main/pg_hba.conf
sudo systemctl restart postgresql
Don’t forget the port flag if connecting via Docker: -p 5432:5432. Missing it is a common cause of “connection refused” errors.

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Useful checks

sudo systemctl status postgresql --no-pager
sudo -u postgres psql -c "SELECT version();"
ls /usr/lib/postgresql/   # list installed major versions