---
name: databases-for-postgresql-ts-connect
title: Why can’t I connect to my PostgreSQL deployment?
description: If you encounter errors when connecting to your IBM Cloud® Databases for PostgreSQL deployment, review these common causes and resolutions.
last-updated: 2026-05-14
---

> ## Documentation Index
> The table of contents for this documentation set is at https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/databases-for-postgresql?format=markdown
> The index for all IBM Cloud docs is at: https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use these files to discover more information as needed.

# Why can’t I connect to my PostgreSQL deployment?
{: #troubleshoot-connect}
{: troubleshoot}
{: support}

If you encounter errors when connecting to your IBM Cloud® Databases for PostgreSQL deployment, review these common causes and resolutions.
{: shortdesc}

You receive an error message or fail to connect to a Databases for PostgreSQL deployment.  If reviewing application logs, you might see errors that mention intermittent connection timeouts or unable to connect.
{: tsSymptoms}

Review the following information to troubleshoot and resolve common connectivity problems:
{: tsResolve}

* An unsecured connection is a common cause of connectivity errors.  All Databases for PostgreSQL connections use TLS/SSL encryption; Databases for PostgreSQL rejects unsecured connections.  To avoid errors, make sure you configured a secure connection.  Refer to [Getting started](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/databases-for-postgresql?topic=databases-for-postgresql-getting-started&format=markdown) for an example of a secure connection.
* A full disk can cause connectivity issues.  If your operational load saturates or exceeds the IOPS limit, database requests and operations are delayed until the disk can catch up.  To mitigate issues, see [Adding disk, memory, and CPU](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/databases-for-postgresql?topic=databases-for-postgresql-resources-scaling&format=markdown) to scale resources and increase disk size. To monitor the amount of disk space, refer to [Deployment monitoring and database load monitoring](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/databases-for-postgresql?topic=databases-for-postgresql-troubleshooting_performance&format=markdown#troubleshooting_monitoring).
* If you are using a private endpoint, make sure that you specify connection strings that contain the private endpoint (see [Credentials for private endpoints](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/cloud-databases?topic=cloud-databases-service-endpoints&interface=ui&format=markdown#private-endpoints-credentials)) and that you followed the steps in [Connecting through private endpoints](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/cloud-databases?topic=cloud-databases-service-endpoints&interface=ui&format=markdown#private-endpoint-connections).
* If your application log captures a short connection interruption, that behavior is expected as a normal part of operations for this managed service. You want to design your applications to retry connections when errors are caused by a temporary loss in connectivity to your deployment or to IBM Cloud. However, if you experience several minutes of connection interruption check the Cloud Status for the service. For more information, see [Application-level high-availability](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/databases-for-postgresql?topic=databases-for-postgresql-postgresql-ha-dr&format=markdown#application-level-ha).