As we discussed before [urlhere], the current version of QGIS has a limited ability to manipulate attribute data. QGIS relies on SDE/PostGIS for storage and management of massive attribute data. For this class we will use a graphic cross-platform client for PostgreSQL/PostGIS pgAdmin III. This application is free to use and can be installed on Windows, Linux and Mac computers. You can also use other PostgreSQL clients you are comfortable with or a psql command line utility. The next few sections will explain the process of downloading, installing and configuring the client. The next modules will explain how to query data, join statistical data to geographic layers and perform other exciting functions.
First of all, download a binary installation package for your operating system from http://pgadmin.org/.
In a new browser window open the site pgadmin.org and select "Download" link.
On "Download page", select your operating system (e.g. Windows, Linux, MacOS)
The next few steps describe the procedure for Windows OS:
Click on link pgAdmin v.1.6.1 ( we will use this version), it will redirect you to the "FTP Browser" webpage.
Click on link "pgadmin3-1.6.1.zip
Select a mirror to download from and save an installation package on your harddrive.
unzip the pgadmin3-1.6.1.zip file to a directory (e.g. c:\temp).
or Shortcut: you can click on this link downlo?d the file for windows pgAdmin3-1.6.1.zip directly.
Run the installer and install the package onto your system. You are likely to need some administrative priveleges to install the software.
double click on the file pgadmin3.msi, it should invoke the microsoft installer, if not:
run command window (Click the start menu > select run)
type the following command in the dialog box msiexec /i c:\temp\pgadmin3-1.6.1\pgadmin3.msi
if it's neccessary substitute c:\temp with a path where you unzipped the software
select install/modify option on the first install wizard screen
specify a path to install the software and click 'ok'
finish the installation
Instructions for installation on OSX are available on the "download" page of OSX on the pgadmin website. You can get there from here: http://pgadmin.org/download/macosx.php
The website above offers several options for installing pgAdmin on linux. Check to see if they have an installation procedure particular to your flavor of linux (debian, redhat, suse, etc...) and if not, you'll have to compile the software from the source code. Unzip the file using the "tar" command, and read the README and/or INSTALL text files that come with it. This should give you a sense of what you'll need to do to compile it from the source code.
At this step, we need to to configure a connection to our
PostgreSQL/PostGIS server. Please start the pgAdminIII appliation.
Click on "File > Add Server" to
configure a new connection to a server. The window "New Server Registration" will appear (Figure
1:) 
http://linuxlab.sbs.umass.edu/intro-fossgis-umass/index.php?title=Image:Pgadmin_addserver.png
Figure 1. Add new PostGIS server
Configure the connection using settings below:
Name: FOSS Student::Lambda Server (or any other description) Host: lambda.sbs.umass.edu Port: 5432 (default value) Maintenance DB: testgis Username: umstudent Password: <provided by instructor> f0ss2007
Click "OK" to apply settings. You will see that the configured server appeared in the table of contents (TOC) on the left side bar (Figure 3). If you don't see the TOC, change "view" options, clicking on the "View" menu and checking available options (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Settign view options
http://linuxlab.sbs.umass.edu/intro-fossgis-umass/index.php?title=Image:Pgadmin_servers_tree.png
Figure 3: pgAdmin TOC with available servers
You have now configured the pgAdmin application, we will do some data processing on the database side.