Postfix manual - postmulti(1)

    POSTMULTI(1)                                                      POSTMULTI(1)

    NAME
           postmulti - Postfix multi-instance manager

    SYNOPSIS
       Enabling multi-instance management:

           postmulti -e init [-v]

       Iterator mode:

           postmulti -l [-aRv] [-g group] [-i name]

           postmulti -p [-av] [-g group] [-i name] postfix-command...

           postmulti -x [-aRv] [-g group] [-i name] unix-command...

       Life-cycle management:

           postmulti -e create [-av] [-g group] [-i name] [-G group] [-I name]
           [param=value ...]

           postmulti -e import [-av] [-g group] [-i name] [-G group] [-I name]
           [config_directory=/path]

           postmulti -e destroy [-v] -i name

           postmulti -e deport [-v] -i name

           postmulti -e enable [-v] -i name

           postmulti -e disable [-v] -i name

           postmulti -e assign [-v] -i name [-I name] [-G group]

    DESCRIPTION
           The  postmulti(1) command allows a Postfix administrator to manage mul-
           tiple Postfix instances on a single host.

           postmulti(1) implements two fundamental modes of operation.  In  itera-
           tor  mode, it executes the same command for multiple Postfix instances.
           In life-cycle management mode, it adds  or  deletes  one  instance,  or
           changes the multi-instance status of one instance.

           Each  mode  of  operation  has its own command syntax. For this reason,
           each mode is documented in separate sections below.

    BACKGROUND
           A  multi-instance  configuration  consists  of  one   primary   Postfix
           instance,  and  one  or  more  secondary  instances whose configuration
           directory pathnames are recorded  in  the  primary  instance's  main.cf
           file. Postfix instances share program files and documentation, but have
           their own configuration, queue and data directories.

           Currently, only the default Postfix instance can  be  used  as  primary
           instance  in  a  multi-instance configuration. The postmulti(1) command
           does not currently support a -c option to select an alternative primary
           instance,  and  exits with a fatal error if the MAIL_CONFIG environment
           variable is set to a non-default configuration directory.

           See the MULTI_INSTANCE_README tutorial for a more  detailed  discussion
           of multi-instance management with postmulti(1).

    ITERATOR MODE
           In  iterator mode, postmulti performs the same operation on all Postfix
           instances in turn.

           If multi-instance support is not enabled, the requested command is per-
           formed just for the primary instance.

           Iterator mode implements the following command options:

    Instance selection
           -a     Perform the operation on all instances. This is the default.

           -g group
                  Perform the operation only for members of the named group.

           -i name
                  Perform  the  operation only for the instance with the specified
                  name.  You can specify either the instance name or the  absolute
                  pathname of the instance's configuration directory.  Specify "-"
                  to select the primary Postfix instance.

           -R     Reverse the iteration order. This may be appropriate when updat-
                  ing  a multi-instance system, where "sink" instances are started
                  before "source" instances.

                  This option cannot be used with -p.

    List mode
           -l     List Postfix instances with their instance name, instance  group
                  name, enable/disable status and configuration directory.

    Postfix-wrapper mode
           -p postfix-command
                  Invoke  postfix(1)  to  execute  postfix-command.   This  option
                  implements the postfix-wrapper(5) interface.

                  o      With "start"-like commands, "postfix check"  is  executed
                         for instances that are not enabled. The full list of com-
                         mands  is  specified  with  the  postmulti_start_commands
                         parameter.

                  o      With   "stop"-like   commands,  the  iteration  order  is
                         reversed, and disabled instances are  skipped.  The  full
                         list   of   commands   is   specified   with   the  post-
                         multi_stop_commands parameter.

                  o      With "reload" and other commands that require  a  started
                         instance,  disabled  instances are skipped. The full list
                         of commands is specified with the  postmulti_control_com-
                         mands parameter.

                  o      With  "status"  and  other  commands that don't require a
                         started  instance,  the  command  is  executed  for   all
                         instances.

                  The  -p option can also be used interactively to start/stop/etc.
                  a named instance or instance group. For example, to  start  just
                  the  instances  in  the group "msa", invoke postmulti(1) as fol-
                  lows:

                         # postmulti -g msa -p start

    Command mode
           -x unix-command
                  Execute the specified unix-command for  all  Postfix  instances.
                  The  command  runs  with  appropriate  environment  settings for
                  MAIL_CONFIG, command_directory, daemon_directory,  config_direc-
                  tory,   queue_directory,   data_directory,  multi_instance_name,
                  multi_instance_group and multi_instance_enable.

    Other options
           -v     Enable verbose  logging  for  debugging  purposes.  Multiple  -v
                  options make the software increasingly verbose.

    LIFE-CYCLE MANAGEMENT MODE
           With  the -e option postmulti(1) can be used to add or delete a Postfix
           instance, and to  manage  the  multi-instance  status  of  an  existing
           instance.

           The following options are implemented:

    Existing instance selection
           -a     When  creating  or importing an instance, place the new instance
                  at the front of the secondary instance list.

           -g group
                  When creating or importing an instance, place the  new  instance
                  before  the  first  secondary  instance  that is a member of the
                  specified group.

           -i name
                  When creating or importing an instance, place the  new  instance
                  before the matching secondary instance.

                  With  other  life-cycle  operations,  apply the operation to the
                  named existing instance.  Specify  "-"  to  select  the  primary
                  Postfix instance.

    New or existing instance name assignment
           -I name
                  Assign  the  specified  instance  name  to an existing instance,
                  newly-created instance, or imported  instance.   Instance  names
                  other  than "-" (which makes the instance "nameless") must start
                  with "postfix-".  This restriction  reduces  the  likelihood  of
                  name collisions with system files.

           -G group
                  Assign  the specified group name to an existing instance or to a
                  newly created or imported instance.

    Instance creation/deletion/status change
           -e action
                  "Edit" managed instances. The following actions are supported:

                  init   This command is required before postmulti(1) can be  used
                         to  manage  Postfix  instances.   The "postmulti -e init"
                         command updates the primary instance's  main.cf  file  by
                         setting:

                                multi_instance_wrapper =
                                        ${command_directory}/postmulti -p --
                                multi_instance_enable = yes

                         You can set these by other means if you prefer.

                  create Create   a  new  Postfix  instance  and  add  it  to  the
                         multi_instance_directories  parameter  of   the   primary
                         instance.   The  "-I  name" option is recommended to give
                         the instance a short  name  that  is  used  to  construct
                         default  values  for  the  private directories of the new
                         instance. The "-G  group"  option  may  be  specified  to
                         assign  the  instance  to  a  group,  otherwise,  the new
                         instance is not a member of any group.

                         The new instance main.cf is the stock  main.cf  with  the
                         parameters  that  specify  the  locations of shared files
                         cloned  from  the  primary  instance.    For   "nameless"
                         instances,  you  should  manually adjust "syslog_name" to
                         yield a unique "logtag"  starting  with  "postfix-"  that
                         will  uniquely identify the instance in the mail logs. It
                         is simpler to assign the instance a short name  with  the
                         "-I name" option.

                         Optional "name=value" arguments specify the instance con-
                         fig_directory, queue_directory and  data_directory.   For
                         example:

                                # postmulti -I postfix-mumble \
                                        -G mygroup -e create \
                                        config_directory=/my/config/dir \
                                        queue_directory=/my/queue/dir \
                                        data_directory=/my/data/dir

                         If  any  of  these pathnames is not supplied, the program
                         attempts to generate the missing  pathname(s)  by  taking
                         the  corresponding primary instance pathname, and replac-
                         ing the last pathname component by the value  of  the  -I
                         option.

                         If  the  instance configuration directory already exists,
                         and contains both a main.cf and  master.cf  file,  create
                         will "import" the instance as-is. For existing instances,
                         create and import are identical.

                  import Import an existing instance into the  list  of  instances
                         managed by the postmulti(1) multi-instance manager.  This
                         adds the instance to the multi_instance_directories  list
                         of the primary instance.  If the "-I name" option is pro-
                         vided it specifies the new name for the instance  and  is
                         used  to  define a default location for the instance con-
                         figuration directory (as with  create  above).   The  "-G
                         group"  option  may  be  used to assign the instance to a
                         group. Add a "config_directory=/path" argument  to  over-
                         ride a default pathname based on "-I name".

                  destroy
                         Destroy  a  secondary Postfix instance. To be a candidate
                         for destruction an instance must be disabled, stopped and
                         its  queue  must  not  contain  any messages. Attempts to
                         destroy the primary  Postfix  instance  trigger  a  fatal
                         error, without destroying the instance.

                         The instance is removed from the primary instance main.cf
                         file's  alternate_config_directories  parameter  and  its
                         data,  queue and configuration directories are cleaned of
                         files and directories created by the Postfix system.  The
                         main.cf and master.cf files are removed from the configu-
                         ration directory even if they have  been  modified  since
                         initial  creation.  Finally,  the  instance is "deported"
                         from the list of managed instances.

                         If other files are present in instance  private  directo-
                         ries, the directories may not be fully removed, a warning
                         is logged to alert the administrator. It is expected that
                         an  instance built using "fresh" directories via the cre-
                         ate action will be fully removed by  the  destroy  action
                         (if  first  disabled).  If the instance configuration and
                         queue directories are  populated  with  additional  files
                         (access  and rewriting tables, chroot jail content, etc.)
                         the instance directories will not be fully removed.

                         The destroy action triggers  potentially  dangerous  file
                         removal  operations. Make sure the instance's data, queue
                         and configuration directories are set  correctly  and  do
                         not contain any valuable files.

                  deport Deport  a  secondary  instance  from  the list of managed
                         instances. This deletes the instance configuration direc-
                         tory  from the primary instance's multi_instance_directo-
                         ries list, but does not remove any files or  directories.

                  assign Assign  a  new  instance  name or a new group name to the
                         selected instance.  Use "-G -" to specify "no group"  and
                         "-I  -"  to  specify "no name".  If you choose to make an
                         instance "nameless", set a suitable  syslog_name  in  the
                         corresponding main.cf file.

                  enable Mark the selected instance as enabled. This just sets the
                         multi_instance_enable   parameter   to   "yes"   in   the
                         instance's main.cf file.

                  disable
                         Mark  the  selected instance as disabled. This means that
                         the instance will  not  be  started  etc.  with  "postfix
                         start",  "postmulti -p start" and so on. The instance can
                         still be started etc. with "postfix  -c  config-directory
                         start".

    Other options
           -v     Enable  verbose  logging  for  debugging  purposes.  Multiple -v
                  options make the software increasingly verbose.

    ENVIRONMENT
           The postmulti(1) command exports the  following  environment  variables
           before executing the requested command for a given instance:

           MAIL_VERBOSE
                  This is set when the -v command-line option is present.

           MAIL_CONFIG
                  The location of the configuration directory of the instance.

    CONFIGURATION PARAMETERS
           config_directory (see 'postconf -d' output)
                  The  default  location of the Postfix main.cf and master.cf con-
                  figuration files.

           daemon_directory (see 'postconf -d' output)
                  The directory with Postfix support programs and daemon programs.

           import_environment (see 'postconf -d' output)
                  The  list  of  environment  variables  that a privileged Postfix
                  process will  import  from  a  non-Postfix  parent  process,  or
                  name=value environment overrides.

           multi_instance_directories (empty)
                  An  optional  list of non-default Postfix configuration directo-
                  ries; these directories belong to additional  Postfix  instances
                  that  share  the Postfix executable files and documentation with
                  the default Postfix instance, and  that  are  started,  stopped,
                  etc., together with the default Postfix instance.

           multi_instance_group (empty)
                  The optional instance group name of this Postfix instance.

           multi_instance_name (empty)
                  The optional instance name of this Postfix instance.

           multi_instance_enable (no)
                  Allow  this  Postfix instance to be started, stopped, etc., by a
                  multi-instance manager.

           postmulti_start_commands (start)
                  The postfix(1) commands that the postmulti(1)  instance  manager
                  treats as "start" commands.

           postmulti_stop_commands (see 'postconf -d' output)
                  The  postfix(1)  commands that the postmulti(1) instance manager
                  treats as "stop" commands.

           postmulti_control_commands (reload flush)
                  The postfix(1) commands that the postmulti(1)  instance  manager
                  treats as "control" commands, that operate on running instances.

           syslog_facility (mail)
                  The syslog facility of Postfix logging.

           syslog_name (see 'postconf -d' output)
                  A prefix that  is  prepended  to  the  process  name  in  syslog
                  records, so that, for example, "smtpd" becomes "prefix/smtpd".

           Available in Postfix 3.0 and later:

           meta_directory (see 'postconf -d' output)
                  The  location of non-executable files that are shared among mul-
                  tiple Postfix instances, such as postfix-files,  dynamicmaps.cf,
                  and  the  multi-instance  template  files main.cf.proto and mas-
                  ter.cf.proto.

           shlib_directory (see 'postconf -d' output)
                  The location of Postfix dynamically-linked  libraries  (libpost-
                  fix-*.so),  and the default location of Postfix database plugins
                  (postfix-*.so) that have  a  relative  pathname  in  the  dynam-
                  icmaps.cf file.

    FILES
           $meta_directory/main.cf.proto, stock configuration file
           $meta_directory/master.cf.proto, stock configuration file
           $daemon_directory/postmulti-script, life-cycle helper program

    SEE ALSO
           postfix(1), Postfix control program
           postfix-wrapper(5), Postfix multi-instance API

    README FILES
           MULTI_INSTANCE_README, Postfix multi-instance management

    HISTORY
           The postmulti(1) command was introduced with Postfix version 2.6.

    LICENSE
           The Secure Mailer license must be distributed with this software.

    AUTHOR(S)
           Victor Duchovni
           Morgan Stanley

           Wietse Venema
           IBM T.J. Watson Research
           P.O. Box 704
           Yorktown Heights, NY 10598, USA

           Wietse Venema
           Google, Inc.
           111 8th Avenue
           New York, NY 10011, USA

                                                                      POSTMULTI(1)