Postfix manual - postfix-wrapper(5)

    POSTFIX-WRAPPER(5)                                          POSTFIX-WRAPPER(5)

    NAME
           postfix-wrapper - Postfix multi-instance API

    DESCRIPTION
           Support  for managing multiple Postfix instances is avail-
           able as of version 2.6. Instances share  executable  files
           and documentation, but have their own directories for con-
           figuration, queue and data files.

           This document describes how the familiar  "postfix  start"
           etc.  user interface can be used to manage one or multiple
           Postfix instances, and gives details of an API to  coordi-
           nate  activities  between  the  postfix(1)  command  and a
           multi-instance manager program.

           With multi-instance support, the default Postfix  instance
           is  always  required.  This  instance is identified by the
           config_directory parameter's default value.

    GENERAL OPERATION
           Multi-instance support is backwards compatible:  when  you
           run  only  one Postfix instance, commands such as "postfix
           start" will not change behavior at all.

           Even with multiple Postfix instances, you can  keep  using
           the  same postfix commands in boot scripts, upgrade proce-
           dures, and other places. The commands do  more  work,  but
           humans are not forced to learn new tricks.

           For example, to start all Postfix instances, use:

                  # postfix start

           Other postfix(1) commands also work as expected. For exam-
           ple, to find out what Postfix instances exist in a  multi-
           instance configuration, use:

                  # postfix status

           This enumerates the status of all Postfix instances within
           a multi-instance configuration.

    MANAGING AN INDIVIDUAL POSTFIX INSTANCE
           To manage a specific Postfix instance, specify its config-
           uration directory on the postfix(1) command line:

                  # postfix -c /path/to/config_directory command

           Alternatively,   the   postfix(1)   command   accepts  the
           instance's configuration  directory  via  the  MAIL_CONFIG
           environment  variable  (the  -c  command-line  option  has
           higher precedence).

           Otherwise, the postfix(1)  command  will  operate  on  all
           Postfix instances.

    ENABLING POSTFIX(1) MULTI-INSTANCE MODE
           By  default,  the  postfix(1)  command operates in single-
           instance mode. In this mode the command invokes the  post-
           fix-script  file directly (currently installed in the dae-
           mon directory).  This  file  contains  the  commands  that
           start  or stop one Postfix instance, that upgrade the con-
           figuration of one Postfix instance, and so on.

           When the postfix(1)  command  operates  in  multi-instance
           mode  as  discussed  below,  the  command needs to execute
           start, stop, etc.  commands  for  each  Postfix  instance.
           This  multiplication  of  commands  is handled by a multi-
           instance manager program.

           Turning on postfix(1) multi-instance mode goes as follows:
           in the default Postfix instance's main.cf file, 1) specify
           the pathname of a multi-instance manager program with  the
           multi_instance_wrapper    parameter;   2)   populate   the
           multi_instance_directories parameter with  the  configura-
           tion  directory pathnames of additional Postfix instances.
           For example:

                  /etc/postfix/main.cf:
                      multi_instance_wrapper = $daemon_directory/postfix-wrapper
                      multi_instance_directories = /etc/postfix-test

           The $daemon_directory/postfix-wrapper  file  implements  a
           simple  manager  and  contains  instructions  for creating
           Postfix instances by hand.  The postmulti(1) command  pro-
           vides  a  more  extensive implementation including support
           for life-cycle management.

           The multi_instance_directories and other  main.cf  parame-
           ters are listed below in the CONFIGURATION PARAMETERS sec-
           tion.

           In multi-instance mode, the postfix(1) command invokes the
           $multi_instance_wrapper  command  instead  of the postfix-
           script file. This multi-instance manager in turn  executes
           the  postfix(1)  command  in single-instance mode for each
           Postfix instance.

           To illustrate the main ideas behind multi-instance  opera-
           tion,  below  is  an example of a simple but useful multi-
           instance manager implementation:

                  #!/bin/sh

                  : ${command_directory?"do not invoke this command directly"}

                  POSTCONF=$command_directory/postconf
                  POSTFIX=$command_directory/postfix
                  instance_dirs=`$POSTCONF -h multi_instance_directories |
                                  sed 's/,/ /'` || exit 1

                  err=0
                  for dir in $config_directory $instance_dirs
                  do
                      case "$1" in
                      stop|abort|flush|reload|drain)
                          test "`$POSTCONF -c $dir -h multi_instance_enable`" \
                              = yes || continue;;
                      start)
                          test "`$POSTCONF -c $dir -h multi_instance_enable`" \
                              = yes || {
                              $POSTFIX -c $dir check || err=$?
                              continue
                          };;
                      esac
                      $POSTFIX -c $dir "$@" || err=$?
                  done

                  exit $err

    PER-INSTANCE MULTI-INSTANCE MANAGER CONTROLS
           Each Postfix instance has its own main.cf file with param-
           eters that control how the multi-instance manager operates
           on that instance.  This section discusses the most  impor-
           tant settings.

           The  setting  "multi_instance_enable  =  yes"  allows  the
           multi-instance manager to start (stop,  etc.)  the  corre-
           sponding  Postfix  instance. For safety reasons, this set-
           ting is not the default.

           The default setting "multi_instance_enable = no" is useful
           for manual testing with "postfix -c /path/name start" etc.
           The  multi-instance  manager  will  not  start   such   an
           instance,  and  it  will  skip  commands such as "stop" or
           "flush" that require  a  running  Postfix  instance.   The
           multi-instance  manager  will  execute  commands  such  as
           "check", "set-permissions" or "upgrade-configuration", and
           it  will  replace "start" by "check" so that problems will
           be reported even when the instance is disabled.

    MAINTAINING SHARED AND NON-SHARED FILES
           Some files are shared between Postfix instances,  such  as
           executables and manpages, and some files are per-instance,
           such as configuration files, mail queue  files,  and  data
           files.   See the NON-SHARED FILES section below for a list
           of per-instance files.

           Before Postfix multi-instance support was implemented, the
           executables,  manpages,  etc., have always been maintained
           as part of the default Postfix instance.

           With multi-instance support,  we  simply  continue  to  do
           this.   Specifically, a Postfix instance will not check or
           update shared files when that instance's  config_directory
           value   is   listed   with   the  default  main.cf  file's
           multi_instance_directories parameter.

           The consequence of this approach is that the default Post-
           fix  instance  should  be  checked  and updated before any
           other instances.

    MULTI-INSTANCE API SUMMARY
           Only the multi-instance manager implements support for the
           multi_instance_enable  configuration parameter. The multi-
           instance manager will start only Postfix  instances  whose
           main.cf  file has "multi_instance_enable = yes". A setting
           of "no" allows a Postfix instance to be tested by hand.

           The  postfix(1)  command  operates  on  only  one  Postfix
           instance   when  the  -c  option  is  specified,  or  when
           MAIL_CONFIG is present in the process environment. This is
           necessary to terminate recursion.

           Otherwise,  when  the multi_instance_directories parameter
           value is non-empty, the postfix(1)  command  executes  the
           command  specified with the multi_instance_wrapper parame-
           ter, instead of executing the commands in  postfix-script.

           The  multi-instance  manager skips commands such as "stop"
           or "reload" that require a running Postfix instance,  when
           an  instance  does not have "multi_instance_enable = yes".
           This avoids false error messages.

           The multi-instance manager replaces a "start"  command  by
           "check"  when  a  Postfix instance's main.cf file does not
           have  "multi_instance_enable  =  yes".  This  substitution
           ensures  that  problems  will  be  reported  even when the
           instance is disabled.

           No Postfix command or script will update or  check  shared
           files  when  its  config_directory  value is listed in the
           default  main.cf's  multi_instance_directories   parameter
           value.   Therefore, the default instance should be checked
           and updated before any Postfix instances  that  depend  on
           it.

           Set-gid  commands  such  as  postdrop(1)  and postqueue(1)
           effectively append the multi_instance_directories  parame-
           ter   value  to  the  legacy  alternate_config_directories
           parameter value. The  commands  use  this  information  to
           determine  whether  a -c option or MAIL_CONFIG environment
           setting specifies a legitimate value.

           The legacy alternate_config_directories parameter  remains
           necessary  for non-default Postfix instances that are run-
           ning different versions of Postfix, or that are  not  man-
           aged together with the default Postfix instance.

    ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
           MAIL_CONFIG
                  When present, this forces the postfix(1) command to
                  operate only on  the  specified  Postfix  instance.
                  This  environment variable is exported by the post-
                  fix(1) -c option, so that  postfix(1)  commands  in
                  descendant processes will work correctly.

    CONFIGURATION PARAMETERS
           The  text  below  provides  only  a parameter summary. See
           postconf(5) for more details.

           multi_instance_directories (empty)
                  An optional list of non-default Postfix  configura-
                  tion directories; these directories belong to addi-
                  tional 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_wrapper (empty)
                  The  pathname  of  a multi-instance manager command
                  that  the  postfix(1)  command  invokes  when   the
                  multi_instance_directories  parameter value is non-
                  empty.

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

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

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

    NON-SHARED FILES
           config_directory (see 'postconf -d' output)
                  The  default  location  of  the Postfix main.cf and
                  master.cf configuration files.

           data_directory (see 'postconf -d' output)
                  The directory with Postfix-writable data files (for
                  example: caches, pseudo-random numbers).

           queue_directory (see 'postconf -d' output)
                  The  location of the Postfix top-level queue direc-
                  tory.

    SEE ALSO
           postfix(1) Postfix control program
           postmulti(1) full-blown multi-instance manager
           $daemon_directory/postfix-wrapper simple multi-instance manager

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

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

                                                                POSTFIX-WRAPPER(5)