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 groups.

                         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 pathname by  taking  the  corre-
                         sponding  primary instance pathname, and by replacing 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 parameters  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

                                                                      POSTMULTI(1)