    POSTMULTI(1)                General Commands Manual               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  in‐
           stance,  and one or more secondary instances whose configuration direc‐
           tory 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 in‐
           stance in a multi-instance configuration. The postmulti(1) command does
           not  currently support a -c option to select an alternative primary in‐
           stance, 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 im‐
                  plements the postfix-wrapper(5) interface.

                  •      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 pa‐
                         rameter.

                  •      With "stop"-like commands, the  iteration  order  is  re‐
                         versed, and disabled instances are skipped. The full list
                         of commands is specified with the postmulti_stop_commands
                         parameter.

                  •      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.

                  •      With "status" and other commands  that  don't  require  a
                         started  instance,  the  command  is executed for all in‐
                         stances.

                  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 op‐
                  tions 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 in‐
           stance.

           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_in‐
                         stance_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" in‐
                         stances, 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 de‐
                         stroy 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  in‐
                         stances.  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 se‐
                         lected  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  in‐
                         stance'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 op‐
                  tions 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)