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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  multiple  Postfix
       instances on a single host.

       postmulti(1) implements two fundamental modes of operation.  In iterator 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 performed 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 updating 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.

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

              •      With  "stop"-like  commands,  the  iteration order is reversed, 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_commands parameter.

              •      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 follows:

                     # 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_directory,      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  config_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 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 provided it specifies the new name for the instance and is used to
                     define  a default location for the instance configuration 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 override 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  configuration
                     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 directories, 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  create
                     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   directory   from   the  primary  instance's
                     multi_instance_directories  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 configuration 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  directories;  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 multiple Postfix
              instances, such as postfix-files, dynamicmaps.cf, and the  multi-instance  template
              files main.cf.proto and master.cf.proto.

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

       Use "postconf readme_directory" or "postconf html_directory" to locate this information.
       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)