Provided by: postfix_3.1.0-3ubuntu0.4_amd64 
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] command...
postmulti -x [-aRv] [-g group] [-i name] 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 Invoke postfix(1) to execute the specified 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 Execute the specified 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 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 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 pathname by
taking the corresponding 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 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 parameters that a Postfix process will import from a non-Postfix parent
process.
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)
The mail system name that is prepended to the process name in syslog records, so that "smtpd"
becomes, for example, "postfix/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
POSTMULTI(1)