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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] 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 (seepostconf -doutput)
              The  default  location  of  the  Postfix  main.cf  and master.cf
              configuration files.

       daemon_directory (seepostconf -doutput)
              The directory with Postfix support programs and daemon programs.

       import_environment (seepostconf -doutput)
              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 (seepostconf -doutput)
              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 (seepostconf -doutput)
              The mail system name that is prepended to the  process  name  in
              syslog   records,   so   that   "smtpd"  becomes,  for  example,
              "postfix/smtpd".

FILES

       $daemon_directory/main.cf, stock configuration file
       $daemon_directory/master.cf, 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