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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
       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)

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