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] 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 sec‐
tions 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 configura‐
tion. 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 config‐
uration directory.
See the MULTI_INSTANCE_README tutorial for a more detailed discussion of multi-instance management with post‐
multi(1).
ITERATOR MODE
-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 config‐
uration 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 ver‐
bose.
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.
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 "post‐
fix-". 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 pri‐
mary 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 tak‐
ing 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 mas‐
ter.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 "con‐
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 addi‐
tional 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 con‐
figuration 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 ver‐
bose.
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)
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 oper‐
ate 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".
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
POSTMULTI(1)
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