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 [-ajRv] [-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] [con‐
fig_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 multi‐
ple 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 path‐
names are recorded in the primary instance's main.cf file. Postfix in‐
stances share program files and documentation, but have their own config‐
uration, 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 vari‐
able 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 namePerform 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
-j Produce JSON output. See JSON OBJECT FORMAT below.
This feature is available in Postfix version 3.11 and later.
-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 imple‐
ments 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 in‐
stance, disabled instances are skipped. The full list of com‐
mands is specified with the postmulti_control_commands para‐
meter.
• 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 in‐
stances 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_direc‐
tory, 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 in‐
stance, 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 be‐
fore the first secondary instance that is a member of the specified
group.
-i nameWhen creating or importing an instance, place the new instance be‐
fore the matching secondary instance.
With other life-cycle operations, apply the operation to the named
existing instance. Specify "-" to select the primary Postfix in‐
stance.
New or existing instance name assignment
-I nameAssign 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 colli‐
sions 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 para‐
meters 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 in‐
stance 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 exam‐
ple:
# 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 at‐
tempts to generate the missing pathname(s) by taking the cor‐
responding 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 "im‐
port" the instance as-is. For existing instances, create and
import are identical.
import Import an existing instance into the list of instances man‐
aged 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_direc‐
tory=/path" argument to override a default pathname based on
"-I name".
destroyDestroy 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 de‐
stroying 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. Fi‐
nally, 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 popu‐
lated with additional files (access and rewriting tables, ch‐
root jail content, etc.) the instance directories will not be
fully removed.
The destroy action triggers potentially dangerous file re‐
moval operations. Make sure the instance's data, queue and
configuration directories are set correctly and do not con‐
tain any valuable files.
deport Deport a secondary instance from the list of managed in‐
stances. 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 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 instance's
main.cf file.
disableMark 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.
JSON OBJECT FORMAT
The output consists of a sequence of lines. Each line contains one JSON ob‐
ject that represents settings in a corresponding instance's main.cf file.
Object members have string values unless indicated otherwise. Programs
should ignore members that are not listed here, as members may be added
over time.
name The value of the corresponding multi_instance_name parameter, or "-"
if no name is specified.
group The value of the corresponding multi_instance_group parameter, or
"-" if no group is specified.
enabledEither "y" or "n", depending on whether the corresponding multi_in‐
stance_enable parameter value is "yes" or "no".
Note: this reports "y" for a primary instance, when multi-instance
support is not enabled.
config_directory
The value of the corresponding config_directory parameter.
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 configura‐
tion 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 envi‐
ronment 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 (libpost‐
fix-*.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
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)