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PMTA knowledge base›Mechanism§ 6.3.14

How to name a queue in a command

critical

domain[/vmta] selector
A pair with asterisks

A way to select queues for a command. An asterisk can go on either half of the pair: all queues of one receiving server, all queues of one sending address, everything at once.

One command does not accept a selection by default — the one that deletes messages. This is a safeguard, not an inconvenience.

The main trap is the star in the shell. On a Unix command line the shell expands * itself: write the target in quotes or escape it, or the command receives a list of files.
What the Hub does. It writes control operation targets as the same pair — domain/address with stars — and sends them as commands through POST /command, checking the target strictly: spaces, semicolons and options are not let through. For taking an address out and returning it, stars are not let through at all: the engine does not accept them there. It asks for the purge estimate in the same form that will go into delete –queue=: domain without a sending address is completed to domain/*.
Recommended values

How to name queues:

Target What it selects
domain/address one queue
domain/* all queues to a receiver
*/address all queues of one sending address
*/* or no target all queues

domain without a sending address is not “all of the receiver’s queues.” Both show queues and disable source read it as domain/{default}; all of the receiver’s queues are domain/*. And disable source and enable source do not accept a star at all: they need one queue (verified on a node on Sep 15, 2026).

The domain[/vmta] form, stars and the */* default come from the manual (§ 6.3.14); the mandatory selection for delete is § 6.3.24. The table is ours.
Example configuration
# targets with stars go in quotes
pmta show queues --no-rcpt-events '*/vmta1'pmta pause queue 'yahoo.com/*'
Quotes keep the shell from expanding the star.
yellow — — directive names, blue — blocks. They are highlighted the same way in the text of the card.
Compatibility
PowerMTA 6.0
described in the manual of this version · platform: any
The vendor does not state the first version for every directive — there is no note here. The name also appears in the 5.0 edition of the manual.
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Related entries

3 relations

Depends on

A queue is a receiving server together with a sending addressA related mechanism: they work together. § 6.3.14

Works together with

Messages in the queueA request that returns the same thing. § 5.13

Affects

Delete messages from the queueThe command through which the mechanism is observed. § 6.3.24

Referenced from

Queue state together with event historyHow to name a queue in the argument: the same pair with asterisks. § 6.3.14

How to check on the node
Before a changing command, see what falls under the target:
pmta show queues --no-rcpt-events --maxitems=1000 'yahoo.com/*'
As many lines as there are, that many queues a command with the same target will affect.
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What else to read

3 articles

◇Two tags the sender puts on a messageA job groups messages, an envelope identifier identifies one; the submitting side sets both, and only by them can you later select your mail in the node’s queue.◇A license for a fleet, not for a serverThe license is not bound to a server: it is installed on as many machines as the instance limit allows, and the nodes send volume statistics to the vendor every hour.◇How the node selects a source and combines its settingsA connection falls under all source blocks whose addresses cover it, and they act merged — the narrow one overrides the wide one; named blocks are attached only by direct reference.

In the Hub
Cost of a mistake
dangerous: effects outlast a rollback
Scenarios
Emergency stop · Sender isolation
Priority
critical