Please Whitelist This Site?

I know everyone hates ads. But please understand that I am providing premium content for free that takes hundreds of hours of time to research and write. I don't want to go to a pay-only model like some sites, but when more and more people block ads, I end up working for free. And I have a family to support, just like you. :)

If you like The TCP/IP Guide, please consider the download version. It's priced very economically and you can read all of it in a convenient format without ads.

If you want to use this site for free, I'd be grateful if you could add the site to the whitelist for Adblock. To do so, just open the Adblock menu and select "Disable on tcpipguide.com". Or go to the Tools menu and select "Adblock Plus Preferences...". Then click "Add Filter..." at the bottom, and add this string: "@@||tcpipguide.com^$document". Then just click OK.

Thanks for your understanding!

Sincerely, Charles Kozierok
Author and Publisher, The TCP/IP Guide


NOTE: Using software to mass-download the site degrades the server and is prohibited.
If you want to read The TCP/IP Guide offline, please consider licensing it. Thank you.

The Book is Here... and Now On Sale!

Get The TCP/IP Guide for your own computer.
The TCP/IP Guide

Custom Search







Table Of Contents  The TCP/IP Guide
 9  TCP/IP Application Layer Protocols, Services and Applications (OSI Layers 5, 6 and 7)
      9  TCP/IP Key Applications and Application Protocols
           9  TCP/IP File and Message Transfer Applications and Protocols (FTP, TFTP, Electronic Mail, USENET, HTTP/WWW, Gopher)
                9  TCP/IP Electronic Mail System: Concepts and Protocols (RFC 822, MIME, SMTP, POP3, IMAP)

Previous Topic/Section
SMTP Replies and Reply Codes
Previous Page
Pages in Current Topic/Section
1
Next Page
TCP/IP Electronic Mail Mailbox Access Model, Method and Protocol Overview
Next Topic/Section

TCP/IP Electronic Mail Access and Retrieval Protocols and Methods

The Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is responsible for most of the process of sending an e-mail message from the originator to the recipient. SMTP's job ends when the message has been successfully deposited into the recipient's mailbox on his or her local SMTP server.

In some cases this mailbox is the end of the message's travels through cyberspace. More often, however, it is only a “rest stop”—the last step of the journey is for the message to be actually accessed and read by the user to whom it was sent. This may require that it be retrieved from the mailbox and transferred to another client machine. For a variety of reasons, SMTP is not used for the process of accessing a mailbox, but rather a special set of protocols and methods designed specifically for electronic mail access and retrieval.

In this section, I describe some of the more common techniques used for TCP/IP e-mail access and retrieval. I begin with an overview of the subject that describes in general the different paradigms used for e-mail access and gives an overview of the protocols. I then have subsections that cover the two mail TCP/IP e-mail access and retrieval protocols: the Post Office Protocol (POP) and the Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP). I also have a third, smaller subsection that discusses other methods of e-mail access.

Note that this section assumes that you already have familiarity with SMTP and the operation of the TCP/IP e-mail system as a whole.

Quick navigation to subsections and regular topics in this section



Previous Topic/Section
SMTP Replies and Reply Codes
Previous Page
Pages in Current Topic/Section
1
Next Page
TCP/IP Electronic Mail Mailbox Access Model, Method and Protocol Overview
Next Topic/Section

If you find The TCP/IP Guide useful, please consider making a small Paypal donation to help the site, using one of the buttons below. You can also donate a custom amount using the far right button (not less than $1 please, or PayPal gets most/all of your money!) In lieu of a larger donation, you may wish to consider purchasing a download license of The TCP/IP Guide. Thanks for your support!
Donate $2
Donate $5
Donate $10
Donate $20
Donate $30
Donate: $



Home - Table Of Contents - Contact Us

The TCP/IP Guide (http://www.TCPIPGuide.com)
Version 3.0 - Version Date: September 20, 2005

© Copyright 2001-2005 Charles M. Kozierok. All Rights Reserved.
Not responsible for any loss resulting from the use of this site.