Electronic Mail

Contents
 Email
 Email Scenario
 SMTP
 POP3
 IMAP
 Electronic Mail (EMAIL)
One of the most popular Internet services is electronic mail (e-mail).
The general architecture of an e-mail system including the three main
components:
User agent (UA)
Message transfer agent (MTA)
Message access agent (MAA)
To explain the architecture of e-mail, four scenarios will be discussed from simple
to complex level.
Electronic Mail (EMAIL) Architecture: First Scenario

UA: User Agent UA: User Agent

Sender Receiver

System

 Two user agents are used while the sender and the receiver
of an e-mail are on the same system.
 Electronic Mail (EMAIL) Architecture Second Scenario

UA: User Agent UA: User Agent

Sender Receiver

MTA Internet
MTA
Client Server
System’ System’
(mail Server) (mail Server)
 When the sender and the receiver of an e-mail are on
different systems, we need two UAs and a pair of
(Message transfer agent )MTAs (client and server).
Electronic Mail (EMAIL) Architecture Third Scenario

MTA
UA Sender Client
MTA
Server UA: User Agent
Receiver
LAN
or
WAN

MTA Internet
MTA
Client Server
 The sender is
connected to the System
mail server via a
System
LAN or a WAN. (mail Server) (mail Server)
Electronic Mail (EMAIL) Architecture Fourth Scenario
Receiver
MAA UA
UA: User Agent MTA Client
Client
Sender MAA
MTA
Server Server

LAN
or LAN
WAN or
WAN

MTA Internet MTA

 The sender and receiver Client Server
both are connected to the
mail server via a LAN or a
System’ System’
WAN.
(mail Server) (mail Server)
Push versus pull in electronic email
Services of user agent
 It provides service to the user to make the process of sending
and receiving a message easier.
 Electronic Mail (EMAIL) Addresses
To deliver mail, a mail handling system must use an addressing
system with unique addresses.
In the Internet, the address consists of two parts: a local part and a
domain name, separated by an @ sign
Electronic Mail (EMAIL) Addresses
Local Part: Defines the name of a special file, called the user mailbox, where all the mail
received for a user is stored for retrieval by the message access agent.
Domain Name: The second part of the address is the domain name. An organization usually
selects one or more hosts to receive and send e-mail; the hosts are sometimes called mail
servers or exchangers. The domain name assigned to each mail exchanger either comes from the
DNS database or is a logical name (for example, the name of the organization).
EMAIL Message Transfer Agent: SMTP
The actual mail transfer is done through message transfer agents.
To send mail, a system must have the client MTA, and to receive mail, a
system must have a server MTA.
The formal protocol that defines the MTA client and server in the Internet
is called the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP).
SMTP is used two times, between the sender and the sender’s mail
server and between the two mail servers.
Mechanism of mail transfer by SMTP

Commands and Responses

SMTP uses commands and responses to transfer messages
between an MTA client and an MTA server
Commands- Commands are sent from the client to the server.
The format of a command is shown in Figure
SMTP defines 14 commands.
The first five are mandatory; every
implementation must support these five
commands. The next three are often
used and highly recommended. The last
six are seldom used.
 Mechanism of mail transfer by SMTP

Responses
Responses are sent from the server to the client. A response is a three
digit code that may be followed by additional textual information
Mail Transfer Phases
The process of transferring a mail message occurs in three phases:
connection establishment, mail transfer, and connection termination.
Message Access Agent: POP and IMAP

The first and the second stages of mail delivery use SMTP.
However, SMTP is not involved in the third stage because SMTP
is a push protocol; it pushes the message from the client to the
server. In other words, the direction of the bulk data (messages) is
from the client to the server.
On the other hand, the third stage needs a pull protocol; the
client must pull messages from the server. The direction of the
bulk data is from the server to the client.
The third stage uses a message access agent.
Currently two message access protocols are available: Post
Office Protocol, version 3 (POP3) and Internet Mail Access
Protocol, version 4 (IMAP4).
 POP3
Post Office Protocol, version 3 (POP3) is simple and limited in
functionality.
The client POP3 software is installed on the recipient computer;
the server POP3 software is installed on the mail server.
Mail access starts with the client when the user needs to download
e-mail from the mailbox on the mail server.
The client opens a connection to the server on TCP port 110.
It then sends its user name and password to access the mailbox.
The user can then list and retrieve the mail messages, one by one.
POP3 has two modes: the delete mode and the keep mode
POP3
In the delete mode, the mail is deleted from the mailbox after each
retrieval.
In the keep mode, the mail remains in the mailbox after retrieval.
The delete mode is normally used when the user is working at her
permanent computer and can save and organize the received
mail after reading or replying.
The keep mode is normally used when the user accesses her mail
away from her primary computer (e.g., a laptop).
The mail is read but kept in the system for later retrieval and
organizing.
 IMAP4

Another mail access protocol is Internet Mail Access Protocol,

version 4 (IMAP4).
IMAP4 is similar to POP3, but it has more features; IMAP4 is
more powerful and more complex.
POP3 is deficient in several ways. It does not allow the user to
organize her mail on the server; the user cannot have different
folders on the server. (Of course, the user can create folders on
her own computer.)
In addition, POP3 does not allow the user to partially check the
contents of the mail before downloading.
 IMAP4

IMAP4 provides the following extra functions:

❏ A user can check the e-mail header prior to downloading.
❏ A user can search the contents of the e-mail for a specific string of
characters prior to downloading.
❏ A user can partially download e-mail. This is especially useful if
bandwidth is limited and the e-mail contains multimedia with high
bandwidth requirements.
❏ A user can create, delete, or rename mailboxes on the mail server.
❏ A user can create a hierarchy of mailboxes in a folder for e-mail
storage.
References
Behrouz A Forouzan, “Data Communication and Networking”