Mail agents MUA = Mail User Agent Interacts directly with the end user Introduction to Internet Mail Pine, MH, Elm, mutt, mail, Eudora, Marcel, Mailstrom, Mulberry, Pegasus, Simeon, Netscape, Outlook, ... Multiple MUAs on one system - end user choice Philip Hazel MTA = Mail Transfer Agent University of Cambridge Receives and delivers messages Sendmail, Smail, PP, MMDF, Charon, Exim, qmail, Postfix, ... One MTA per system - sysadmin choice Message format (1) Message format (2) From: Philip Hazel <
[email protected]> An address consists of a local part and a domain To: Julius Caesar <
[email protected]>
[email protected] Cc: Mark Anthony <
[email protected]> Subject: How Internet mail works A basic message body is unstructured Julius, Other RFCs (MIME, 2045) add additional headers which I'm going to be running a course on ... define structure for the body Format was originally defined by RFC 822 in 1982 MIME supports attachments of various kinds and in Now superseded by RFC 2822 various encodings Message consists of Header lines Creating/decoding attachments is the MUA's job A blank line Body lines Authenticating senders MUA MTA Spool log Embedded MUA uses inter-process call to send to MTA in May use pipe, file, or internal SMTP over a pipe Folders Mailbox MTA knows the identity of the sender Normally inserts Sender: header if differs from From: SMTP MTA Spool Freestanding MUA uses SMTP to send mail MTA cannot easily distinguish local/remote clients SMTP No authentication in basic protocol Folders SMTP AUTH command in extended