Knowledge (XXG)

Message transfer agent

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An MTA works in the background, while the user usually interacts directly with a mail user agent. One may distinguish initial submission as first passing through an MSA—port 465 (or, for legacy reasons, optionally port 587) is used for communication between an MUA and an MSA, while port 25 is used
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trace header field to the top of the header of the message, thereby building a sequential record of MTAs handling the message. The process of choosing a target MTA for the next hop is also described in SMTP, but can usually be overridden by configuring the MTA software with specific routes.
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Messages exchanged across networks are passed between mail servers, including any attached data files (such as images, multimedia, or documents). These servers often keep mailboxes for email. Access to this email by end users is typically either by
102:(SMTP). When a recipient mailbox of a message is not hosted locally, the message is relayed, that is, forwarded to another MTA. Every time an MTA receives an email message, it adds a 183:
Submission of new email from a mail client is via SMTP, typically on port 587 or 465, and is now generally restricted to servers the user has an account with-such as their
133:(MDA). For this purpose the MTA transfers the message to the message handling service component of the message delivery agent (MDA). Upon final delivery, the 224:
MTA=Message Transfer Agent (similar to X.400 name) is found, e.g., in RFC 1506, RFC 2476, RFC 3461, RFC 3464, RFC 3865, RFC 3888, RFC 6409, RFC 5598.
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MTA=Mail Transfer Agent (similar to Mail Transfer Protocol) is found, e.g., in RFC 2298, RFC 2305, RFC 3804, RFC 3798, RFC 4496, RFC 5442, RFC 5429.
187:. This is for policy, not technical, reasons so that providers have some means of holding their users accountable for the generation of 330: 320: 170: 153:
for email - in which case they usually support some means for end users to access their email via a Mail User Agent (MUA), or
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For recipients hosted locally, the final delivery of email to a recipient mailbox is the task of a
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A relay or filtering server will typically store email only briefly, but other systems keep full
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for communication between MTAs, or from an MSA to an MTA. this distinction is clarified in
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that transfers electronic mail messages from one computer to another using the
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for the format of an email message. Many MUAs allow users to see the raw
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A message transfer agent receives mail from either another MTA, a
31: 177: 184: 98:(MUA). The transmission details are specified by the 287:"What are the IPs that sends mail for a domain?" 263:directly, thereby allowing header inspection. 137:field is added to the envelope to record the 8: 58:. In some contexts, the alternative names 176:Proprietary systems, such as Microsoft's 217: 7: 27:Software to transfer electronic mail 25: 191:and other forms of email abuse. 171:Internet Message Access Protocol 110: 160:Common protocols for this are: 1: 100:Simple Mail Transfer Protocol 70:are used to describe an MTA. 56:Simple Mail Transfer Protocol 201:List of mail server software 347: 285:Bill Cole (29 June 2009). 244:Internet Mail Architecture 274:Email client#Port numbers 246:, D. Crocker (July 2009). 331:Message transfer agents 321:Internet mail protocols 206:Relay (disambiguation) 145:Transfer versus access 131:message delivery agent 36:message transfer agent 92:mail submission agent 257:Email#Message header 165:Post Office Protocol 30:Within the Internet 44:mail transfer agent 16:(Redirected from 338: 305: 304: 302: 300: 282: 276: 270: 264: 253: 247: 240: 234: 231: 225: 222: 136: 114: 105: 21: 346: 345: 341: 340: 339: 337: 336: 335: 311: 310: 309: 308: 298: 296: 284: 283: 279: 271: 267: 254: 250: 241: 237: 232: 228: 223: 219: 214: 197: 147: 134: 103: 96:mail user agent 88: 28: 23: 22: 15: 12: 11: 5: 344: 342: 334: 333: 328: 323: 313: 312: 307: 306: 277: 265: 261:message source 248: 235: 226: 216: 215: 213: 210: 209: 208: 203: 196: 193: 181: 180: 174: 168: 146: 143: 87: 84: 64:mail exchanger 26: 24: 14: 13: 10: 9: 6: 4: 3: 2: 343: 332: 329: 327: 324: 322: 319: 318: 316: 295: 293: 288: 281: 278: 275: 272:See table at 269: 266: 262: 258: 252: 249: 245: 239: 236: 230: 227: 221: 218: 211: 207: 204: 202: 199: 198: 194: 192: 190: 186: 179: 175: 172: 169: 166: 163: 162: 161: 158: 156: 152: 144: 142: 140: 132: 127: 125: 121: 115: 113: 108: 101: 97: 93: 85: 83: 81: 77: 71: 69: 65: 61: 57: 53: 49: 45: 41: 37: 33: 19: 326:Email agents 299:15 September 297:. Retrieved 294:mailing list 290: 280: 268: 260: 251: 243: 238: 229: 220: 182: 159: 155:email client 148: 128: 116: 109: 94:(MSA), or a 89: 80:email client 72: 67: 63: 59: 47: 43: 39: 35: 29: 18:Email server 139:return path 135:Return-Path 60:mail server 315:Categories 242:RFC 5598, 212:References 48:mail relay 34:system, a 151:mailboxes 86:Operation 195:See also 104:Received 52:software 76:webmail 68:MX host 173:(IMAP) 167:(POP3) 122:  78:or an 66:, or 46:, or 32:email 301:2009 292:ASRG 255:See 189:spam 178:MAPI 124:8314 185:ISP 120:RFC 50:is 42:), 40:MTA 317:: 289:. 157:. 141:. 126:. 82:. 62:, 303:. 38:( 20:)

Index

Email server
email
software
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
webmail
email client
mail submission agent
mail user agent
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol

RFC
8314
message delivery agent
return path
mailboxes
email client
Post Office Protocol
Internet Message Access Protocol
MAPI
ISP
spam
List of mail server software
Relay (disambiguation)
Email#Message header
Email client#Port numbers
"What are the IPs that sends mail for a domain?"
ASRG
Categories
Internet mail protocols
Email agents

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