What Is a Pop Server?
With over 247 billion email messages sent per day, the POP server is an integral component of the Internet. POP stands for Post Office Protocol, and is the protocol that allows users to receive email messages that were sent while they were not online. POP servers allow users to have mailboxes to store messages until they are ready to read them. Since its inception, the Post Office Protocol has changed to accommodate the increase of email and Internet usage.
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History
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The POP has undergone several versions since it was originally created in the early 1980s. The first version of POP was not widely used because of the limited amount of internet enabled users. POP1 was limited in features, and only allowed a user to download the entire mailbox each time the username and password were authenticated. In 1985, POP2 was released and offered more features; the most important update was the ability to download on a single message. POP3 was released in 1988 and is still in use as of 2009. POP3 was very similar to POP2; however, some parts of the protocol were refined and updated.
Function
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A POP server is a server that runs a version of the Post Office Protocol. POP servers are used for one specific task--running the POP. POP clients such as Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird and Apple Mail connect to the POP server and retrieve mail messages. POP must be running on the server constantly in order to receive messages.
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Significance
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POP servers allow users to receive messages while their computer is not running. Messages are stored on the POP server until a POP client accesses the server and retrieves the messages. Since POP is a fairly straight-forward protocol, the server running it does not have to have a large amount of memory or processing power.
Features
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In 2009, the current version of the Post Office Protocol is POP3. POP3 offers many security features that were not found in the original versions of POP. Messages can be encrypted and transferred over secure connections in POP3. This allows for a much safer and secure message transfer. POP3 supports several types of authentication, including encrypted transmission of passwords, a feature not found in the original POP.
Potential
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POP4 is the proposed successor to POP3. The most significant new feature proposed in POP4 is the ability to have folders on the server and the functionality to create, move and delete them. Another feature is partial message retrieval. This will be beneficial with cell phones that access email. Instead of downloading the entire message, only the first few lines could be received to save on data transfer.
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References
- Photo Credit dave : MorgueFile.com
