What Is SMTP Authentication?
SMTP is the most common authentication standard used when sending or receiving email through an email server.
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What Does SMTP Stand For?
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SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol.
What Is SMTP Used For?
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Email servers and other mail transfer agents use SMTP to send and receive email messages over the Internet and networks. Often, emails do not go from one person to another. Instead they go through a series of email servers until they reach the final email server where the recipient's email address resides for storage of emails until retrieval.
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What Does SMTP Actually Do?
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SMTP sends and authenticates a username and password to an email server. If that username and password are correct, emails can be sent from it. If it is not, the email will return to the user with an error and not be allowed to go beyond the email server from where it originates.
Do I Need To Use SMTP To Send Email?
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In most cases, the answer is yes. Your email provider, if it is not a free email provider such as Hotmail or Gmail, will provide you with information to place into your email client under the SMTP server for outgoing mail. If they do not provide you with this, you will need to check with them as to what protocol is being used for your outgoing mail.
Do I Use SMTP to Receive Email?
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Most of the time, you do not use SMTP to receive email. Instead, you use either POP3 or IMAP protocols to retrieve email. This information is provided by your email provider.
Other Standards Available
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Other standards for email transmission include Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) and Privacy Enhanced Mail (PEM).
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References
- Photo Credit Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Raul Gonzalo
