Email Servers

The email client on your computer connects to an email server. The server has a text file for each contact on your email list. When an email is sent, the client connects to the server and sends the recipient's name, the sender's name and the body of the message. The server can also save the date and time of the message. When you want to read your email the client will ask the server for the files that comprise the emails. The server can then send a copy of the file and erase it or save it when you are finished. Email consists of two different servers running on a server machine. One is an SMTP server, which stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, and this handles outgoing mail. The other is an IMAP or POP3 server, which both deal with incoming mail. POP means Post Office Protocol, and IMAP represents Internet Mail Access Protocol. Each server is assigned a separate port on the computer system.