When a mail server receives a message destined for a local client, it stores that message and waits for the client to collect the mail. There are several ways for mail clients to collect their mail. They can use programs that access the mail server files directly or collect their mail using one of many network protocols. The most popular mail client protocols are POP3 and IMAP4, which both use TCP to transport data. Even though mail clients use these special protocols to collect mail, they almost always use SMTP to send mail. Since two different protocols, and possibly two different servers, are used to send and receive mail, it is possible that mail clients can perform one task and not the other. Therefore, it is usually a good idea to troubleshoot e-mail sending problems separately from e-mail receiving problems.

When checking the configuration of a mail client, verify that the SMTP and POP or IMAP settings are correctly configured. A good way to test if a mail server is reachable is to Telnet to the SMTP port (25) or to the POP3 port (110). The following command format is used at the Windows command line to test the ability to reach the SMTP service on the mail server at IP address 192.168.10.5:

C:\>telnet 192.168.10.5 25

The SMTP protocol does not offer much in the way of security and does not require any authentication. Administrators often do not allow hosts that are not part of their network to use their SMTP server to send or relay mail. This is to prevent unauthorized users from using their servers as mail relays.

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