Dumbass

[k8mnstr.livejournal.com]

I just had a customer call me and let me know that they are having a problem with their incoming SMTP server. I asked the customer if their problem was with sending e-mail or receiving e-mail, they repeated the term "incoming SMTP" server. I tried to explain that there is no such thing as an incoming SMTP server because SMTP is used for OUTGOING e-mail. They said that I didn't know what I was talking about.

Have fun getting your Incoming SMTP mail server fixed. Dumbass.

Comments

[warsawpact.livejournal.com]

lol, poor you. Get many calls like that?

[k8mnstr.livejournal.com]

Not with our Mail Servers. SMTP runs on port 25, and according to IEEE protocol SMTP is used for the sending of e-mail, that is the common setup for every major ISP and WebHost. POP runs on port 110 and is used for the receiving of e-mail. If you check the configuration for all e-mail clients (Eudora, Outlook, OE, Entorouge, etc) The default port for sending e-mail is 25, the SMTP port.

TCP/IP ports are not interchangable, therefore it's impossible to have an "incoming SMTP server" since Simple Mail Transfer Protocol is used for the sending of e-mail and not the receiving. ^.~

[methedras.livejournal.com]

More than likely your POP3 and SMTP servers are on the same IP.

[stevenglassman.livejournal.com]

On our system? An SMTP process hands the mail to another program which decides where the mail should go, which then hands the mail to *another* program which writes it into a spool on the Webserver.

(I work at the same Mr Company as loosingmyfaith...)

[thecrazyfinn.livejournal.com]

THe MTA (Mail transport agent, aka SMTP server) hands the incoming mail to the Local delivery agent, which delivers the email to the users local mailbox(can be of several types, mbox is one of the more common types).

The POP3 server is a MUA (Mail user agent, aka mail client) which merely acts as relay for the remote POP3 client to access the local mailbox( you can actually log into a POP3 server via telnetting to port 110 and read your mail like that).

SMTP = incoming.

[brokengoose.livejournal.com]

TCP/IP ports are not interchangable, therefore it's impossible to have an "incoming SMTP server" since Simple Mail Transfer Protocol is used for the sending of e-mail and not the receiving.

When I want to send you mail, I connect to the SMTP server (yes, on port 25) at your domain. Your SMTP server then passes the mail to your POP/IMAP/Exchange/whatever server. You then connect to the POP/whatever server and retrieve your mail.

It's possible that when I send a message, I send it to my local outgoing SMTP server, but that's not necessary. It's entirely possible for the machine sitting in front of me to send directly to the SMTP server at your domain.

So, there most certainly is such a thing as an incoming SMTP server. In fact, it makes more sense to say that -all- SMTP servers are incoming. It's just that some of them only accept incoming messages from the same domain (the ones that you're thinking of).

[thecrazyfinn.livejournal.com]

According to the IETF RFC(IEEE has nothing to do with Internet standards), SMTP is used for the sending and the receipt of email. POP3 simply allows remote delivery of received email, and depending on scale may be the same server as the incoming SMTP server (AKA the primary MX for your domain) or on a seperate server with inter-server delivery with SMTP or LMTP). SMTP servers receive mail on port 25. Telnet to a mail server on Port 25 and do a HELO and see the banner you get. Sending may be on port 25 or a random high-numbered port, depending on configuration, but is normally from a random high-numbered port.

POP3 is simply a remote mailbox access protocol, not a delivery protocol. It simply replaces local mail reading on the mail server.

My Outgoing SMTP server is mx.ca.mci.com
This is the server I use for sending mail. It is in fact my ISP's mail farm, as I prefer not to configure my local SMTP server to relay mail from my laptop in it's wanderings.

My incoming SMTP server is bluewall.mykroft.com
This is the server that receives mail for my domains. It is also managed by me.

My IMAP server is also bluewall.mykroft.com (I don't use POP3, IMAP is a more intelligent remote mailbox access protocol which allows remote storage of all email, with folders and access to the same mail from multiple machines).

[methedras.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you're right.
The only thing defining SMTP or POP3 is the port.

Otherwise a mail server is classified as an SMTP server, no matter what direction the mail is coming/going.

[thecrazyfinn.livejournal.com]

No, POP3 is a different protocol running on a different port and connecting to a different daemon. It's also a MUA, while SMTP daemons are MTA's.

[mtlchick.livejournal.com]

I've had that same call. I find sometimes the toughest part of tech support is trying to decipher what the user wants from the technology terms that he picked up and is now randomly throwing at you. I wish I could think up an example off hand but I've been struck dumb by some of them.

[westleyd.livejournal.com]

How about the people that call the CPU/case a modem? Is that a good example?

[tjernobyl.livejournal.com]

Or the compressor, because it has a fan in it.

I get sick of people calling it the hard drive. I like to correct them with "the computer".

[norelevance.livejournal.com]

holy crap... just tell him it stands for SEND MAIL TO PEOPLE and he might get the drift.