What is mail sever fo an address
A mail server is a computer system that handles the sending and receiving of email messages over the internet. It's like a post office for email, where messages are stored, sorted, and delivered to their intended recipients.
A mail server typically performs the following functions:
- Receiving: It receives email messages from other mail servers or from users' email clients (like Outlook or Gmail).
- Storing: It stores the received email messages in a database or file system.
- Sorting: It sorts the email messages based on their destination email addresses.
- Delivering: It delivers the sorted email messages to the intended recipients' email servers or email clients.
- Relaying: It relays email messages between different mail servers or networks.
Mail servers can be categorized into two main types:
- Mail Transfer Agent (MTA): An MTA is responsible for transferring email messages between mail servers. Examples of MTAs include Postfix, Sendmail, and Exim.
- Mail Delivery Agent (MDA): An MDA is responsible for delivering email messages to users' email clients or local mailboxes. Examples of MDAs include Procmail and Fetchmail.
In the context of an email address, a mail server is responsible for handling the email messages sent to and from that address. For example, if you have an email address like [email protected]
, the mail server for that address would be responsible for receiving, storing, sorting, and delivering email messages sent to that address.
Here's a simple example of how it works:
- You send an email to
[email protected]
from your email client. - Your email client connects to the mail server for
example.com
(e.g.,mail.example.com
). - The mail server for
example.com
receives the email message and stores it in its database. - The mail server for
example.com
sorts the email message based on its destination email address ([email protected]
). - The mail server for
example.com
delivers the email message to the mail server forjohn.doe
(e.g.,john.doe@localhost
). - The mail server for
john.doe
delivers the email message to John's email client or local mailbox.
I hope that helps clarify what a mail server is and how it works!