SMTP, POP3, IMAP

Chapter 2: Application layer

 2.1 Principles of network  2.6 P2P applications
applications  2.7 Socket programming
 2.2 Web and HTTP with TCP
 2.3 FTP  2.8 Socket programming
 2.4 Electronic Mail with UDP
 SMTP, POP3, IMAP
 2.5 DNS

2: Application2 Layer
 Electronic Mail outgoing
message queue

user mailbox
user
• Three major components: agent
 user agents
mail
user
 mail servers server
agent
 simple mail transfer protocol: SMTP
SMTP mail
server user
SMTP agent
User Agent
 a.k.a. “mail reader” SMTP
 composing, editing, reading mail mail
user
messages agent
server
 e.g., Eudora, Outlook, elm,
user
Mozilla Thunderbird
agent
 outgoing, incoming messages user
stored on server agent

2: Application3 Layer
 Electronic Mail: mail servers

• Mail Servers user

agent
 mailbox contains incoming
mail
messages for user user
server
agent
 message queue of outgoing SMTP
(to be sent) mail messages mail
server user
 SMTP protocol between mail
SMTP agent
servers to send email
messages SMTP
 client: sending mail server mail
user
agent
 “server”: receiving mail server

server
user
agent
user
agent

2: Application4 Layer
 Electronic Mail: SMTP [RFC 2821]
 uses TCP to reliably transfer email message from client to server,
port 25
 direct transfer: sending server to receiving server
 three phases of transfer
 handshaking (greeting)
 transfer of messages
 closure
 command/response interaction
 commands: ASCII text
 response: status code and phrase
 messages must be in 7-bit ASCII

2: Application5 Layer
 Scenario: Alice sends message to Bob
• 1) Alice uses UA to compose • 4) SMTP client sends Alice’s
message and “to” message over the TCP
bob@someschool.edu connection
• 2) Alice’s UA sends message • 5) Bob’s mail server places
to her mail server; message the message in Bob’s
placed in message queue mailbox
• 6) Bob invokes his user
• 3) Client side of SMTP
agent to read message
opens TCP connection with
Bob’s mail server

1 mail
mail
server user
user server
2 agent
agent 3 6
4
5

2: Application6 Layer
 Sample SMTP interaction
S: 220 hamburger.edu
C: HELO crepes.fr
S: 250 Hello crepes.fr, pleased to meet you
C: MAIL FROM: <alice@crepes.fr>
S: 250 alice@crepes.fr... Sender ok
C: RCPT TO: <bob@hamburger.edu>
S: 250 bob@hamburger.edu ... Recipient ok
C: DATA
S: 354 Enter mail, end with "." on a line by itself
C: Do you like ketchup?
C: How about pickles?
C: .
S: 250 Message accepted for delivery
C: QUIT
S: 221 hamburger.edu closing connection

2: Application Layer 7
 Mail message format

• SMTP: protocol for exchanging

email msgs header
• RFC 822: standard for text blank
message format: line
 header lines, e.g.,
 To:
 From:
body
 Subject:
different from SMTP commands!
 body
 the “message”, ASCII
characters only
 Message format: multimedia extensions
 MIME: multimedia mail extension, RFC 2045, 2056
 additional lines in msg header declare MIME content type
 Types: Uuencode, base64, Quoted-printable

From: alice@crepes.fr
MIME version To: bob@hamburger.edu
Subject: Picture of yummy crepe.
method used MIME-Version: 1.0
to encode data Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
Content-Type: image/jpeg
multimedia data
type, subtype, base64 encoded data .....
.........................
parameter declaration ......base64 encoded data
encoded data

2: Application9 Layer
 MIME

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 Mail access protocols
SMTP SMTP access
user
user protocol
agent
agent

sender’s mail receiver’s mail

server server

 SMTP: delivery/storage to receiver’s server

 Mail access protocol: retrieval from server
 POP: Post Office Protocol [RFC 1939]
• authorization (agent <-->server) and download
 IMAP: Internet Mail Access Protocol [RFC 1730]
• more features (more complex)
• manipulation of stored msgs on server
 HTTP: gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail, etc.
 POP3 and SMTP

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 POP3 protocol
S: +OK POP3 server ready
C: user bob
S: +OK
• authorization phase C: pass hungry
 client commands: S: +OK user successfully logged on
 user: declare username C: list
 pass: password S: 1 498
 server responses S: 2 912
 +OK
S: .
C: retr 1
 -ERR
S: <message 1 contents>
transaction phase, client: S: .
C: dele 1
 list: list message numbers
C: retr 2
 retr: retrieve message by S: <message 1 contents>
number S: .
 dele: delete C: dele 2
 quit C: quit
S: +OK POP3 server signing off

2: Application13Layer
 POP3 (more) and IMAP
• More about POP3 • IMAP
 Previous example uses  Keep all messages in one
“download and delete” place: the server
mode.  Allows user to organize
 Bob cannot re-read e-mail if messages in folders
he changes client  IMAP keeps user state
 “Download-and-keep”: across sessions:
copies of messages on  names of folders and
different clients mappings between
 POP3 is stateless across message IDs and folder
sessions name

2: Application14Layer
 SMTP, FTP and HTTP
• Connections:  All have ASCII
– All use TCP command/response
– SMTP uses persistent interaction, status codes
connections  HTTP: each object
encapsulated in its own
– FTP persistent control response msg
channel, non-persistent data  FTP: one data channel per
channel per file. file
– HTTP uses both persistent  SMTP: multiple objects sent
in multipart msg
and non-persistent channels
• Data Flow
– FTP and HTTP: pull (user
requests files)
– SMTP: push (email sent to
receiver without request,
result can be spam!)

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