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Within the Internet email system, a message transfer agent (MTA), mail transfer agent, or mail relay is software that transfers electronic mail messages from one computer to another using the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol.
An e-mail agent is a program that is part of the e-mail infrastructure, from composition by sender, to transfer across the network, to viewing by recipient. The best-known are message user agents (MUAs, aka, e-mail clients) and message transfer agents (MTAs, programs that transfer e-mail between clients), but finer divisions exist.
To allow the server to send external emails, an MTA such as Sendmail, Postfix, or Exim is required. Mail is read either through direct access ( shell login) or mailbox protocols like POP and IMAP. Unix-based MTA software largely acts to enhance or replace the respective system's native MTA.
The email client is usually set up automatically to connect to the user's mail server, which is typically either an MSA or an MTA, two variations of the SMTP protocol. The email client which uses the SMTP protocol creates an authentication extension, which the mail server uses to authenticate the sender.
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You can use a third-party email app to download a copy of your AOL Mail email or to send and receive emails, if you'd prefer a different interface. There are two different protocols you can choose when setting up a third-party email app: POP or IMAP.
IMAP is a method used to retrieve emails from a mail server. Your messages are stored on the server, and each time you check your inbox, the email client contacts the server to get your messages. Unlike POP3, your messages aren't downloaded to your computer or device, thus you can sync your account on multiple platforms.
Each process is an MTA (an SMTP server) in its own right. The boundary MTA uses DNS to look up the MX (mail exchanger) record for the recipient's domain (the part of the email address on the right of @). The MX record contains the name of the target MTA.
The MTA launched a new email and text system Monday, allowing straphangers to get custom alerts about delays on their commutes.
Many current email users do not run MTA, MDA or MUA programs themselves, but use a web-based email platform, such as Gmail or Yahoo! Mail , that performs the same tasks. [67] Such webmail interfaces allow users to access their mail with any standard web browser , from any computer, rather than relying on a local email client.