FN-FORUM: Email guide.

date posted 4th August 2004 20:08

Got fed up explaining for the umpteenth time that the "from:"=20
address is anything you like and that mail from server X is
forwarded etc etc and ended up writing the following guide.

Then is struck me that it may be useful to others on the list,
and also that some of youse might have some constructive
criticism.


All about email, a Whitelamp guide
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Sending it, forwarding it, receiving it. This is not a guide=20
to how to set up your email client (although there are links=20
at the end). It's more "why" and "what" than "how". There's
a glossary at the end.

Sending email.
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1. You can set your "from" address to be anything you like.

Yes, even [EMAIL REMOVED] This is the address
that replies will be sent to (unless you specify a separate=20
"reply-to" address in your email "client" (program such as
Outlook Express)).

2. Most email clients allow you to set up different "accounts"
or "identities" or "mailboxes" with different "from" addresses.
This is really useful for organising your email.

3. In order to send email you use an "SMTP server".

This will generally be the SMTP server provided for you by your=20
ISP. In other words, if you are connected to the net by NTL,
then you will set your client's outgoing mail server to be=20
smtp.ntlworld.com. Generally speaking you will not be required=20
to set up a username / password for your ISP's SMTP server.
To prevent spammers using the server, they check that you are=20
connected to their network. For example, if you are on a=20
Freeserve dial-up, you can't use BT's email servers to send
mail, and vice versa.

The alternative is an SMTP server provided by, for example,=20
UKservers: smtp.ukservers.net. In this case you *do* need a=20
username and password to use it. You may have to specify a=20
different port number to the default, as some ISPs prevent=20
you connecting to SMTP servers other than their own. (This=20
is to try and prevent spam). Typically this will be port 225
instead of the default port 25. [See below for more on ports
and IP addresses].

4. Note that you only use one SMTP server at a time.

Email forwarding.
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Somewhere for each domain ("joethetaxi.co.uk") there is a machine=20
that handles mail for that domain. This is often *not* the same=20
machine as the webserver for that domain.

If the machine accepts the email (it might reject it if it doesn't
recognise the username, for example) it can do various things with
it. It can hold on to it for collection (see below), it can pass=20
it on to a server for collection from that machine, or it can=20
"forward" it to a completely different email address.

Note that if [EMAIL REMOVED] email is forwarded to=20
[EMAIL REMOVED] it will still say "To: [EMAIL REMOVED]
when it arrives.


Receiving email.
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1. You can receive email from as many different accounts as you want.
In each case you will need to have a username and password.
It doesn't matter where or how you are connected to the net.

2. The username is often the same as the first part of one of your
email addresses. For instance, Joe Bloggs is an NTLworld customer.
His username is "joe.bloggs" and password is "44rdv4rk23". His=20
email client has an "NTL" account set up that has the username /=20
password as above, the "hostname" or "server name" is "pop.ntlworld.com"
and the port number is 110, the standard port for POP email. POP is=20
a bit like SMTP - it's a protocol ("language") but instead of sending
email, it's for receiving it. There's other protocols for collecting=20
email such as IMAP, just so's you know.

Joe's main email address is [EMAIL REMOVED] However Joe=20
has another NTL email address - [EMAIL REMOVED]

This is collected in the same way and at the same time as email sent=20
to his "normal" NTL address.

3. Joe also has a website at www.joethetaxi.co.uk. All mail sent to=20
joethetaxi.co.uk is forwarded (as above) to [EMAIL REMOVED]

Joe has set up his email client to save his email into different
folders based on what it says in the "To:" bit. In other words,
mail to [EMAIL REMOVED] ends up in his "joe the taxi"=20
folder. When he replies to it, it has [EMAIL REMOVED]
as the "from address".

(Note for Outlook users: if you're using accounts rather than=20
folders to sort your mail, i.e. you have more than one account=20
that is set up to collect email from the one source, only one
of them should be set up to actually collect the mail. If more
than one account tries to collect mail at the same time, things=20
get mighty confused).

Ports and IP addresses and DNS
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An IP address (something that looks like "18.181.0.31") is a bit=20
like a postcode - it's a pretty specific location but it's=20
not very informative. That's why we still use streetnames and=20
townnames on envelopes - they are like the "www.example.com" that=20
you type into a web browser.

DNS (Domain Name System) is the process by which human-friendly
addresses ("www.mit.edu") get turned into machine-friendly ones
("18.181.0.31"). (Try it - put that number into the location bar=20
of a browser and see what you get!)

A port is like the name of the person that's written on the envelope.
If you want to talk to the webserver at a particular address, you=20
talk to port 80. If you want to send mail, port 25. And so on.

Setting up Outlook, Outlook Express, Mac Mail
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http://www.virtualnames.co.uk/faq.php3?id=3DMBOXUSAGE


Glossary
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client: Or email client. Program such as Outlook.
domain: In our DNS example, "mit.edu" is the domain.
DNS: Domain Name System See above.
hostname: a machine's name. In our DNS example, "www" is the hostname.
IP: Internet Protocol.
ISP: Internet Service Provider. E.g. Freeserve, BTinternet, NTL etc.
SMTP: Simple Mail Transport Protocol. Yes, it really is Simple. If=20
it wasn't so Simple, we wouldn't all get so much spam.

Copyright
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Copyright 2004 whitelamp - www.whitelamp.com. Freely distributable=20
if distributed whole and intact, including this copyright notice.