HAWASA UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF

TECHNOLOGY SCHOOL OF INFORMATICS

DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
SYSTEM AND NETWORK ADMINISTRATION
INDIVISUAL ASSIGNMENT ONE

NAME ID
YIBELTALYIGREM…………………………………IT/0111/10

SUBMITTED TO MR. H/Mariam A.

SUBMITTED DATE FEBURARY 2021
 1 Simple Mail Transfer Protocol [SMTP]

Introduction

The Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is an internet standard communication

protocol for electronic mail transmission. Mail servers and other message transfer
agents use SMTP to send and receive mail messages.

Since SMTP's introduction in 1981, it has been updated, modified and extended
multiple times. The protocol version in common use today has extensible structure
with various extensions for authentication, encryption, binary data transfer,
and internationalized email addresses.

User-level email clients typically use SMTP only for sending messages to a mail

server for relaying, and typically submit outgoing email to the mail server on port
587 or 465 per RFC 8314. For retrieving messages, IMAP and POP3 are standard,
but proprietary servers also often implement proprietary protocols, e.g., Exchange
ActiveSync.

SMTP servers commonly use the Transmission Control Protocol on port

number 25 (for plaintext) and 587 (for encrypted communications).Email is
emerging as one of the most valuable services on the internet today. Most internet
systems use SMTP as a method to transfer mail from one user to another. SMTP
is a push protocol and is used to send the mail whereas POP (post office protocol)
or IMAP (internet message access protocol) are used to retrieve those mails at the
receiver’s side.

 SMTP Fundamentals
SMTP is an application layer protocol. The client who wants to send the mail
opens a TCP connection to the SMTP server and then sends the mail across the
connection.
The SMTP server is always on listening mode. As soon as it listens for a TCP
connection from any client, the SMTP process initiates a connection through port
25. After successfully establishing a TCP connection the client process sends the
mail instantly.
2 Elements of the mail system

Component Description

forward files Files that you can set up in a user's home directory to

redirect mail or to send mail to a program automatically

Mailbox A file on a mail server that is the final destination for

email messages

mail addresses Address that contains the name of the recipient and the
system to which a mail message is delivered

mail aliases An alternate name that is used in a mail address

mail queue A collection of mail messages that needs to be processed

by the mail server

Postmaster A special mail alias that is used to report problems and to

ask questions about the mail service

Sendmail A file that contains all the information necessary for mail
configuration file routing
 3 Anatomy of an email message
 Address Fields

Before you send your emails off you need to address them. There are three
fields at the top of emails: To, CC, and BCC.

TO: The “To” field is simple, this is who the email is to. The email address of
the person or people who you are sending the email to goes here. If you see
your name here, the email is for you. If you receive an email and your name is
in the “To” field you are expected to respond to it.

CC: It stands for Carbon Copy. Have you ever filled out one of those forms
that has three sheets of paper—white on top, then pink, then yellow? The ones
where you write on the top sheet and press down hard so the text you write gets
copied to the pink and yellow sheets behind it? The word Carbon Copy comes
from this. Carbon is used to make the duplicate, so the sheets that get the text
copied them are called carbon copies.

BCC: BCC stands for Blind Carbon Copy. If someone’s name is in the BCC
field it means that they receive the email, but no one else on the email other
than the sender knows they have received it. This is used if you want someone
to see an email that you have sent but not have the person in the To or CC
fields to know you have included them

Replying to emails

When you reply to emails you are given the choice of Reply, Reply All, or
Forward.

Reply: This is the typical default setting for most emails. Any time you hit
Reply to an email it is sent back to any person listed in the To field, but it
will not be sent to anyone in the CC or BCC field.
Reply All: This should be used for emails with multiple people included on the
email in the CC field, when you want all original recipients to also receive your
reply.

Forward: It is sometimes the case that someone not included on an original

email will benefit from reading it. If you want to send an email to someone not
in the original email chain, you can choose to Forward it. Once you select
forward, you are able to fill in the To, CC, and BCC fields as you wish.

 Salutations and Valedictions

A salutation is the greeting at the start of an email.  The salutation can be

formal or informal, depending on who you are writing to. For someone you
know well and work with often, a simple introduction like, “Hello” or “Hi”
works well. When you are writing to supervisors, potential clients, or people
who you do not yet know, something more formal is appropriate. The most
common formal salutation is “Dear.” In situations where you are writing an
email to a person whose name you do not know, “To whom it may concern” is
an appropriate salutation.

 What to call the person you are writing to

Doing this correctly will not do anything to make a good impression, but doing
it incorrectly can make a very bad impression. In your salutation you will want
to use a name. Rather than just Hi!  It should say Hi Joe  or Dear Dr. Russell. If
you are familiar with someone you can call them by their first name, otherwise,
use their formal title.

For women this is Ms. (never  Mrs. or Miss), for men this is Mr. If you are not
sure the person’s gender identity, or they prefer not to ascribe to one, you can
type their whole name. If the person has a professional title, such as Dr. or
Professor or Judge, use it.

Sending attachments
Conclusion
4 SMTP Codes
The following lists are Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) response status
codes. Status codes are issued by a server in response to a client's request made to
the server.

 Basic status code

A "Basic Status Code" SMTP reply consists of a three digit number (transmitted as
three numeric characters) followed by some text. The number is for use by
automata (e.g., email clients) to determine what state to enter next; the text ("Text
Part") is for the human user.

The first digit denotes whether the response is good, bad, or incomplete.

 2yz (Positive Completion Reply): The requested action has been

successfully completed.
 3yz (Positive Intermediate Reply): The command has been accepted, but the
requested action is being held in abeyance, pending receipt of further
information.
 4yz (Transient Negative Completion Reply): The command was not
accepted, and the requested action did not occur. However, the error
condition is temporary, and the action may be requested again.
 5yz (Permanent Negative Completion Reply): The command was not
accepted and the requested action did not occur. The SMTP client SHOULD
NOT repeat the exact request (in the same sequence).
The second digit encodes responses in specific categories:

 x0z (Syntax): These replies refer to syntax errors, syntactically correct

commands that do not fit any functional category, and unimplemented or
superfluous commands.
 x1z (Information): These are replies to requests for information.
 x2z (Connections): These are replies referring to the transmission channel.
 x3z : Unspecified.
 x4z : Unspecified.
 x5z (Mail system): These replies indicate the status of the receiver mail
system.

 Enhanced status code

The Basic Status Codes have been in SMTP from the beginning, with RFC 821 in
1982, but were extended rather extensively, and haphazardly so that by
2003 RFC 3463 rather grumpily noted that: "SMTP suffers some scars from
history, most notably the unfortunate damage to the reply code extension
mechanism by uncontrolled use."

RFC 3463 defines a separate series of enhanced mail system status codes which is

intended to be better structured, consisting of three numerical fields separated by
".", as follows:

class "." subject "." detail

class = "2" / "4" / "5"

subject = 1 to 3 digits
detail = 1 to 3 digits

The classes are defined as follows:

 2.XXX.XXX Success: Report of a positive delivery action.

 4.XXX.XXX Persistent Transient Failure: Message as sent is valid, but
persistence of some temporary conditions has caused abandonment or delay.
 5.XXX.XXX Permanent Failure: Not likely to be resolved by resending the
message in current form.

In general the class identifier MUST match the first digit of the Basic Status Code
to which it applies.

The subjects are defined as follows:

 X.0.XXX Other or Undefined Status

 X.1.XXX Addressing Status
 X.2.XXX Mailbox Status
 X.3.XXX Mail System Status
 X.4.XXX Network and Routing Status
 X.5.XXX Mail Delivery Protocol Status
 X.6.XXX Message Content or Media Status
 X.7.XXX Security or Policy Status

The meaning of the "detail" field depends on the class and the subject, and are
listed in RFC 3463 and RFC 5248.

A server capable of replying with an Enhanced Status Code MUST preface

(prepend) the Text Part of SMTP Server responses with the Enhanced Status Code
followed by one or more spaces. For example, the "221 Bye" reply (after QUIT
command) MUST be sent as "221 2.0.0 Bye" instead.

The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) maintains the official registry

of these enhanced status codes.

 Common status codes

This section list some of the more commonly encountered SMTP Status Codes.
This list is not exhaustive, and the actual text message (outside of the 3-field
Enhanced Status Code) might be different.

— 2yz Positive completion

211 System status, or system help reply

214 Help message (A response to the HELP command)

220 <domain> Service ready

221 <domain> Service closing transmission channel

221 2.0.0 Goodbye

235 2.7.0 Authentication succeeded

250 Requested mail action okay, completed

251 User not local; will forward

252 Cannot verify the user, but it will try to deliver the message anyway

— 3yz Positive intermediate

334 (Server challenge - the text part contains the Base64-encoded challenge)

354 Start mail input

— 4yz Transient negative completion

"Transient Negative" means the error condition is temporary, and the action may
be requested again. The sender should return to the beginning of the command
sequence (if any).

The accurate meaning of "transient" needs to be agreed upon between the two
different sites (receiver- and sender-SMTP agents) must agree on the
interpretation. Each reply in this category might have a different time value, but the
SMTP client SHOULD try again.

421 Service not available, closing transmission channel (This may be a

reply to any command if the service knows it must shut down)

432 4.7.12 A password transition is needed

450 Requested mail action not taken: mailbox unavailable (e.g., mailbox

busy or temporarily blocked for policy reasons)

451 Requested action aborted: local error in processing

451 4.4.1 IMAP server unavailable

452 Requested action not taken: insufficient system storage

454 4.7.0 Temporary authentication failure

455 Server unable to accommodate parameters

— 5yz Permanent negative completion

The SMTP client SHOULD NOT repeat the exact request (in the same sequence).
Even some "permanent" error conditions can be corrected, so the human user may
want to direct the SMTP client to reinitiate the command sequence by direct action
at some point in the future.

500 Syntax error, command unrecognized (This may include errors such as

command line too long)

500 5.5.6 Authentication Exchange line is too long

501 Syntax error in parameters or arguments

501 5.5.2 Cannot Base64-decode Client responses

501 5.7.0 Client initiated Authentication Exchange (only when the SASL

mechanism specified that client does not begin the authentication exchange)

502 Command not implemented

503 Bad sequence of commands

504 Command parameter is not implemented

504 5.5.4 Unrecognized authentication type

521 Server does not accept mail

523 Encryption Needed

530 5.7.0 Authentication required

534 5.7.9 Authentication mechanism is too weak

535 5.7.8 Authentication credentials invalid

538 5.7.11 Encryption required for requested authentication mechanism

550 Requested action not taken: mailbox unavailable (e.g., mailbox not

found, no access, or command rejected for policy reasons)
 551 User not local; please try <forward-path>

552 Requested mail action aborted: exceeded storage allocation

553 Requested action not taken: mailbox name not allowed

554 Transaction has failed (Or, in the case of a connection-opening

response, "No SMTP service here")

554 5.3.4 Message too big for system

5 Domain does not accept mail

5 E-mail service considerations

 Delivery Rates & Speeds
 Look for information about delivery speeds and rates

 Troubleshooting Capabilities

 Does the provider capture and store extensive message history and
events?
 Does the provider maintain at least 30 days, but ideally more, of full
content message history?
 Does the provider store the full content of sent emails?
 Does the provider accept the deliverability burden?

 Developer API & Documentation

 Is the documentation organized and easy to find?

 Are there extensive client libraries to minimize development
effort, and are the libraries well-maintained and current?
  Are there easily searchable help docs?
 Can you monitor delivery performance via API?
 Can you seamlessly integrate with your platform?
 How’s the templating?

 Customer Support

 Does the provider respond to support emails in a timely

manner?
 Does the provider staff their support team with knowledgeable
technicians?
 Does the provider have a robust and informative status page?

 Cost & Value

 Do you have to pay extra for a dedicated IP address?

 Do you have to pay extra for priority support?

6 Sample email sent

Here are three examples of professional emails:

 Email to a new contact

Subject Line: UX Research Contract Opportunity

Hello Amal,

I hope this message finds you well. I’m reaching out today because I’m
managing an application redesign project here at ABC Company and seeking a
skilled UX research contractor to help analyze several sets of usability testing
data.
This is a three-month project beginning February 1st, and we estimate it will
take roughly 15 hours per week. All work can be completed remotely, but you’re
welcome to use our workspace.

Please let me know if you’re interested in this project and we can set up some
time to discuss the details further. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,
Alan Goto
User Experience Director
ABC Company, Inc.

 Email to a group

Subject Line: Marketing Meeting Canceled Hi team,

The marketing strategy meeting scheduled for this afternoon has been canceled.

I apologize for the late notice, but I know everyone will welcome the extra time
back in their day. We will reconvene at our regularly scheduled time next
Wednesday.

Thanks, Gretchen Van Buren Senior Marketing Manager