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The document provides a comprehensive overview of electronic mail (email), detailing its components such as email addresses, clients, servers, and the roles of User Agents (UA) and Message Transfer Agents (MTA). It discusses the advantages and disadvantages of email, including its convenience and risks like spam, and explains the structure of an email, including the envelope, header, and body. Additionally, it highlights the services provided by email systems and emphasizes the importance of responsible email usage.

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5 views

email

The document provides a comprehensive overview of electronic mail (email), detailing its components such as email addresses, clients, servers, and the roles of User Agents (UA) and Message Transfer Agents (MTA). It discusses the advantages and disadvantages of email, including its convenience and risks like spam, and explains the structure of an email, including the envelope, header, and body. Additionally, it highlights the services provided by email systems and emphasizes the importance of responsible email usage.

Uploaded by

vijeta malik
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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E-Mail

Dr. Tej Kaur


Introduction

• Electronic mail, commonly known as email, is a method of exchanging


messages over the internet.
• Includes:
• 1. An email address: This is a unique identifier for each user, typically
in the format of [email protected].
• 2. An email client: This is a software program used to send, receive
and manage emails, such as Gmail, Outlook, or Apple Mail.
• 3. An email server: This is a computer system responsible for storing
and forwarding emails to their intended recipients i.e. MTA.
• Electronic Mail (e-mail) is one of most widely used services of Internet.
• This service allows an Internet user to send a message in formatted
manner (mail) to the other Internet user in any part of world.
• Message in mail not only contain text, but it also contains images,
audio and videos data.
• The person who is sending mail is called sender and person who
receives mail is called recipient.
• It is just like postal mail service.
• Components of E-Mail System : User Agent (UA), Message Transfer
Agent (MTA), Mail Box, and Spool file.
User Agent (UA) :

• The UA is normally a program which is used to send


and receive mail. Sometimes, it is called as mail
reader.
• It accepts variety of commands for composing,
receiving and replying to messages as well as for
manipulation of the mailboxes.
• Examples of mail user agent (MUA): Gmail, apple mail,
etc.
Message Transfer Agent (MTA) :
• MTA is actually responsible for transfer of mail from one
system to another.
• To send a mail, a system must have client MTA and
system MTA.
• It transfer mail to mailboxes of recipients if they are
connected in the same machine.
• It delivers mail to peer MTA if destination mailbox is in
another machine.
• The delivery from one MTA to another MTA is done
by Simple Mail Transfer Protocol.
Mailbox:
• It is a file on local hard drive to collect mails.
• Delivered mails are present in this file.
• The user can read it delete it according to his/her
requirement.
• To use e-mail system each user must have a mailbox .
• Access to mailbox is only to owner of mailbox.
Spool file :
• This file contains mails that are to be sent. User agent appends
outgoing mails in this file using SMTP.
• MTA extracts pending mail from spool file for their delivery. E-
mail allows one name, an alias, to represent several different e-
mail addresses. It is known as mailing list, Whenever user have to
sent a message, system checks recipient’s name against alias
database.
• If mailing list is present for defined alias, separate messages, one
for each entry in the list, must be prepared and handed to MTA.
• If for defined alias, there is no such mailing list is present, name
itself becomes naming address and a single message is delivered
to mail transfer entity.
Services provided by E-mail system :
• Composition – The composition refer to process that creates
messages and answers. For composition any kind of text editor can be
used.
• Transfer – Transfer means sending procedure of mail i.e. from the
sender to recipient.
• Reporting – Reporting refers to confirmation for delivery of mail. It
help user to check whether their mail is delivered, lost or rejected.
• Displaying – It refers to present mail in form that is understand by the
user.
• Disposition – This step concern with recipient that what will recipient
do after receiving mail i.e. save mail, delete before reading or delete
after reading.
Advantages of email:
• Convenient and fast communication with individuals or groups
globally.
• Easy to store and search for past messages.
• Ability to send and receive attachments such as documents, images,
and videos.
• Cost-effective compared to traditional mail and fax.
• Available 24/7.
Disadvantages of email:
• Risk of spam and phishing attacks.
• Overwhelming amount of emails can lead to information overload.
• Can lead to decreased face-to-face communication and loss of
personal touch.
• Potential for miscommunication due to lack of tone and body
language in written messages.
• Technical issues, such as server outages, can disrupt email service.
• It is important to use email responsibly and effectively, for example,
by keeping the subject line clear and concise, using proper etiquette,
and protecting against security threats.
Envelope

Format of E-mail Header

Body
1. Envelope:
• The envelope part encapsulates the message.
• It contains all information that is required for sending any e-mail such
as destination address, priority and security level.
• The envelope is used by MTAs for routing message.
2. Header:
• The header consists of a series of lines. Each header field consists of a
single line of ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) text
specifying field name, colon and value. The main header fields related to
message transport are :
• To: It specifies the DNS address of the primary recipient(s).
• Cc : It refers to carbon copy. It specifies address of secondary recipient(s).
• BCC: It refers to blind carbon copy. It is very similar to Cc. The only
difference between Cc and Bcc is that it allow user to send copy to the
third party without primary and secondary recipient knowing about this.
• From : It specifies name of person who wrote message.
• Sender : It specifies e-mail address of person who has sent message.
• Received : It refers to identity of sender’s, data and also time message was
received. It also contains the information which is used to find bugs in
routing system.
• Return-Path: It is added by the message transfer agent. This part is used to
specify how to get back to the sender.
3. Body:
• The body of a message contains text that is the actual
content/message that needs to be sent, such as “hi…how are you…be
there on time …. See you.”
• The message body also may include signatures or automatically
generated text that is inserted by the sender’s email system.
Header Meaning

To: E-mail address of primary receipt(s).

Cc: E-mail address of secondary receipt(s).

Bcc: E-mail address for blind carbon copies.

From: Person or people who have created a message.

Sender: E-mail address of the actual sender.

Received: It is used to specify how to get back to the sender.

Return-Path It can be used to identify a path back to the sender.


Header Meaning

Date: Date and time when the message was sent.

It contains e-mail address to which replies should be


Reply-To:
sent.

It refers to the unique number for referencing this


Message-Id:
message later.

In-Reply-To: Message-Id of a message to which this is as a reply.

References: It contains other relevant message-ids.

Keywords: User-chosen keywords.

It contains short summary of message for one-line


Subject:
display.

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