When you send an E-Mail. What happens ??

To send an email, you have to have an internet service provider, which has a special computer called a mail server. This mail server is responsible for collecting emails from their customers.  When you click the send button, your computer connects to the mail server and sends the message along with the list of recipients.

The email is transmitted with Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). SMTP is a language that your mail programme uses to communicate the the mail server. SMTP lets the mail programme choose the list of recipients and the text of the message.

http://support.gfi.com/manuals/en/me12/images/perimeter%20smtp%20relay%20server%20setup.bmp.png

The mail server that reads the SMTP is frequently referred to as a Outgoing SMTP Server. Destination SMTP Server.

The person who you are sending an email too also will have to have an internet service provider, and they will have a mail server too.

When the SMTP server decides when its is time to transmit your email over to the other recipients, it connects to the destination mail server and sends the message to the recipient. They use SMTP to speak to each other , and therefore the destination mail server is often called the Destination SMTP Server.

Destination SMTP server stores the email message until your recipient decides to check if some email arrived.

When the email is going to open/read , their email programme connects to the destination SMTP server and retrieves mail from the server.  



image URL : http://www.bleepstatic.com/tutorials/allaboutemail/smtp.jpg

Receiving the messages is handled by  POP3(Post Office Protocol 3), or IMAP(Internet Message Access 

                                              

                                                                     
Protocol). IMAP is the newer protocol, allowing you to view and sort messages on the mail server, without downloading them to your hard drive. POP3 is a language which is used to translate the email and be read. Without this you wouldn't be able to read the email.