Protocols

Question 1

IMAP

Answer 1

accessing e-mail from your local server. IMAP is a client/server protocol in which e-mail is received and held for you by your Internet server. As this requires only a small data transfer this works well even over a slow connection such as a modem. Only if you request to read a specific email message will it be downloaded from the server. You can also create and manipulate folders or mailboxes on the server, delete messages etc.

Question 2

POP

Answer 2

provides a simple, standardized way for users to access mailboxes and download messages to their computers.
all your eMail messages will be downloaded from the mail server to your local computer. You can choose to leave copies of your eMails on the server as well. The advantage is that once your messages are downloaded you can cut the internet connection and read your eMail at your leisure without incuring further communication costs. On the other hand you might have transferred a lot of message (including spam or viruses) in which you are not at all interested at this point.

Question 3

SMTP

Answer 3

used by the Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) to deliver your eMail to the recipient’s mail server. The SMTP protocol can only be used to send emails, not to receive them.

Question 4

HTTP

Answer 4

not a protocol dedicated for email communications, but it can be used for accessing your mailbox. Also called web based email, this protocol can be used to compose or retrieve emails from an your account. Hotmail is a good example of using HTTP as an email protocol - application layer