usually over
Ethernet. It is a server to server protocol,
so other protocols are used to access the messages. The SMTP
dialog usually happens in the background under the control of
possible to interact with an SMTP server using
telnet to
connect to the normal SMTP
port, 25. E.g.
telnet mhs-relay.ac.uk 25
You should normally start by identifying the local
host:
HELO wombat.doc.ic.ac.uk
You can then issue commands to verify an address or expand an
alias:
VRFY postmaster
EXPN c-help
You can even send a message:
DATA
What is the point?
.
QUIT
This is useful if you want to find out exactly what is
happening to your message at a certain point.
(1995-10-17)