Similarly, for incoming
messages, the MTA must be able to accept connection requests from remote mail servers
and receive messages destined for local users. There are many different types of protocols
that can be used to transfer messages between two remote MTAs. The most common
protocol used for Internet mail transfer is the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). This
protocol is used only for passing messages to mail servers. It??™s not used for retrieving
messages from an individual mailbox.
The three most popular MTA packages used on Linux servers are:
. sendmail
. qmail
. Postfix
Each of these MTA packages provides the same basic functions of using SMTP to send and
receive mail messages. However, there are a few differences between them. The following
sections describe these three MTA programs.
sendmail
The sendmail MTA program is one of the most popular Linux MTA programs available.
Originally written and supported by Eric Allman, the Sendmail Consortium
(http://www.sendmail.org) currently maintains the source code for sendmail. Eric has
moved on to Sendmail, Inc.
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