scottk <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Yes I know this is the hard way but Im trying to learn about mail
> servers/clients etc. The goal is to have sendmail or fetchmail or
> whatever poll the ISP drag the mail to my machine say every 2 hrs via
> diald and a cron job or something.
>
> I think I need to go along the lines of uucp (i think thats what its
> called) but I keep running into this MX record thing. I have a dialup
> account with no registered domainname. I do have a static ip which
> translates into scottk.dialup.cdc.net
What you want to do is use the POP-3 protocol to get the mail from your ISP and
drop it into your local mailbox. To do this, use fetchmail. To schedule it to
run regularly, use cron, and to get the ISP connection to come up/down
automatically either script it and include it in the cron job or use diald.
That's the short story. Here's the longer version:
- There are four ways to transfer mail:
SMTP - Simple Mail Tranfer Protocol
- sender-initiated protocol
- generally requires dedicated server to receive
- MX record in DNS points to receiving host (Mail eXchanger)
- once a message is received by SMTP it is usually forwarded
or placed into a local mailbox
POP - Post Office Protocol
- used to take the contents of a remote mailbox and (usually)
place those messages into a local mailbox.
- receiver-initiated protocol
- generally requires dedicated server to hold the mailbox
IMAP - Internet Mail Access Protocol
- used to manipulate a remote mailbox.
- main difference between POP and IMAP is that IMAP permits the
mail to stay *on the server* so that you can access it from
multiple locations. E.g., if you use POP at work and at home
to access the same mailbox on your ISP, then any messages you
retrieve onto your system at work aren't accessible from home
and vice-versa; but with IMAP, since the mail stays *on the
server* you can read all of your messages from both locations.
UUCP - Unix to Unix Copy Protocol
- multiple-file, queued file transfer
- was the foundation of Usenet news and mail transfer
- two hosts queue files for each other. All files are
transferred when either host connects to the other, so the
connection can be sender-initiated or receiver-initiated.
- Can operate over TCP/IP or other connection types (e.g.,
direct modem connection, serial line, etc. without PPP).
- Almost all ISPs support POP. Many support IMAP. Unless you have a dedicated
line or your ISP supports SMTP-flush (rare in North America, though required
for a dial-up connection using MS Exchange Server, ugg), forget using SMTP for
inbound mail. UUCP is supported by *some* ISPs.
- If you have POP mailboxes, your best bet is to use a POP-3 client to fetch
the contents of those mailboxes and place the mail on your local system. The
standard tool for this is fetchmail.
- For outbound mail, either use sendmail (or smail etc) to directly send to the
remote MX system, or use sendmail (etc) to send to your ISP, designating your
ISP as the "smarterhost". The advantage to the latter is that you don't have to
be connected to your ISP as long. The advantage to the former is that you don't
have to adjust your mail setup :-)
- Use diald for on-demand PPP connections or use scripts (I made "goppp" and
"killppp") to bring your PPP connection to your ISP up and down.
--
Chris Tyler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Global Proximity Corporation http://Global.Proximity.ON.CA/
Internet and Computer Consulting (519) 469-3439 / fax (519) 469-8653
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