Administering E-mail
Making sure that users’ electronic mail gets sent out and delivered is one of the system administrator’s most important jobs, and it’s also one that becomes extremely visible should things go wrong. Inevitably, administering e-mail is time-consuming and frustrating, at least intermittently.
Making sure that users’ electronic mail gets sent out and delivered is one of the system administrator’s most important jobs, and it’s also one that becomes extremely visible should things go wrong. Inevitably, administering e-mail is time-consuming and frustrating, at least intermittently.
This column begins a three-part look at some key aspects of the usual Linux electronic mail system. This month, we will begin with an introduction to how electronic mail gets created and look at some of the complexities involved in mail addressing. In future months, we will take a look at the key component responsible for most aspects of mail transportation and discuss how electronic mail may be filtered.
Parts of the Mail System
As with regular postal mail, a fully functioning electronic mail system depends on a series of distinct, and often geographically separated, facilities and processes working together (or at least with mutual cooperation). A mail system is made up of the following types of components:
