syntax for POP3 client

esteeven · 12-13-2003, 02:40 PM

Hello
After lots of messing about, I've got Postfix working (more or less!! - it won't mail to *.bigfoot.com) on my little server box. I can send and receive mail for mydomain.com. I'd like to set my workstation copy of Sylpheed to collect mail from my server box - but I can't find anything about POP3 addresses - what exactly is the syntax? Is it pop3.mydomain.com or pop3.192.168.x.xxx? This is all very new to me. The same thing applies to imap - what is the address syntax? I guess that the answers to these questions are really easy - but not to me. Also, if I know that the syntax I am using is correct and there is an error, I can try to find the cause of the error, happy that the setup of Sylpheed or imap are cool.
Consider it a given that my pop server and imap servers are running.
Cheers - no rush to answer this one! It's just a fun project :-0

chort · 12-13-2003, 02:45 PM

There is no syntax for hostnames. The hostname/servername is whatever the address or name of the host is that is receiving the mail. The only standard part is that port 110/TCP is used for POP3 daemons, but this could be change (by default it's always 110, though).

You need to actually have a POP3 daemon running in order to serve POP3 connections. Postfix is only an MTA, so it only does SMTP. You need a separate program for POP.

esteeven · 12-14-2003, 09:08 AM

POP is running on my server. I've turned the firewall off for the moment. On my workstation copy of Sylpheed, what do I put as the POP3 server when I set up a new POP account? Do I put "pop3.mydomain.com" ? If yes - something is wrong. I can connect using telnet mydomain.com 110 (it's gets disconnected after a few seconds). Or do I just put mydomain.com as the pop3 server? This is very confusing.

david_ross · 12-14-2003, 09:20 AM

Just put in the ip address of your server.

esteeven · 12-14-2003, 03:12 PM

Thanks - you're right! Did I ever doubt it? Nah! I just removed all my email related software and set up all of the servers again. No problems now - Cheers! Next step - webmail!

chort · 12-14-2003, 03:24 PM

Basically the point is to not get hostnames confused with service names. Many ISPs and companies will use hostnames (usually aliases any way) that reflect the type of service being used, but that doesn't mean it has to be done that way. Any host can run a service, regardless of what it's name or address is.

pop3.domain.tld is simply a DNS name
protocol: pop3 is a type of service

pop3.domain.tld may or may not actually be running the service "pop3", and it could be running a lot of other services, too.