A PC program that lets you send and receive email by interacting with the user is called a mail user agent, often called an email client. MUAs are the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) system components responsible for producing email messages and sending them to a Mail Transfer Agent. Webmail services or software applications can be MUAs.
How Does An MUA Work?
A person “A” opens his preferred Mail User Agent, composes his message, and clicks “Send” to send an email to another person “B.”
The Simple Mail Transfer Protocol or SMTP server is contacted by Person “A’s” MUA. The “A” MUA provides the SMTP server with information about who is sending the message and to whom it is directed. It transmits the message content and headers at the end. After the message is accepted by the SMTP server and agreed to be sent to its intended location, the MUA notifies “A” that the transmission was successful.
The SMTP server attempts to deliver the message to its intended recipient while storing it. The SMTP server of person “A”‘s email provider determines which server handles mail for person “B” if person “B” is located extremely far away from the mail’s origin and uses a different email provider. The server uses DNS (Domain Name Server) to find this information. DNS provides a domain’s mail server with the address to send mail to.
The other SMTP server is connected to person “A’s” email provider’s SMTP server. It delivers the message to him in a manner reminiscent of how “A’s” mail program operated in the past. The message can be sent to its destination through several intermediary servers or communicated directly with the final SMTP server responsible for the mail of person “B.” The email provider used by “B” and, to some extent, the state of the Internet connection at the time of transmission determine the precise path the message will take. Mail from “B’s” primary mail server could be temporarily routed to another server in case of failure. The message may also be halted by “A’s” mail server, which will then try to transport it occasionally.
The email intended for person “B” is stored by the last server when the message from person “A” reaches it. The letter will stay there until “B” connects to get his mail. Also, the mail client connects to the server and downloads the mail when “B” hits “Retrieve mail” in his MUA. This last download is typically done via a protocol called POP3 or Post Office Protocol or IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) rather than SMTP.
What’s The Difference Between Mail User Agent (MUA) And Mail Transfer Agent (MTA)?
MUA Or Mail User Agent
A software, program, or application that enables a user to compose and read email messages is known as a MUA (Mail User Agent). They’re frequently called mail customers. A lot of MUA programs provide the user with a lot more functions; some of these functions include obtaining messages via the POP and IMAP protocols, configuring mailboxes to store messages, and assisting in the display of new messages to a Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) program, which will send them to their final location. These programs, often known as MUA applications, might have a text-based interface like Mutt or Pine or be based on a graphical look like Mozilla Mail.
MTA Or Mail Transfer Agent
Using the SMTP protocol, an MTA or Mail Transfer Agent program or software manages the transport of email messages between computers. Before an email reaches its destination, it may pass via several MTAs. Even though every message is passed via at least one MTA, users often must be aware that these agents exist.
The process of deciding whether a particular MTA agent may or should accept a delivery for delivery to a distant host is rather sophisticated, despite the fact that sending messages between computers is relatively simple. Furthermore, because of the issues caused by spam, the usage of a particular MTA is typically restricted or flagged by the MTA’s configuration or the system’s network access.
You may send mail using several larger and more sophisticated MUAs. This activity, however, should not be mistaken for these agents’ actual and legitimate functions. To send outgoing messages to a distant computer for delivery, someone who isn’t operating their own MTA has to use the MUA’s capacity to transfer the message to an MTA for which they have authorization. Nevertheless, the MTA agent does this task; the MUA agent does not directly assign the message to the end recipient’s mail server.
Mail User Agent Examples
MUA agents include the following as examples.
- Pine
- Evolution
- Thunderbird
- Kmail
- Lotus Notes
- Yahoo!
- Microsoft Outlook.com
- Gmail
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