## Mail Delivery

UNIX messaging services such as Sendmail provide the backbone of Internet mail communication. Computer-based mailing systems such as cc:Mail, Lotus Notes, and Microsoft Mail have been confined to the local area network (LAN) environment. These systems communicate with Internet mailers using gateways that convert their native mail protocol into SMTP. The X.400 protocol is also used, but it is limited primarily to public networks and government institutions. Microsoft® Exchange Server on Windows NT provides basic support for the traditional Internet messaging protocols such as SMTP and POP3. SMTP support is provided through the Internet Mail Service, and POP3 is supported by the Microsoft Exchange Server Information Store. Microsoft Exchange Server also supports protocols such as IMAP for reading mail, Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) for directory access, and Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) for access to messaging features through a Web browser.

Microsoft Exchange Server supports additional messaging standards used in corporations and government institutions such as X.400 and MAPI. Microsoft Exchange Server interoperates with ccMail, Microsoft Mail, and Lotus Notes through protocols that are native to each of these messaging systems. UNIX administrators will generally find SMTP messaging functionality in Windows NT systems easier to learn than the Sendmail configuration language. They will also discover that Internet mail addressing is standardized to where the flexibility and resulting complexity of Sendmail is no longer required for the majority of mail servers. The Internet Mail Service in Microsoft Exchange Server can be customized to communicate with a variety of commercial or non-Internet messaging systems.

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Last Updated: December 1, 1997