Message store

A message store is a server that offers access to e-mails .

Remote access is made possible by three standardized network protocols:

• Post Office Protocol (POP)
• Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP)
• Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)

Whether a message store accepts POP or IMAP, and which protocol is preferred, possibly with Transport Layer Security , can be announced through SRV Resource Records .

Emails get into message stores in three ways:

• Mail delivery agents store incoming emails.
• Mail retrieval agents retrieve e-mails from other message stores.
• Mail user agents save templates, drafts or copies.

Such accesses are at least partially local.

Each message store can use its own proprietary way to store the emails to be managed. In the open source environment, however, some storage concepts have developed that are widely used. Storage concepts of a message store are based on:

• mbox
• MH
• Maildir
• (proprietary) database systems

Most message stores are not available individually, but only as part of a program package . A former pure message store was Popper from the University of California, Berkeley .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} RFC 5423 - Internet Message Store Events . Internet Engineering Task Force . Retrieved February 19, 2012.
2. ↑ RFC 6186 - Use of SRV Records for Locating Email Submission / Access Services . Internet Engineering Task Force. Retrieved February 19, 2012.
3. ↑ RFC 5598 - Internet Mail Architecture . Internet Engineering Task Force. Retrieved February 19, 2012.