What Is an Email Server and How Does It Work?

Email Server hosting is becoming extremely popular due to its effectiveness in managing email. Email is an incredibly impactful marketing medium that is outperforming other marketing options. Almost 50% of business-to-business marketers believe the power of email to be a powerful marketing tool.

Therefore, it is essential to get a trusted email host to establish a secure and reliable communication channel. To get off to a perfect start, let us discuss some of the basics of email servers and how they work. So, before you buy a domain name and hosting plan, read this blog to understand how everything works.

What is an Email Server?

The email hosting provider allows you access to an email server to help you send and receive emails through the Internet. It works like the post office, making the complex procedure of moving mail secure by using protocols.

Using SMTP for sending and POP3 or IMAP for receiving has established seamless synchronisation and access to messages across multiple devices.

It creates a secure and professional mail environment for sending, receiving and storing emails by allowing filtering and verification.

A key benefit of email hosting is that it allows you to have email accounts under your domain name. This can be great for businesses that want to boost their credibility when establishing communication channels.

Email Server – How Does it Work?

1. When an email is created and sent, it connects itself to the email service server (that manages the mail). As mentioned above, the server that we use for sending emails is known as SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol). An SMTP server can send an email to another SMTP server, which then forwards it to the next server. This process continues through several steps until the email reaches its final destination.
2. The SMTP uses the recipient’s email address to locate the domain. In a case where both sender and receiver have the same domain, this process becomes more straightforward as the mail is transferred to the local outgoing mail hosting server, known as POP3 or IMAP.
3. As you know, a domain name symbolises an email address, also known as an IP or internet protocol. The IP works the same as an address, providing your location on the Internet. SMTP contacts and requests domain name registry (DNS), and in return, DNS sends the IP address, helping the email route to its destination.
4. So when the recipient server receives the SMTP request, it verifies the email and then passes it to the POP3 or IMAP server for the recipient to retrieve. POP3 works for the receiving side of email. Once the mail is received, it is stored until it is accessed.
5. When the receivers access the mail through the app, they are connected to the server to access it.
6. With IMAP, emails stay on the server and can be synced across multiple devices. With POP3, emails are usually downloaded and may be deleted from the server based on the app’s settings.

Conclusion

An email server acts as a backbone for email communication on the Internet. Powered by the benefit of email hosting, an IP address facilitates this, ensuring smooth movement around the Internet. So, whichever device you are using, whether a smartphone or a computer, you are always connected to the email server.