Mail Access Protocols 331
Mail Access Protocols 331
Mail Access Protocols 331
So IMAP is a good protocol if you want to retrieve email from multiple devices, and this
made it more used than POP3.
POP3
It is an acronym for Post Office Protocol
It is an protocol that transfers email from the mail-server to your computer, and it
only transfers the mail inside the INBOX folder and does not perform any kind of
.synchronization to other folders
And POP3, by its automatic system, deletes the contents of the folder from the
mail server when retrieving mail to your device, and no copy of the recovered
.mail remains on the mail server of any other device
The differences between POP3 and IMAP
On IMAP, everything on the two devices is unified, mail and folder building, -
,because this protocol synchronizes everything with all of your devices
-As for POP3, build different folders on the OUTLOOK on the two devices on which
the same mail is located, because this protocol downloads the mail located on the
INBOX folder, and does not make any synchronization for other folders.
In the other hand, the mail client account and mail server are not coordinated to
POP (Post Office Protocol). It means that any improvements you make in the mail
client are assured to your email address will not be moved to the webmail inbox.
Development stages IMAP&POP:
IMAP: IMAP
IMAP's first edition was officially reported in IMAP version 2 and RFC 1064 as an Internet
standard and was released in July 1988.
In August 1990, RFC 1176 was revised, with the same version retained. So they created a
new text, known as IMAP3, from Version 3. Released in February 1991 under RFC 1203.
The extension to the protocol was later created under the name IMAPbis, which added
IMAP support for Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME).
This was a very important enhancement because of the utility of MIME. IMAPbis was,
despite this, never published as an RFC. This may be due to the difficulties involved with
IMAP3.
In December 1994, IMAP version 4 /IMAP4 was released with two RFCs. The key
protocol is defined in RFC 1730 and the authentication process for IMAP 4 is illustrated
in RFC 1731.
The new edition of IMAP which widely used in today, is IMAP 4. It continues to be
refined, and its current version is currently known as IMAP4rev1 aand is listed in RFC
2060. RFC 3501 has been revised, most recently.
Pop:
The first version of the post office protocol was first adopted by the internet innovation
task force in 1984 as RFC 918.
In1985, version 2 of the post office protocol was implemented in RFC937, but was
replaced by version 3 of the post office protocol in 1988 with the release of RFC 1081.
Although the POP3 protocol has undergone numerous changes, the developers retained
a fundamental concept that at the time of mail retrieval between the client and the
server, it follows a three-stage process.
The POP protocol specifies that the only client connected to the
mailbox be the client that is actually attached. On the other hand, the
IMAP protocol expressly requires several clients to access concurrently
and provides clients with methods to detect changes made to the
mailbox by other, simultaneously related, clients. Simultaneous access
to the same mailbox with different agents simultaneous access to the
same mailbox by multiple agents.
Security Security
IMAPS on port 993 of TCP, which uses SSL/TLSS, can be used to cryptographically protect IMAP
connections. TLS is the preferred mechanism as of January 2018.
STARTTLS may optionally be used to provide safe communications between the MUA that
communicates with the MSA or the MTA that implements the SMTP protocol.
Disadvantage IMAP:
Although IMAP solves many of POP's vulnerabilities, this inherently adds added
difficulty. Server-side workarounds like Maildir or database backends account for
much of this complexity multiple clients accessing the same mailbox at the same
time.
For being insufficiently stringent and encouraging actions that essentially
contradict its utility, the IMAP specification has been criticized. For example The
specfication specifies that any message on the server is stored enables clients to
distinguish messages between sessions that they have already seen. The
specification, however, also makes it easy to invalidate these UIDs with no
limitations, essentially defeating their purpose.
If the server's mail management and search algorithms are carefully applied,
when looking for huge mailboxes, a client will theoretically use vast volumes of
server resources.
IMAP4 clients need to create a TCP/IP connection to the IMAP server to be aware
of the arrival of new mail arrival notification is achieved by in-band signalling,
which adds much to the difficulty of client-side IMAP protocol handling] A private
idea, push IMAP, will extend IMAP by transmitting the whole Message instead of
message only A transparency to incorporate Push-push e-mail Push IMAP,
however, has usually not been adopted And,and recent The job of lETF has
approached In other ways, the problem.
4. Local message copies are vulnerable to the loss of data or security risks.
Disadvantage pop3:
Reading mail can be much longer.
Email attachments may contain viruses that can expose the user's PC to harm if
they are opened locally and their virus scanner can not find them.
What would be better than that? POP OR IMAP?
I will go for IMAP, given an option. That's because IMAP has links in two ways.
Changes are synchronized to the server and you don't have to think about
bringing the mail client everywhere with you. However, if you're someone who
barely checks mail on some other device, you may even be able to use POP.
Thanks