Ask HN: Resources to understand mail servers indepth?

6 pointssharmi3 comments

I would like to know how mail servers function and all the authentication mechanisms like DKIM, DMARC, SPF etc. What resources would you recommend?

I would prefer a book but excellent articles and tutorial series would also be great.

Can start with the smtp standard https://tools.ietf.org/rfc/rfc5321.txt and follow the citations at the bottom to learn more about DKIM ect.

OpenSMTPD has a few presentations on the changes they made and explains architecture https://www.opensmtpd.org/papers.html

Thank you. I will start reading the rfc asap.

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