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POP3, testing via Telnet

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When troubleshooting a POP3 service, it's frequently helpful to use the '''telnet''' client to "speak" to the server directly, rather than using a mail client which won't give you the exact responses the server does.  In this example, we will use '''telnet''' to connect to a POP3 server, log in as a user, and list the number of messages available to the user.
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When troubleshooting a POP3 service, it's frequently helpful to use the [[telnet]] client to "speak" to the server directly, rather than using a mail client which won't give you the exact responses the server does.  In this example, we will use '''telnet''' to connect to a POP3 server, log in as a user, and list the number of messages available to the user.
  
 
  ph34r# '''telnet localhost 110'''
 
  ph34r# '''telnet localhost 110'''

Latest revision as of 14:04, 29 December 2008

When troubleshooting a POP3 service, it's frequently helpful to use the telnet client to "speak" to the server directly, rather than using a mail client which won't give you the exact responses the server does. In this example, we will use telnet to connect to a POP3 server, log in as a user, and list the number of messages available to the user.

ph34r# telnet localhost 110
Trying 127.0.0.1...
Connected to localhost.localdomain.
Escape character is '^]'.
+OK dovecot ready.
USER postmaster@mail.getsdeliveredhere.net
+OK
PASS thisismypassword
+OK Logged in.
LIST
+OK 1 messages:
1 354
.
QUIT
+OK Logging out.
Connection closed by foreign host.

Confirmed - the POP3 server answers connections, authenticates users, and can access its mail store - in this case, we can see that there is a message queued up and waiting for delivery. (Note that frequently you may NOT see any messages in the queue on a POP3 server, as most organizations using POP3 expect users to download their mail and delete it as soon as they have.)

[edit] See Also

Daemons, testing via Telnet

IMAP, testing via Telnet

SMTP, testing via Telnet

HTTP, testing via Telnet

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