Microsoft KB Archive/322825

= XGEN: List of POP3 Commands Supported by Exchange Server 5.5 =

Article ID: 322825

Article Last Modified on 10/27/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q322825



SUMMARY
This article describes the Post Office Protocol 3 (POP3) commands that are supported in Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5.

Overview
POP3 is a very simple and limited protocol, which includes a set of approximately 11 commands. The following 10 are supported by Exchange Server 5.5:

'''list

uidl

retr

stat

dele

rset

noop

top

auth

quit'''

NOTE: Exchange Server 5.5 does not support the apop command. To test a POP3 connection to an Exchange Server 5.5 computer, establish a telnet connection to port 110 of the server. To do this, type the following at a command prompt

telnet  110

where  is the IP address of the Exchange Server computer that you want to connect to. Log on to the mailbox that you want by using the user and pass commands, and then use any of the supported POP3 commands listed at the beginning of the &quot;Summary&quot; section of this article.

NOTE: A POP3 client uses standard Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) to send messages. The POP3 commands listed in this article function only to receive messages.

POP3 Commands Supported in Exchange Server 5.5
You can use the following POP3 commands with Exchange Server 5.5.

User
Use the user command to specify the name of the user account that you use to log on. The user command takes the following syntax:

user

-or-

user

If the mailbox name is different from the user name, use the following syntax:

user

Pass
Use the pass command to specify the password of the user account that you use to log on. The pass command uses the following syntax:

pass

List
Use the list command to display the identifier number and the size (in bytes) of messages in the mailbox, or to display the number and size of a particular message. The list command uses the following syntax, where  is the message number that is returned by the list command:

list

-or-

list

Uidl
Use the uidl command to return a numeric listing of all messages in the mailbox and their associated unique IDs, or the unique ID for a particular message. The uidl command uses the following syntax, where  is the message number (as returned by the list command) of the uidl that you want to view:

uidl

-or-

uidl

Retr
Use the retr command to retrieve a message from the server. Note that you cannot use this command to retrieve a message that is marked as deleted. The retr command uses the following syntax, where  is the message number that is returned by the list command:

retr

Stat
The stat command returns the total number of messages in the mailbox and the total size (in bytes) of the messages. Note that you cannot use this command to display more information about individual messages. To do this, you must use the list or retr commands (as appropriate).

Dele
Use the dele command to mark a message for deletion. When you mark a message for deletion, the message is deleted after you use the quit command to disconnect the client from the server. In a situation where the connection is cut off unexpectedly, the messages are not deleted. The dele command uses the following syntax, where  is the message number that is returned by the list command:

dele

Rset
Use the rset command to unmark all messages that are marked for deletion.

Noop
The noop command refers to &quot;no op&quot;eration. Although this command does not perform any action, if the command is successful, the server replies with a positive response (OK+). You can use this command to test whether the server is online and receiving client requests.

Top
Use the top command to display the message header and a particular number of lines of the message. The top command uses the following syntax, where  is the message number that you want to view, and   is the number of lines in the message that you want to display:

top

When you use this command, the server returns the headers for the message, followed by a blank line, and then the first  number of lines of the message.

Auth
The auth command is an Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) command that is part of the POP3 specification, as detailed in Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Request for Comments (RFC) 1734. It permits you to use alternative IMAP4 authorization mechanisms.

Quit
Use the quit command to quit the current telnet session and delete any messages that are marked for deletion.



MORE INFORMATION
For additional information about how to test POP3 connectivity to an Exchange Server computer by using telnet, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

165186 XFOR: Verifying Basic POP3 Connectivity Using Telnet

For more information about POP3, visit the following IETF Web site to see RFC 1725, RFC 1734, and RFC 1939:

http://www.ietf.org/rfc

Additional query words: internet eudora inbox

Keywords: kbinfo kbusage KB322825

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