Submit Server Discovery extension

I've missed deadline, so I am posting new draft to mailing lists.
Suggestions are welcome. Also it would be very interested to know
whether this feature will have support.

--
Regards,
Alexey Melnikov

                  An SMTP Extension for discovering
                    the location of Submit server

Status of this Memo

    This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with
    all provisions of Section 10 of RFC2026.  Internet-Drafts are
    working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its
    areas, and its working groups.  Note that other groups may also
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    Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six
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    at any time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet- Drafts as
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    To view the list Internet-Draft Shadow Directories, see
    http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html.

   This document  suggests  a  proposed  protocol  for  the   Internet

Re: Submit Server Discovery extension

On Fri, 5 Mar 1999 00:51 -0700, Alexey Melnikov wrote:

> I've missed deadline, so I am posting new draft to mailing lists.
> Suggestions are welcome. Also it would be very interested to know
> whether this feature will have support.

How does one determine the IP address (or hostname) of the first SMTP
server (which supports the SUBMIT service extension and tells you the
submit server you're supposed to use)?

-Dan Wing

Re: Submit Server Discovery extension

Dan Wing wrote:

> On Fri, 5 Mar 1999 00:51 -0700, Alexey Melnikov wrote:
>
> > I've missed deadline, so I am posting new draft to mailing lists.
> > Suggestions are welcome. Also it would be very interested to know
> > whether this feature will have support.
>
> How does one determine the IP address (or hostname) of the first SMTP
> server (which supports the SUBMIT service extension and tells you the
> submit server you're supposed to use)?

Client should connect to standard (25) SMTP service port first. If server
supports Submit extension and is not submit server it will reference
client to the right location.

--
Regards,
AMelnikov

Re: Submit Server Discovery extension

On Thu, 11 Mar 1999 19:16 -0700, Alexey Melnikov wrote:

> > On Fri, 5 Mar 1999 00:51 -0700, Alexey Melnikov wrote:
> >
> > > I've missed deadline, so I am posting new draft to mailing lists.
> > > Suggestions are welcome. Also it would be very interested to know
> > > whether this feature will have support.
> >
> > How does one determine the IP address (or hostname) of the first SMTP
> > server (which supports the SUBMIT service extension and tells you the
> > submit server you're supposed to use)?
> 
> Client should connect to standard (25) SMTP service port first. If server
> supports Submit extension and is not submit server it will reference
> client to the right location.

I don't see the value here.  Why would a client be configured with the
address of an SMTP server that is something _other_ than its submit
server?

If you do decide to go forward with the I-D, though, you certainly need
to add information on what a client is supposed to do if it can't
resolve the information provided in the SUBMIT response (such as 
unknown URI or unresolvable DNS hostname).  Should the client ignore
the ever-so-gentle request to not use that SMTP server as its submit
server and just go ahead and use it anyway, or ?

-Dan Wing

Re: Submit Server Discovery extension

Dan Wing wrote:

> On Thu, 11 Mar 1999 19:16 -0700, Alexey Melnikov wrote:
>
> > > On Fri, 5 Mar 1999 00:51 -0700, Alexey Melnikov wrote:
> > >
> > > > I've missed deadline, so I am posting new draft to mailing lists.
> > > > Suggestions are welcome. Also it would be very interested to know
> > > > whether this feature will have support.
> > >
> > > How does one determine the IP address (or hostname) of the first SMTP
> > > server (which supports the SUBMIT service extension and tells you the
> > > submit server you're supposed to use)?
> >
> > Client should connect to standard (25) SMTP service port first. If server
> > supports Submit extension and is not submit server it will reference
> > client to the right location.
>
> I don't see the value here.  Why would a client be configured with the
> address of an SMTP server that is something _other_ than its submit
> server?

There is no reason. But the question is that *how* client may find the location
of a submit server. It is good when user knows the exact location of submit
server, but what to do if she doesn't?

Imagine that in some organization there is both submit and regular SMTP
servers.
Regular SMTP only relays mail. It refuses to accept mail from local users.
Submit server authenticate user and allows her to inject message in mail

Re: Submit Server Discovery extension

At 10:29 PM -0800 3/11/99, Dan Wing wrote:

> I don't see the value here.  Why would a client be configured with the
> address of an SMTP server that is something _other_ than its submit
> server?

It's a migration issue.  In any organization (company, ISP, etc.) 
there are likely to be a lot of existing clients configured to submit 
messages using port 25 on some server.  If the intent is to migrate 
all users to submit via the submission port, having a response from 
the old SMTP server may help a lot.