In simple terms, what exactly happens to emails when the recipient’s server goes down? And, is the “e-postmaster” (this may not be the exact term) which rejects undeliverables actually the sender’s own server?
- Jinx
The same place where your lost socks go.
**DUH!
Let me be sure I understand the question. Bob sends an email to Alice. Alice’s server goes down before the email reaches her. Are you asking what happens then?
Typically, if an email cannot reach it’s destination, it will be stored on the sender’s (Bob’s) server and this machine will make a set number of attempts. If all the attempts fail, the email usually gets returned to the sender with an noticed attached saying it was undeliverable.
If you want more details, use a google search on “email tutorial” and you will get more info than you could possibly desire.
…to the e-Post Office.
breaknrun is dead on. These are called bounces and they can be soft (temporary… like your mail server being down) or hard (bogus domain name… this email will never be delivered).
Most sending mail servers will try to deliver soft bounced emails numerous times over a few days before giving up. So if your mail server goes down for a few hours there is a good chance a mail someone sent during that period will eventually make it to you.
If it can’t be delivered for some reason the sender is notified of the bounce and its cause… usually. YMMV