Electronic Mail Standards

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has used the Request for Comments (RFC) process to create the standards that define electronic mail protocols. (Table A lists and defines current email protocols.) Numerous RFC documents publish these standards. You can read the full text of these documents at http://www.ietf.org/rfc.html. Ohio State University (OSU) maintains an excellent RFC-reference Web site. OSU has added links in each RFC document to obsolete and updated versions of the RFC; these links are handy when you want to be sure that you're looking at the most up-to-date RFC that defines a standard. Go to http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/ htbin/rfc/INDEX.rfc.html to access an RFC master index. RFC 2400 documents an overview of the standards process and the official status of each current RFC. To read RFC 2400, go to http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/htbin/ rfc/rfc2400.html.