SMTP and POP3

Question about both protocols

[asantos]

Im building a CMS which has the abbility to send notification emails to the admin users.

I want to add both SMTP and POP3 support to the CMS, so it can be configured for a SMTP or POP3 email service.

Now im stuck, because i dont know what the difference between both protocols is. Besides, do both protocols need a user/pwd?

Thanks,
Andres S

[sja65]

SMTP is the Simple Mail Transport Protocol and POP3 is the Post Office Protocol (I may have a few words mixed up on those, but the meaning is right). SMTP is used to send messages. POP3 is an interface to get access to your mailbox. POP3 requires a password, and generally SMTP doesn't - although you need to restrict access to SMTP somehow (usually by password or ip) otherwise spammers will send through your server.

[asantos]

Thanks for the reply. Everything clear now.