ITPEC IP October 2025 Question 30
Which of the following is the appropriate explanation of the POP communications protocol?
Explanation
The protocol e-mail software uses to receive e-mails from a mail server — POP (Post Office Protocol, now POP3) fetches mail from the user's mailbox.
Mail travels in two stages. The sender's e-mail software hands the message to its mail server with SMTP, and SMTP relays it to the recipient's mail server, where it waits in a mailbox. The recipient's e-mail software then logs in and fetches it with POP3, which downloads the mail to the PC and usually removes it from the server, or with IMAP4, which keeps the mail on the server and manages it there.
Answer (d)
Why not others:
- •(a) — remote control of a computer from a terminal elsewhere is Telnet or SSH
- •(b) — file transfer is FTP
- •(c) — sending e-mail to a mail server, and between mail servers, is SMTP
Key rule: SMTP sends (software to server, server to server); POP3 and IMAP4 receive from the mailbox, POP3 by downloading and IMAP4 by keeping the mail on the server.
Networks · AI-written, may contain errors
This question comes from an official ITPEC past paper. ITPEC Practice is an independent study tool and is not affiliated with ITPEC. See the official IP past-paper collection or Report an issue.