RFC 2034 (rfc2034) - Page 1 of 6


SMTP Service Extension for Returning Enhanced Error Codes



Alternative Format: Original Text Document



Network Working Group                                       N. Freed
Request for Comments: RFC 2034                              Innosoft
Category: Standards Track                               October 1996


                       SMTP Service Extension for
                     Returning Enhanced Error Codes

Status of this Memo

   This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
   Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
   improvements.  Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
   Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
   and status of this protocol.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

1.  Abstract

   This memo defines an extension to the SMTP service [RFC-821, RFC-
   1869] whereby an SMTP server augments its responses with the enhanced
   mail system status codes defined in RFC 1893.  These codes can then
   be used to provide more informative explanations of error conditions,
   especially in the context of the delivery status notifications format
   defined in RFC 1894.

2.  Introduction

   Although SMTP is widely and robustly deployed, various extensions
   have been requested by parts of the Internet community. In
   particular, in the modern, international, and multilingual Internet a
   need exists to assign codes to specific error conditions that can be
   translated into different languages. RFC 1893 defines such a set of
   status codes and RFC 1894 defines a mechanism to send such coded
   material to users. However, in many cases the agent creating the RFC
   1894 delivery status notification is doing so in response to errors
   it received from a remote SMTP server.

   As such, remote servers need a mechanism for embedding enhanced
   status codes in their responses as well as a way to indicate to a
   client when they are in fact doing this. This memo uses the SMTP
   extension mechanism described in RFC 1869 to define such a mechanism.










Freed                       Standards Track