RFC 3461 (rfc3461) - Page 2 of 38


Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) Service Extension for Delivery Status Notifications (DSNs)



Alternative Format: Original Text Document



RFC 3461                   SMTP DSN Extension               January 2003


   4.5 Restrictions on the use of Delivery Status Notification
       parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
   5. Conformance requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
   5.1 SMTP protocol interactions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
   5.2 Handling of messages received via SMTP. . . . . . . . . . . . 11
   5.2.1 Relay of messages to other conforming SMTP servers. . . . . 12
   5.2.2 Relay of messages to non-conforming SMTP servers. . . . . . 13
   5.2.3 Local delivery of messages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
   5.2.4 Gatewaying a message into a foreign environment . . . . . . 14
   5.2.5 Delays in delivery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
   5.2.6 Failure of a conforming MTA to deliver a message. . . . . . 16
   5.2.7 Forwarding, aliases, and mailing lists. . . . . . . . . . . 16
   5.2.7.1 mailing lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
   5.2.7.2 single-recipient aliases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
   5.2.7.3 multiple-recipient aliases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
   5.2.7.4 confidential forwarding addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
   5.2.8 DSNs describing delivery to multiple recipients . . . . . . 19
   5.3 Handling of messages from other sources . . . . . . . . . . . 19
   5.4 Implementation limits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
   6. Format of delivery notifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
   6.1 SMTP Envelope to be used with delivery status
       notifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
   6.2 Contents of the DSN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
   6.3 Message/delivery-status fields. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
   7. Acknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
   8. Security Considerations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
   9. Appendix - Type-Name Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
   9.1 "rfc822" address-type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
   9.2 "smtp" diagnostic-type. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
   9.3 "dns" MTA-name-type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
   10. Appendix - Example. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
   10.1 Submission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
   10.2 Relay to Example.COM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
   10.3 Relay to Ivory.EDU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
   10.4 Relay to Bombs.AF.MIL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
   10.5 Forward from  to  . . . . 31
   10.6 "Delivered" DSN for . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
   10.7 Failed DSN for  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
   10.8 Relayed DSN For  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
   10.9 Failure notification for . . . . . . . . . 35
   11. Appendix - Changes since RFC 1891 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
   12. References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
   12.1 Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
   12.2 Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
   13. Author's Address. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
   14. Full Copyright Statement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38





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