If you're an entrepreneur and are constantly dealing with IT resources, you've probably already needed to use SMTP credentials to optimize email delivery.
But do you really master the knowledge about this protocol? Have you thought about monitoring the SMTP credentials used in your company? And do you know what the benefits of this monitoring would be?
In this article, we'll talk about this topic: we'll explain everything about the SMTP protocol, how it works, and how you can manage SMTP credentials within your company.
Let's start by talking broadly about messaging protocols, and then we'll get specifically into the subject of SMTP credentials.
Did you find the subject complicated? Do not worry. After reading this article, it will be much easier to understand the reasons for monitoring these credentials.
Stay tuned for upcoming topics!
What are messaging protocols?
Messaging protocols are nothing more than network software standards and guidelines that enable your computer to connect to networks from anywhere.
Because of their existence, we are able to maintain our online activities, which are increasingly necessary, ranging from sending e-mails to carrying out large transactions.
The protocols present a methodology to be used at both ends of a communication channel and are intended to transmit information properly.
For example, when we exchange messages by email, we manage an access provider to an email server. The server and the email provider in this case exchange information mutually using various protocols.
Protocols are fundamental to your networking activities, yet dealing with them requires no effort or concern on your part, as they are already built into networking software on computers.
About SMTP protocol
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is applied when exchanging messages via e-mail. It emerged in 1971 with the mailbox protocol and the SNDMSG program.
But it was from 1980 onwards that the Mail Transfer Protocol came into being, with the studies of Jon Bruce Postel, and until today SMTP is one of the most used protocols in the world.
In Portuguese, its meaning would be something like Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, functioning in practice as a postman.
You might be wondering, "if this protocol is so popular when exchanging emails, why have I never seen anything about it while exchanging messages?"
For regular users, it's even invisible because the email program uses it putting it in the background.
When you send an email, as simple as the act seems, it goes through an intricate communication process until it reaches its destination.
This process involves not only SMTP, but also several other protocols that work together.
And for this communication to occur, the SMTP server must act. Just to remember: a server is, in short, a computer that centralizes the administration of specific services.
Thus, the SMTP server is dedicated to sending emails. It transmits email messages to their destination via several hops.
When you send an email, your provider establishes a connection with the SMTP server of your email service, in this case, the sender.
Then the provider sends the sender's address, the recipient's address and the message.
From there, the SMTP server starts its recipient search and finds the domain name via the recipient's email ID.
Each domain name has a unique web address. Each of them corresponds to an IP, which is the Internet protocol address.
Finally, the SMTP server makes contact with the DNS server, where the domain name record is located. and the DNS server returns the address to the SMTP server.
In this way, the SMTP server is able to send the message to the recipient's SMTP server, which confirms the destination email and delivers it.
SMTP credentials
Transporting this process to the business context, it is common to create an email account for sending messages in other software, such as a financial system or tickets.
Most of the time, this account is used simultaneously by another internal team, which has access to this email box.
With this shared access, it may happen that the password or email settings are changed by a member of the team.
The consequence of this would be that all the software used to trigger e-mails would stop fulfilling this task.
The solution to prevent this problem is to monitor SMTP credentials. With this feature, you have control of possible changes made to settings or passwords.
SMTP credentials are a kind of access authorization or key that makes it possible to use SMTP in the exchange of messages.
They are the ones that allow the use of a personalized email account either by an internal team or to trigger emails through other software.
Monitoring your SMTP credentials, therefore, allows for greater control of possible changes, conscious or not, made to your email account.
This monitoring is necessary when your SMTP credentials are diverse and you depend on the proper functioning of your e-mail messaging service to conduct business.
So if your company fires a high amount of emails frequently, maybe it's time to consider monitoring your SMTP credentials.
In the next topic, we will explain how this monitoring is possible.
How to monitor SMTP credentials?
If you've made it this far, you already understand how the SMTP protocol works and your credentials.
If you are considering the possibility of monitoring your SMTP credentials, Hosts Green can help you.
This is one of the features of our software, which monitors web applications, servers, URL's and links with dynamic or fixed IP's.
So if you plan on monitoring your SMTP credentials, how about trying our software? Click here and take the 15-day free trial.
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