WWW, POP3, SMTP servers all on same box?

[songdog]

Please forgive this kindergarten-level question:

Is it true that one's web server, POP3 server, and SMTP server all run on the same box?

Thank you.

[jeep]

That can be the case especially on small Linux servers, however on FQ they are run seperately becuase in large installations it's generally more efficient to do so vis a vis performance etc.

Hope that helps,
Jason

[Bruce]

A site's web service, POP3 service, and SMTP relay service all share the same dedicated IP. However, the POP3 service is actually a proxy to a dedicated POP toaster that hosts all the mailboxes as well as the SMTP service for incoming email.

I hope this clears up the matter.

[sheila]

Originally posted by Bruce:
A site's web service, POP3 service, and SMTP relay service all share the same dedicated IP. Is that how I'm able to get away with using 'localhost' in my form mail scripts, even though the SMTP is physically on a different machine?

[Bruce]

You should always use "mail.YOURDOMAIN.TLD" as your SMTP relay hostname. The use of "localhost" as a mail relay is not guaranteed to work as this relay function could be moved to a seperate server in the future.