How do I find out what mail-server my host has installed for me?

Question

I'm using MediaTemple's (dv) hosting service. How do I determine what mail-server is installed? Should I use the shell? If so, what command would be used?

Answer 1

Go to the shell and type this command:

telnet <hostname> 25

This will come back with a line like so:

220 example.com ESMTP Exim 4.69 Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:06:01 +1100

as you can see, this sever is running EXIM.

Then type QUIT to exit back to the shell.

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UPDATE: Some hosts use a different address for their email server, if you are on Linux, you can type the following command to get a list of mail servers for a given domain:

dig -t MX example.com

Answer 2

Thanks! (Wow, that was fast...)

Upon trying 'telnet 25' (of course replacing ), I get the following response:

• '220 ESMTP'

No more info though, and ever command after that returns:

• '502 unimplemented (#5.5.1)'

Any guidance?

Answer 3

Try

$ nmap -p 25 -A -T polite <hostname>

from a Linux box with nmap installed.