postfix-master/big-picture.html

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   3 <head>
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   5 <title>Postfix - the Big Picture</title>
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   7 <META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="NOINDEX,NOFOLLOW">
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  10 <body background="obsolete.gif">
  11
  12 <h1><a href="big-picture.html"><img src="small-picture.gif" width="115" height="45"></a> Postfix
  13 - the Big Picture</h1>
  14
  15 <hr>
  16
  17 <p> <strong> Note: this web page is no longer maintained. It exists
  18 only to avoid breaking links in web pages that describe earlier
  19 versions of the Postfix mail system. </strong> </p>
  20
  21 <img src="big-picture.gif" width="810" height="269">
  22
  23 <p>
  24
  25 The figure shows the main Postfix system components, and the main
  26 information flows between them. Postfix system components are
  27 introduced in the <a href="receiving.html">Postfix anatomy</a>
  28 documentation.
  29
  30 <p>
  31
  32 <ul>
  33
  34 <li>Yellow ellipsoids are mail programs.
  35
  36 <li>Yellow boxes are mail queues or files.
  37
  38 <li>Blue boxes are lookup tables.
  39
  40 <li>Programs in the large box run under control by the Postfix
  41 resident <a href="master.8.html">master</a> daemon.
  42
  43 <li>Data in the large box is property of the Postfix mail system.
  44
  45 </ul>
  46
  47 In order to keep the big picture readable the following elements were omitted:
  48
  49 <p>
  50
  51 <ul>
  52
  53 <li>The Postfix <a href="commands.html">command-line utilities</a>.
  54
  55 <li>The Postfix resident <a href="master.8.html">master</a> daemon.
  56
  57 <li>The DNS lookups by the SMTP <a href="smtpd.8.html">server</a>
  58 and <a href="smtp.8.html">client</a> daemons
  59
  60 <li>The <a href="bounce.8.html">bounce or defer</a> daemon and the
  61 flow of bounced mail.
  62
  63 <li>The address rewriting and resolving requests by the SMTP server
  64 and by the local delivery agent.
  65
  66 <li>The flow of mail forwarded by the local delivery agent.
  67
  68 <li>The flow of <a href="basic.html#notify">postmaster notices</a>
  69 for protocol errors, policy violations, etc.
  70
  71 <li>Triggers to alert the <a href="pickup.8.html">pickup</a> daemon
  72 and <a href="qmgr.8.html">queue manager</a> that new mail has arrived
  73 in the <b>maildrop</b> and <B>incoming</b> queues, respectively.
  74
  75 </ul>
  76
  77 <hr>
  78
  79 </body>
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  81 </html>