What Is an Email Server? A Beginners Guide to Email Servers

Your IT person asked:

Which email server are you using?

And you paused. Email server? 

You thought you were just using email. Is that different from your email address? Different from Gmail?

You nodded along pretending to understand, then spent the next hour Googling email servers and getting more confused by technical explanations involving SMTP, POP3, and IMAP protocols.

I’ve explained email infrastructure to hundreds of Canadian business users who just want their email to work. 

That means translating technical concepts into language normal people actually understand without requiring a computer science degree.

An email server is simpler than it sounds. Here’s what it actually means and why you occasionally hear people reference it.

What is an Email Server?

An email server is a computer that sends, receives, and stores email. Think of it as the post office of the internet. When you send email, your email server handles delivery. 

When someone sends you an email, their server delivers it to your server where it waits for you to read it.

Email servers are computers running 24/7 that move your messages around the internet and keep them stored until you read them.

For example your email program such as Gmail, Outlook, and Apple Mail. It is the email servers doing the actual mail delivery and storage.

How Email Servers Actually Work 

When you send email:

• You write email in your email program
• Your email program sends it to your outgoing mail server (SMTP server)
• Your server finds the recipient’s mail server
• Your server delivers the email to their server
• Their email program downloads it from their server
• They read your email

When you receive email:

• Someone writes you email
• Their server delivers it to your incoming mail server
• Your server stores it until you check email
• Your email program downloads it from your server
• You read the email

You never see the servers working. They operate automatically in the background.

Why People Talk About Email Servers

• Setting up email on new devices: When configuring Outlook or Apple Mail, you enter server addresses so your device knows where to send and receive mail.

• Troubleshooting email problems: IT support asks about your email server when diagnosing why email isn’t working.

• Business email decisions: Companies choose email hosting providers based on server reliability, speed, and location.

• Email migration: Switching email providers means moving your email from one server to another.

• Security and compliance: Businesses care where email servers are located like Canada vs. US for data privacy and compliance reasons.

Types of Email Servers 

Outgoing mail server (SMTP): Sends your email to recipients. Stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol but you don’t need to remember that. Just know it’s the sending server.

Incoming mail server (IMAP or POP3):  Receives email sent to you and stores it until you read it.

• IMAP keeps email on server so you can access from multiple devices
• POP3 downloads email to one device and deletes from server and it is outdated

Most modern email uses SMTP for sending and IMAP for receiving. That’s all you need to know for now.

Email Servers You Use Without Knowing It

• Gmail servers: mail.google.com handles your Gmail if you use Google email.

• Outlook/Microsoft servers: outlook.office365.com handles email if you use Microsoft 365 or Outlook.com.

• Your company’s email servers: If you have a work email like [email protected], your company either runs their own servers or pays a hosting company to run servers for them.

• iPhone/Android mail servers: When you use Mail app on your phone, it connects to whatever email server your email provider uses.

You use these servers constantly but never think about them because they work automatically.

Cloud Email Servers vs. Self-Hosted Servers

The most common cloud email servers have these characteristics:

• Companies like Google, Microsoft, or Truehost Canada run servers for you
• You pay monthly, they handle all technical work
• Servers run in professional data centers with backups and security
• 99.9% uptime because providers monitor 24/7
• This is what most businesses use

Self-hosted email servers are very rare, technical, and possess these characteristics:

• Your company owns physical server hardware
• IT staff maintain it themselves
• Requires technical expertise and constant monitoring
• Only makes sense for large organizations with IT teams
• Most small businesses avoid this due to complexity

If someone mentions email servers, they almost certainly mean cloud email servers hosted by a provider.

What You Need to Know About Email Servers

You don’t manage email servers yourself.

 This is because your email provider like Gmail, Microsoft, and Truehost handle this. You just use email.

Servers affect email speed and reliability

Better servers mean faster email and less downtime. This is why business email costs more than free email and better server infrastructure.

Server location sometimes is important

Canadian email servers deliver faster to Canadian recipients than servers in the US or Europe. For business communication within Canada, local servers improve performance.

Servers need proper configuration

Your email provider configures servers correctly so your email reaches inboxes instead of spam folders. You don’t do this yourself.

Multiple servers work together

When you email someone, multiple servers cooperate to deliver your message. You don’t see this complexity, it just works.

Why Email Servers Sometimes Fail

Hardware failures: Servers are computers. Hard drives fail, memory fails, processors overheat. Good providers have redundant hardware so one failure doesn’t cause downtime.

Network problems: Servers need internet connections. Network issues can temporarily prevent email sending/receiving.

Software bugs: Email server software sometimes has bugs that cause problems. Providers apply updates to fix issues.

Security attacks: Hackers target email servers. Providers implement security measures to prevent attacks from affecting your email.

Overloaded servers: Too many users on underpowered servers cause slow performance. Quality providers balance server loads properly.

Good email hosting providers monitor servers 24/7 and fix problems before you notice them.

Email Server Errors You Might See

Cannot connect to server: Your email program can’t reach the email server. Usually means you’re offline, the server address is wrong, or the server is down temporarily.

Server timeout: Server took too long to respond. Usually temporary but you should try again in a few minutes.

Authentication failed: Server doesn’t recognize your password. If you get this, check the password and username are correct.

Message rejected by server: Outgoing mail server refused to send your email. Usually because email looks like spam to the server.

Server certificate error:  Security certificate doesn’t match. Usually it means the server address is slightly wrong or the provider’s security certificate expired.

Most errors resolve by checking your internet connection, verifying server settings, or waiting a few minutes and trying again.

Questions You Can Safely Ignore Unless You’re IT

You’ll hear technical people discuss email servers in detail. Here’s what you can safely ignore unless you’re responsible for managing email:

• Mail server software such as Postfix, Sendmail, Exchange
• Port numbers like 25, 587, 993, 995
• SSL certificates and TLS encryption
• DNS records like MX, SPF, DKIM, DMARC
• Server operating systems
• RAID configurations and redundancy

These matter to IT people managing email infrastructure. Regular users just need email to work.

When You Actually Need to Think About Email Servers

Setting up email on a new phone or computer: You’ll enter server addresses your email provider gives you. Copy them exactly, including periods and slashes.

Switching email providers:  You’ll migrate email from old servers to new servers. Most providers handle this for you.

Troubleshooting email problems:

Support might ask: can you ping your mail server?

If you don’t know what that means, just tell them you need help troubleshooting.

Choosing business email hosting:

You’ll see providers advertise server features such as uptime, speed, location. Canadian servers for Canadian businesses usually makes sense.

That’s it. Four situations where email servers become relevant to normal users.

Email Servers and Security: What You Should Know

Servers store all your email

Every email you’ve ever sent or received lives on servers. Choose providers with good security.

Server location affects privacy

Canadian servers follow Canadian privacy laws. US servers follow US laws like the Patriot Act gives US government access.

European servers follow GDPR. For Canadian businesses, Canadian servers provide maximum control.

Encrypted connections matter. 

Your email program should use encrypted connections to servers (SSL/TLS). Modern email providers enforce this automatically.

Servers get hacked

Not often, but it happens. Providers with good security teams, monitoring, and backup systems minimize risks.

Your responsibility:

Use strong passwords. Provider’s responsibility: Keep servers secure, backed up, and running.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Do I have my own email server?

No, unless you specifically built one which is rare and technical. You use an email server your provider runs. Gmail users use Google’s servers. Microsoft 365 users use Microsoft’s servers. Business email users use their hosting provider’s servers.

2. What’s the difference between email server and email hosting?

Email hosting is the service that you pay for. Email servers are the computers the hosting company uses to provide that service. You pay for hosting, the provider manages the servers.

3. Can I access email without a server?

No. Email fundamentally requires servers to store and deliver messages. Even free email like  Gmail, Outlook.com use servers, you just don’t pay for them directly.

4. Why does email need servers when websites don’t?

Websites need servers too. Everything on the internet runs on servers. The difference is websites show you content immediately, while email servers store messages until you’re ready to read them.

5. Is my email server Gmail or mail.google.com?

Gmail is the service/company name. mail.google.com is the actual server address. When people ask for the server they usually mean the address like mail.google.com, not the brand name like Gmail.

Final Recommendation

Email servers are simply computers that send, receive, and store your email. You don’t need to understand technical details to use email successfully. Your email provider manages servers so you can focus on using email.

For Canadian business email: Choose providers with Canadian servers like Truehost for faster performance and Canadian privacy laws. The provider handles all server management, you just use email normally.

But for personal email: Gmail, Outlook.com, or Apple iCloud provide reliable email servers at no cost. They work fine for personal use.

Don’t let technical terminology intimidate you. Email servers work automatically in the background. You interact with your email program, the servers handle everything else without you thinking about them.