An MTA (Mail Transfer Agent) is software that provides the sending (not receiving) of email messages from one computer to another.
An MTA can be seen as a post office for email. Other terms that often refer to MTAs are mail servers or mail exchangers. The most used MTAs are:
- Microsoft Exchange Server
- Postfix
- Exim
- Sendmail
The last three are used for Linux for sending email. DirectAdmin and cPanel use Exim and Plesk uses Postfix. Of the above MTAs, only Microsoft Exchange Server provides both sending (MTA) and receiving (MDA) of email. Usually, a separate MDA is used for receipt.
The VPS mail service
Our VPS mail service is not an MTA and cannot send mail on its own. In order to use the VPS mail service, an MTA is therefore required.
Our DirectAdmin, Plesk and cPanel VPSs come supplied with an MTA and MDA (Mail Delivery Agent) by default. An MTA must first be installed and configured for all independent OSs.
Should you have any questions about this article, do not hesitate to contact our support department. You can reach them via the ‘Contact Us’ button at the bottom of this page.