[AusNOG] Current "Best Practice" WRT email size

[Paul Wilkins]

One existing "best practice" standard for maximum mail size would be RFC
2821, which states:

message size restrictions should be avoided if at all possible

It then goes on to specify handling where sizes exceed available system
resources.

So for an MTA, maximum size should be assessed against file system activity
on your mail servers, say 5% of typically free space.

For client POP/IMAP servers, it's entirely determined by the business model
that pays for the mail boxes.

SMTP has really mature reliability mechanisms, and is probably the most
reliable file delivery protocol on the internet, and can also offer file
scanning etc. so it's not at all inappropriate to be using it for large
transfers, if the end client can handle it.

Lastly, in any considerations, whatever is max size today, will need to
double within 2 years.

Kind regards

Paul Wilkins
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