S: 220 smtp.example.com ESMTP Postfix C: HELO relay.example.com S: 250 smtp.example.com, I am glad to meet you C: MAIL FROM: S: 250 Ok C: RCPT TO: S: 250 Ok C: RCPT TO: S: 250 Ok C: DATA S: 354 End data with . C: From: "Bob Example" C: To: Alice Example C: Cc: theboss@example.com C: Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 16:02:43 -0500 C: Subject: Test message C: C: Hello Alice. C: This is a test message with 5 header fields and 4 lines in the message body. C: Your friend, C: Bob C: . S: 250 Ok: queued as 12345 C: QUIT S: 221 Bye {The server closes the connection} Some clients are implemented to close the connection after the message is accepted (250 Ok: queued as 12345), so the last two lines may actually be omitted. This causes an error on the server when trying to send the 221 reply.