I just wanted to mention that now that you have the basic framework for socket
programming you have the capabilities to do other neats things than just
sending emails via SMTP. For instance, you could connect to an IRC server and
set up a public access Knowledge Base or HelpDesk without your db being
web-accessible (not open to port 80). Or you could create a web crawler and
store the relevant info to the db.
I just wanted to mention that now that you have the basic framework for socket programming you have the capabilities to do other neats things than just sending emails via SMTP. For instance, you could connect to an IRC server and set up a public access Knowledge Base or HelpDesk without your db being web-accessible (not open to port 80). Or you could create a web crawler and store the relevant info to the db.
-Mark