PMDF is fully compliant with RFC 822, and with RFCs 2045--2049 (MIME)^c, RFC 2183 (Content-disposition: header in MIME messages), RFCs 1892 and 1984 (Notification message format), and RFC 2298 (Message Disposition Notifications), the standards for the format of Internet text messages. SMTP support complies with RFC 821 (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol), and RFCs 1652, 1869, 1870, 1891, and 1985 (SMTP extensions), and RFC 2034 (Enhanced SMTP error return codes). PMDF's use of the Domain Name System for message routing complies with RFC 974. For blocking unsolicited bulk e-mail (spam), PMDF fully supports RFC 2505 (Anti-Spam Recommendations for SMTP MTAs). PMDF also complies with various other Internet formats and protocols, including RFC 1123 (Internet host application requirements), and RFC 976 (UUCP mail interchange).

PMDF's POP server is compliant with RFC 1939 (POP3).^d PMDF's POP server also supports RFC 2449 (POP3 CAPA command). PMDF's IMAP server is compliant with RFC 2060 (IMAP4rev1).^e PMDF's IMAP server also supports RFC 2342 (IMAP4 NAMESPACE command). PMDF's message store IMAP server also supports RFC 2086 (IMAP4 ACL extension), RFC 2087 (IMAP4 QUOTA extension), RFC 2088 (IMAP4 non-synchronizing literals), and RFC 2359 (IMAP4 UIDPLUS extension)

For user authentication during IMAP, POP, or SMTP connections, PMDF supports RFC 2222 (SASL; Simple Authentication Security Layer) and RFC 2554 (ESMTP AUTH).

The LDAP support in the PMDF directory channel supports RFC 2251 (LDAPv3), RFC 2252 (LDAPv3: Attribute Syntax Definitions), RFC 2253 (LDAPv3: UTF-8 DNs), RFC 2254 (LDAP Search Filters), and RFC 2255 (LDAP URL Format).

Regarding monitoring, PMDF supports RFC 1566 (Mail Monitoring MIB).

Copies of several of these and other standards can be found in the PMDF documentation directory; see pmdf_root:[doc.rfc] on OpenVMS or /pmdf/doc/rfc/ on UNIX or the rfc subdirectory of the PMDF documentation directory (usually C:\pmdf\doc\) on NT.

Note that PMDF can perform all the functions necessary to administer mail within a domain, but does not itself provide domain name services. A name server is necessary to fully administer an Internet domain; such support is provided by a TCP/IP networking package and not by a mailer, since full domain support involves much more than handling mail messages. Thus, if PMDF is to be used in the Internet environment, some facility should be used to perform domain name server functions for PMDF. This facility can reside on the system running PMDF, as part of the vendor-supplied TCP/IP implementation, or on another system on the network accessible to PMDF.