A Database Mail account contains the information that Microsoft SQL Server uses to send e-mail messages to an SMTP server. Each account contains information for one e-mail server.

A Database Mail supports three methods of authentication to communicate with an SMTP server:

Windows Authentication: Database Mail uses the credentials of the SQL Server Database Engine Windows service account for authentication on the SMTP server.

Basic Authentication: Database Mail uses the username and password specified to authenticate on the SMTP server.

Anonymous Authentication: The SMTP server does not require any authentication. Database Mail will not use any credentials to authenticate on the SMTP server.