What is an MX Record? Print

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The purpose of this article is to assist you in knowing what MX (mail exchange) records are.

An MX record tells senders how to send emails for your domain. When your domain is registered, it is assigned several DNS records. This enables it to be found on the Internet in several different ways. Every MX record points to an email server that is setup to process mail for that domain. Characteristically, one record points to a primary server, and additional records point to one or more backup servers. For users to send and receive email, the MX record for their domain must point to a server that can process their mail. This lets your mail to travel freely back and forth, arriving at the accurate inbox.

Mx records are stereotypically set up first with a priority. This priority can range from 0 to 99, with the lower the priority number, the more priority is given to that mail server. Mail servers are usually named after the domain they serve with and follow general server naming conventions such as:

mail.YOURdomain.COM
pop3.YOURdomain.COM
smtp.YOURdomain.COM
imap.YOURdomain.COM

or anything set forth by your host, so check with them if you are not certain.

You can even have multiple MX records to handle incoming and outgoing mail, or as backup on another server etc.

This closes this article. You are now aware of the workings of Mail Exchange (MX) records and the role it has in your hosting.

Remember, we are here to assist so do not hesitate to open a support ticket at any time…


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