Difference between revisions of "Understanding MX Records"
Your guide to pathway services
| Line 3: | Line 3: | ||
| − | + | = How MX records work<br/> = | |
The MX record ensures that emails from a domain are delivered to the correct mail server. | The MX record ensures that emails from a domain are delivered to the correct mail server. | ||
| Line 9: | Line 9: | ||
| − | + | == Directing emails<br/> == | |
An MX record will show that all emails from ''@example.com'' should be routed to the mail server at ''example.com''. An email sent to ''[mailto:user@example.com user@example.com]'' is directly routed to the email server ''216.43.49.148.'' | An MX record will show that all emails from ''@example.com'' should be routed to the mail server at ''example.com''. An email sent to ''[mailto:user@example.com user@example.com]'' is directly routed to the email server ''216.43.49.148.'' | ||
| Line 17: | Line 17: | ||
| − | + | == Setting the priority<br/> == | |
If the domain ''example.com'' has two MX records, ''mail1.example.com'' might have a priority of 10 and ''mail2.example.com'' might have a priority of 20, emails are delivered first to ''mail1.example.com'' because it has a lower priority number. If ''mail1.example.com'' is down, emails are redirected to ''mail2.example.com''. If two servers have the same priority, one server is chosen randomly. | If the domain ''example.com'' has two MX records, ''mail1.example.com'' might have a priority of 10 and ''mail2.example.com'' might have a priority of 20, emails are delivered first to ''mail1.example.com'' because it has a lower priority number. If ''mail1.example.com'' is down, emails are redirected to ''mail2.example.com''. If two servers have the same priority, one server is chosen randomly. | ||
Latest revision as of 16:08, 4 November 2016
A mail exchange (MX) record is a type of DNS record that specifies how emails are routed to a specific mail server. (it directs your domain’s emails to the servers hosting your user’s email accounts.) HostPath will manage these settings to make sure emails are always delivered to the correct mail server.
How MX records work
The MX record ensures that emails from a domain are delivered to the correct mail server.
Directing emails
An MX record will show that all emails from @example.com should be routed to the mail server at example.com. An email sent to user@example.com is directly routed to the email server 216.43.49.148.
To further ensure that emails always get delivered, you will need to create MX records for multiple servers. When one server is down, emails will be routed to another server instead. You can assign priorities to each server using increments of 10, 20, 30, and so on. The lowest value receives the highest priority and will be tried first.
Setting the priority
If the domain example.com has two MX records, mail1.example.com might have a priority of 10 and mail2.example.com might have a priority of 20, emails are delivered first to mail1.example.com because it has a lower priority number. If mail1.example.com is down, emails are redirected to mail2.example.com. If two servers have the same priority, one server is chosen randomly.
