by admin » Wed Sep 12, 2007 12:28 pm
MX records are a bit like sign posts, giving directions for incoming mails to the computer which is designated to receive them. When you send a mail from your computer, it is usually sent to an outgoing SMTP (e.g. Ability Mail Server) which is then responsible for deciding where to send the mail. It makes this decision based on the MX records for that mail’s domain (the domain is the part after the @ symbol in the email address). The MX records are stored on the domain’s DNS and come in the form of a table of hosts and their priority levels. The entry in the list with the lowest priority value is used first, and upon failure, the next entry is used (in the order of lowest value priority to the highest). All domains need at least one entry to ensure email will work correctly. This should be the host or IP address of the computer running the mail server for that domain.