Useful tips

What is an MX record in DNS?

What is an MX record in DNS?

An MX-record (Mail eXchange-record) is a type of resource record in the Domain Name System (DNS). This is the system that, among other indicates to what specific IP address emails need to be sent. The MX-record contains the host name of the computer(s) that handle the emails for a domain and a prioritization code.

Are MX records part of DNS?

A mail exchanger record (MX record) specifies the mail server responsible for accepting email messages on behalf of a domain name. It is a resource record in the Domain Name System (DNS).

How do I find my MX record for a domain?

To use NSLOOKUP to view MX records:

  1. Open a command prompt.
  2. Type “nslookup” then press Enter. You will see the following: Default Server:
  3. Type “set type=mx” then press Enter.
  4. Type the domain name that you want to look up, then press Enter. The MX records of that domain will appear.

Do I need an A record for MX?

The mail-only domain does not require an A record if the MX record points to an A record in another domain. The question is only about the mail-only domain. mail.otherdomain.com will have an A record in the otherdomain.com domain, not in the example.com domain.

Is MX record mandatory?

By standard, your sender domain is not required to have an MX record. RFC 5321 makes an MX record optional. However, an MX record is somewhat of a standard today. Due to spamming practices, a number of receiving servers may reject your messages when there’s no MX record for the sender’s domain.

Can MX record be an IP address?

No. Using an MX (Mail-Exchange) record, a mail server will not accept it is if is an IP address. This can be seen in the Wikipedia article for MX records, and well as, RFC1035 Section-3.3. 14400 IN MX 10 domain.

Can an MX record be an IP address?

What is MX record priority?

The priority you set when you add an MX record set specifies the sequence that an email server receives emails. A smaller value indicates a higher priority. If there is only one MX record set, the priority is not applied.

What if there is no MX record?

When a domain lacks MX records, email servers do not know where to send emails to for that domain. The primary reason a domain might be lacking MX records is that the domain simply doesn’t exist. In our example above, the domain was mistyped as yahoo.