Knowledgebase

An MX (Mail Exchange) record tells senders how to send email for your domain. When your domain is registered, it is assigned several DNS records. This enables it to be located on the Internet in several different ways. Every MX record points to an email server that is configured to process mail for that domain. Typically, 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 allows your mail to travel freely back and forth, arriving at the correct inbox.

PRIORITY

Mx records are typically 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.

Usually the priority given is either 0, 10 and 20. Two MX records may have the same priority.

MAIL SERVERS

Mail servers are normally 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 by your host. Check with them if you are unsure.

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

EXAMPLE OF AN MX RECORD

MX records in your cPanel, SolidCP, or other DNS Control Panel will roughly follow the format:
Name - TTL - Type - Priority - Record

An example of MX records in cPanel:

An example of MX records in SolidCP:

Note: MX records come in at least groups of 2. One points to the primary server and the others point to backup servers.