An MX record, or mail exchange record, is a DNS record that routes emails đồ sộ specified mail servers. MX records essentially point đồ sộ the IP addresses of a mail server’s tên miền.
MX records are especially useful for users who host or lease an gmail because it differentiates trang web and gmail servers. In DNS, your A records for your trang web (examplesite.com) point đồ sộ your trang web server, and your MX records point đồ sộ your mail server. When someone sends emails đồ sộ [email protected], the MX record directs đồ sộ a specified mail server, lượt thích Gmail or wherever your gmail server is hosted.
MX records can specify and prioritize multiple gmail servers, which is necessary for load balancing and avoiding outages. And MX records are an important part of troubleshooting mail delivery problems for any organization.
How Do MX Records Work?
Here’s how MX records work when someone sends you an emaill:
Their gmail client forwards the message đồ sộ an gmail server
The sending message transfer agent (MTA) sends a DNS query đồ sộ identify the MX record
The MX record identifies the mail exchange server for the destination’s domain
The sending MTA establishes an SMTP connection with the destination mail server
The gmail is delivered
An MX record can include multiple gmail servers. This is important for two reasons:
You can create redundancy. If one mail server experiences an outage, the MX record points đồ sộ other mail servers, ensuring mail continues đồ sộ deliver.
You can load balance gmail traffic across multiple servers.
MX records look similar đồ sộ other DNS records: they include a tên miền name, type, TTL, value, and a priority if selected.
How Do I Find My MX Record?
You can use an MX record lookup tool. Simply enter your tên miền name and you’ll see associated MX records, IP addresses, TTLs, and other relevant info.
These tools can also kiểm tra that DNS and DMARC records are published, test SMTP, and kiểm tra for potential blocklists. They are an important part of diagnose gmail deliverability problems.
Do I Need an MX Record?
MX records are essentially a standard part of gmail delivery. They’re technically not required for a sender tên miền, but due đồ sộ spam, receiving servers may reject emails from a tên miền without an MX record. In short, if you want đồ sộ successfully deliver emails, you need an MX record.
MX records are also necessary for the following:
Receiving emails through a separate tên miền from your trang web server
Load balancing mail flow across multiple servers
How Do I Set Up and Configure an MX Record?
Specifics depend on your gmail and trang web tên miền hosts.
Email providers have built-in MX records for kết thúc users, so sánh you don’t need đồ sộ phối anything up. But if you want đồ sộ direct gmail from your trang web tên miền host đồ sộ a separate gmail provider, you’ll need đồ sộ change your MX record. This generally involves the following steps:
Login đồ sộ your tên miền hosting trương mục.
Remove existing MX entries from your domain’s DNS management page.
Add new MX records associated with a preferred mail server. These are designated by your mail server.
For a more detailed mô tả tìm kiếm, see these MX record configuration instructions from Google Workspace.
When setting up MX records, you can select a TTL, which often defaults đồ sộ 3600 unless otherwise specified. You can also include multiple servers and assign server priorities.
MX Record Priority
To load balance and avoid outages, users can add multiple servers đồ sộ an MX record and select a priority order. Mail is sent đồ sộ the MX record with the lowest priority, or evenly across multiple servers if they have the same priority.
When selecting priority numbers, lower numbers have higher priority. Here’s an example:
Mail server 1: Priority 10
Mail server 2: Priority 20
Mail server 3: Priority 30
In this scenario, emails use the lowest priority server, or mail server 1. If mail server 1 is overwhelmed or experiences an outage, the gmail is routed through mail server 2.