An MX record is a mail exchange record, it is a resource record or settings within the Domain Name System (DNS) that directs email to a particular mail server that accepts email on behalf of a domain or users. MX records let everyone know which server your email should go to and where emails sent to your domain should be sent. If your MX records don't work right, you won't be able to get any email.
There can be multiple MX records for a single domain. This is because you may have more than one mail server handling email for your domain. Each mail server will have its own MX record. You are able to specify routing priorities inside of an MX record by utilizing preference values so that email servers know which server to try first, second, third, and so on. If one mail server is down, the email will be routed to the next available mail server according to the MX record priorities.
The following syntax is commonly used by DNS hosting providers for MX records:
- Host: Your domain name.
- Type: MX record.
- Priority/Preference: The lower the number, the higher the priority.
- Destination/Mail Server/Points to: Your mail server address.
- TTL: This is the time-to-live value set in seconds. It tells DNS servers how long they should cache the MX record.
Take a look at these two examples of MX records below:
- yourdomain.com MX 10 mail1.example.com 14400
- yourdomain.com MX 20 mail2.example.com 14400
