Adding an MX Record
MX records are DNS records used exclusively for email. MX stands for Mail Exchange, and it is the only email-specific DNS record type. MX records can be used in combination with other records. Unlike other DNS record types, you can create duplicate MX records pointed to different destinations for failsafe/redundancy reasons. MX records typically do not have any Host values.
MX records should not resolve directly to an IP address, but instead to an email server provided by your email host. If you were provided an IP address for your mail server and no MX record, then we suggest you first create an A record using the IP address, and then point the MX record to the A record.
Example MX Records
MX record pointing to an A record (when only an IP address is provided):
| Type | Host | Answer | TTL | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | mail.example.com | 192.168.1.1 | 300 | N/A |
| MX | example.com | mail.example.com | 300 | 10 |
MX record pointing directly to an email server:
| Type | Host | Answer | TTL | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MX | example.com | mailserver.provider.com | 300 | 10 |
Note: To set up DNS records through your registrar, you need to be using their nameservers so they can manage and host your DNS.
Steps to Add an MX Record
- Log in to your domain registrar account.
- Navigate to your domains list.
- Click on the domain name you wish to create an MX record for.
- Click Manage DNS Records.
- Here you will add the desired MX record, provided by your email host:
- Select MX from the Type drop-down menu.
- Leave the Host field blank, unless you were provided a value by your email host.
- Enter or copy+paste the mail server domain into the Answer field.
- Leave TTL as 300 (default).
- Enter the provided Priority. The default is 10 if you have 1 record. If you have multiple records, you can use 10, 20, 30 and so on, in increments of 10.
- Click the Add Record button.
Once the records are created, the domain should be working within 24 hours.