Adding or Editing MX Records
Mail servers send and receive email messages on the Internet. MX (Mail Exchanger) records specify and prioritize the incoming mail servers that receive email messages sent to your domain name. There is often no need to modify your MX records. Sometimes you have to update them if you host a website with one network but you have email hosted in another.
Normally, you have multiple MX records assigned to your domain name, which can prevent lost email messages during an outage. Each MX record has a priority, or a number to designate the order in which your domain name’s incoming mail servers receive your email messages. The MX record with the lowest number is the first, or primary, mail server to which outgoing mail servers attempt to deliver your email messages.
For example, if you have MX0 and MX10, then MX0 is your primary mail server and MX10 is an alternate mail server. If your primary mail server is unavailable, the alternate mail server stores your email messages until the primary server is back online.
You can click Restore Defaults in the MX (Mail Exchanger) section of the Zone File Editor to restore the default MX records for your domain name. For more information, see Restoring a Domain Name's Zone File Records.
NOTE: You cannot set up your domain name to use more than one mail provider at a time. If you have an email account through another email provider and change your MX record to point to our mail servers, you will not have access to your email account.
To Access the Zone File Editor
- Log in to your Account Manager.
- Next to Domains, click Launch.
- From the DNS menu, select DNS Manager, and then click Edit Zone for the domain name you want to update.
To Add an MX Record
- Go to the Zone File Editor for the domain name you want to update.
- Click Add New Record. The Add DNS Record Window displays.
- From the Record type list, select MX (Mail Exchanger).
- Complete the following fields:
- Priority — Select the priority you want to assign to the mail server.
- Host Name — Enter the domain name or subdomain for the MX record. For example, type @ to map the record directly to your domain name, or enter the subdomain of your host name, such as www or ftp.
- Enter Goes To Address — Enter the mail server's address, such as smtp.secureserver.net.
- TTL — Select how long the server should cache the information.
- Click OK.
- Click Save Zone File, and then click OK. The new MX records displays in the MX (Mail Exchanger) section.
To Edit an MX Record
- Go to the Zone File Editor for the domain name you want to update.
- In the MX (Mail Exchanger) section, click the MX record you want to edit.
- Edit any of the following fields:
- Priority — Select the priority you want to assign to the mail server.
- Host — Enter the domain name or subdomain for the MX record. For example, type @ to map the record directly to your domain name, or enter the subdomain of your host name, such as www or ftp.
- Points to — Enter the mail server's address, such as smtp.secureserver.net.
- TTL — Select how long the server should cache the information.
- Click Save Zone File, and then click OK.
Go back to Managing DNS for Your Domain Names.
