MX Record And Email

I am in the process of moving ISP. I want to make the transfer as smooth as
possible so I want to get my email sorted first. Previously I have used the
email services that came with the ISP I was with at the time but have now
registered a couple of domains via 123-Reg so I can separate ISP from email.

At the moments I am using email forwarding from these domains but would like
POP3 access.

I can either buy POP3 access form 123-Reg or as I understand it run my own
mail server. I have a copy of Desknow (www.desknow.com) on a PC in a corner
of my study running 24/7. It is accessible form the outside world and can be
used as by specifying its IP address in any emails ie me@1.2.3.4 (where
1.2.3.4 is its IP address) will get to it.

In the 123-Reg control panel for the domain I want to use there is a setting
to alter the domains MX record. If I set this MX to the IP address of my
mail server will mail sent to (E-Mail Removed) get there?

Is it a simple as that?

Thanx.

R.Daneel Olivaw wrote:
> In the 123-Reg control panel for the domain I want to use there is a setting
> to alter the domains MX record. If I set this MX to the IP address of my
> mail server will mail sent to (E-Mail Removed) get there?
>
> Is it a simple as that?

Probably not quite that simple.

For one, MX records cannot be IP addresses, you'll have to specify a
hostname and make sure there is a matching A record.

Secondly you will have to ensure that your mail server is setup to
specifically accept mail sent to your domain(s).

You probably want to have some secondary MXs as well, at your option.

"Paul Cupis" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:eab0fe$kh$(E-Mail Removed)...
> R.Daneel Olivaw wrote:
>> In the 123-Reg control panel for the domain I want to use there is a
>> setting
>> to alter the domains MX record. If I set this MX to the IP address of my
>> mail server will mail sent to (E-Mail Removed) get there?
>>
>> Is it a simple as that?
>
> Probably not quite that simple.
>
> For one, MX records cannot be IP addresses, you'll have to specify a
> hostname and make sure there is a matching A record.
>
> Secondly you will have to ensure that your mail server is setup to
> specifically accept mail sent to your domain(s).
>
> You probably want to have some secondary MXs as well, at your option.
>

Bear with me as I am a newbie at this!

In reverse order as I understand it if I set the secondary MX up to send
mail to my ISP address if my mail server is down that should work - yes?

My mail server is set up as the mydomain.com and will accept mail sent to
it as such.

In my domain's control panel at 123-Reg there are two A records both
associated with an IP address. One A records is labelled WWW and the other
is @ - Do I alter the @ IP address to the IP address of my mail server?

Thanx

"R.Daneel Olivaw" <no.spam@me> wrote in
news:44c90750$0$962$(E-Mail Removed):

> In my domain's control panel at 123-Reg there are two A records both
> associated with an IP address. One A records is labelled WWW and the
> other is @ - Do I alter the @ IP address to the IP address of my mail
> server?

Those 'A' records tell the world where to find your domain.

You need to add an MX record in the bit below that on the 123 control
panel. Their mail servers are MX=10 and 20. To make your mail server a
higher priority than theirs, set your record to 5.

That wasn't the best explanation I've ever written.

The two 'A' records point to the IP where your domain (eg
www.yourdomain.com) is hosted.

Create another 'A' record with the name mail (for example) pointing to the
IP address of your mail server.

You now have an 'A' record pointing to mail.yourdomain.com

Add an MX record, value 5, pointing to mail.yourdomain.com and your email
will attempt to deliver there first, and fall back onto the 10 and 20
entries if your mail server is unavailable.

R.Daneel Olivaw wrote:
> "Paul Cupis" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:eab0fe$kh$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> R.Daneel Olivaw wrote:
>>> In the 123-Reg control panel for the domain I want to use there is a
>>> setting
>>> to alter the domains MX record. If I set this MX to the IP address of my
>>> mail server will mail sent to (E-Mail Removed) get there?
>>>
>>> Is it a simple as that?
>> Probably not quite that simple.
>>
>> For one, MX records cannot be IP addresses, you'll have to specify a
>> hostname and make sure there is a matching A record.
>>
>> Secondly you will have to ensure that your mail server is setup to
>> specifically accept mail sent to your domain(s).
>>
>> You probably want to have some secondary MXs as well, at your option.
>>
>
> Bear with me as I am a newbie at this!
>
> In reverse order as I understand it if I set the secondary MX up to send
> mail to my ISP address if my mail server is down that should work - yes?
>
> My mail server is set up as the mydomain.com and will accept mail sent to
> it as such.
>
> In my domain's control panel at 123-Reg there are two A records both
> associated with an IP address. One A records is labelled WWW and the other
> is @ - Do I alter the @ IP address to the IP address of my mail server?
>
You can do, or you create a new one, call it mail.mydomain.com and point
that at your mail server. Then create the MX record for the domain and
point it at mail.mydomain.com. How you actually do this is dependent on
the front-end software at 123-reg, but on the Gradwell one, the box for
the data would have "10 mail.mydomain.com" (without the quotes). To set
up your ISP as an alternate (having first made sure they will accept
email to your domain), you could put "20 mail.isp.com" as another MX.
The entire format of the line sould read something like:

@ MX 10 mail.mydomain.com 86400

The last number is the expiry time in seconds - keep it low if you're
about to change things.

--
Dave
mail da (E-Mail Removed) (without the space)
http://www.llondel.org
So many gadgets, so little time

"Peter" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:WcidnQ-(E-Mail Removed)...
> That wasn't the best explanation I've ever written.
>
> The two 'A' records point to the IP where your domain (eg
> www.yourdomain.com) is hosted.
>
> Create another 'A' record with the name mail (for example) pointing to the
> IP address of your mail server.
>
> You now have an 'A' record pointing to mail.yourdomain.com
>
> Add an MX record, value 5, pointing to mail.yourdomain.com and your email
> will attempt to deliver there first, and fall back onto the 10 and 20
> entries if your mail server is unavailable.

Brilliant - many thanx

On Thu, 27 Jul 2006 18:35:01 UTC, "R.Daneel Olivaw" <no.spam@me> wrote:

> In reverse order as I understand it if I set the secondary MX up to send
> mail to my ISP address if my mail server is down that should work - yes?

This probably won't work, as your ISP's mail server won't know about the
domain. It's also a pain faffing about collecting mail from different
sources. You'll also find the spam will probably mostly go to the ISP
address, as spammers tend to try the lowest priority MX.

I would:
a) Set up an A record specifically for mail. If you can do a reverse
(PTR) record, then do so too; some mail servers check this.
b) Set up an MX record pointing to the name in the above A record. Give
it a priority of (say) 10. (actual value doesn't matter, but its value
relative to others; convention seems to be to make the lowest value
(highest priority) 10).

As an option, rent a secondary MX; a proper one. I use gradwell.com at
£20/year plus VAT for up to 50 mail domains. This can be done virtually
instantly online. It includes free secondary DNS too. So:

c)Set up a secondary MX service, and put in another MX record (say with
20) pointing to that.

Any mail delivered to the secondary MX is automatically forwarded to the
primary MX; if it's down, it's retried at intervals. Much easier from
your POV.

--
[ 7'ism - a condition by which the sufferer experiences an inability
to give concise answers, express reasoned argument or opinion.
Usually accompanied by silly noises and gestures - incurable, early
euthanasia recommended. ]

R.Daneel wrote on Thu, 27 Jul 2006 19:13:44 +0100:

> I am in the process of moving ISP. I want to make the transfer as smooth
> as possible so I want to get my email sorted first. Previously I have used
> the email services that came with the ISP I was with at the time but have
> now registered a couple of domains via 123-Reg so I can separate ISP from
> email.
>
> At the moments I am using email forwarding from these domains but would
> like POP3 access.
>
> I can either buy POP3 access form 123-Reg or as I understand it run my own
> mail server. I have a copy of Desknow (www.desknow.com) on a PC in a
> corner of my study running 24/7. It is accessible form the outside world
> and can be used as by specifying its IP address in any emails ie
> me@1.2.3.4 (where 1.2.3.4 is its IP address) will get to it.
>
> In the 123-Reg control panel for the domain I want to use there is a
> setting to alter the domains MX record. If I set this MX to the IP address
> of my mail server will mail sent to (E-Mail Removed) get there?
>
> Is it a simple as that?

You've already had a good reply on setting up the MX side of things, but I
wanted to point something else out.

Are you going to use your own mail server for outgoing messages too? If so,
I'd suggest you get it to relay all outgoing mail to your ISP's SMTP server.
If you decide not to, and use your mail server to send direct, you might
well find it won't work reliably for all domains.

Some recipient servers will have RBL (Realtime Blackhole List) and/or DUL
(Dialup User List) checking (these are lists of IP addresses for servers
that are known to send/forward spam, or of known end user IP ranges - dialup
also covers adsl/cable/etc IP ranges) and reject mail from an IP address in
one of these lists.

Some use SPF (Sender Policy Framework, aka Sender ID) to check sending IPs
are authorised for the domain of the From address in the message (you should
be OK with these as you'll have the MX records pointing to your mail server,
but you'll also need to add SPF/Sender ID records to the authoritative DNS
for your domain, and most hosting companies' DNS interfaces don't have this
facility, if you can create TXT records you can add the SPF records
yourself).

Some servers will check the hostname of the sending server in the SMTP
HELO/EHLO against the domain name in the FROM data, and reject messages
where the domain doesn't match. This makes for more complex configurations
if you are letting your mail server deal with multiple sending domains, some
mail server programs won't be able to manage this as they use the machine's
TCP/IP settings to determine the hostname to use in the HELO/EHLO command
(normally this will be on Win32 platforms, but it will also apply to other
platforms where only one hostname can be configured for the mail software).

There's a whole bunch of things to consider when running your own mail
server. Receiving the mail is the easiest bit :P

Dan

Spack wrote:
> Some use SPF (Sender Policy Framework, aka Sender ID) to check sending IPs
> are authorised for the domain of the From address in the message (you should
> be OK with these as you'll have the MX records pointing to your mail server,
> but you'll also need to add SPF/Sender ID records to the authoritative DNS
> for your domain, and most hosting companies' DNS interfaces don't have this
> facility, if you can create TXT records you can add the SPF records
> yourself).

Or just don't bother setting any SPF up.