Knowing about MX Records will help you in self managing your dedicated server, especially if you are using one server as a mail server and hosting your website on a separate server, etc. So here is a brief FAQ on MX Records.

What are MX records?

MX records assist your domain name in handling email. These DNS records point the email to the mail server where it is supposed to go.

Where can I see my MX records?

Normally they will be located on your DNS provider or web host’s server. To view them, simply visit www.mxtoolbox.com/, type your domain name into the search field, and view your records instantly.

What do MX records look like?

Every MX record includes the same fields (though they can be formatted differently), such as:

Name – yourdomain.com
Class – IN (Internet)
Type – MX
TTL – This stands for “time to live”: i.e. the time it takes to update the record, measured in seconds. For example, a TTL of 7200 means the MX record will take two hours to update. The higher the TTL the less traffic load on the DNS.
Preference or Priority – The order in which mail is delivered to which server, etc. Servers that are sending should be the lowest preference number.
Data – the DNS information for your mail server: i.e. yourdomain.com.ns1.smtp.com