mail.mysite.com

what should it point to?

[santapaws]

I wonder what is the correct way to handle mx and mail dns entries. I have a server that is setup as
mail cname mysite.com
mysite.com mx mysite.com

Now first problem is that mail.mysite.com resolves to mysite.com creating duplicate content possibilities if linked to that way. I wonder if its correct to enter mail as a cname like that or if it should point to the server ip as an A record.
Secondly should the mx record point to the server/site ip or the domain name?

If mail is correctly set than how should that be handled. Have it redirect to www.mysite.com via htaccess or handle it some other way?

Cheers.

[jdMorgan]

An A record or MX record should map an FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name) to an IP address. Basically, an FQDN means "The whole hostname, including sub-domains (or a wild-card subdomain), a domain name, and a top-level domain, such as .com, followed by a period (full stop) -- e.g. "mail.example.co.uk."

I don't know what that domain-less "mail" hostname in your first line is for, nor whether it is even valid; Get rid of it unless you know what it's for and how it works, 'cause I sure don't.

Cnames cause an extra DNS lookup, and are intended only for use when the IP address might change frequently or when the IP address isn't known -- for multiple load-shared servers, for example. They are a form of "alias IP address." When resolving a cname, the DNS client must make two requests, the first to translate the cname to an FQDN, and the second -as usual- to translate that FQDN to an IP address. This slightly slows down you Web site from a client perspective and is wasteful of DNS resources, so don't use cnames if you don't really need them.

Jim

[santapaws]

Thanks JD.