MX records and mail servers.....

What exactly are they

[webboy1]

Hi,

I have worked with web and computers for around 3 years now, and have never needed to setup MX records or mailservers. Now it looks as though i might have to quite soon.

Can someone give me advice on exactly what each is, what each does, and roughly how they work.

I am completely new to this side of things, so make any descriptions idiot proof please!

Thanks
Webboy

[Dreamquick]

To me a mailserver is something that handles either incoming and/or outgoing mail - however in the context of an MX record a mailserver is something that at the very least handles incoming mail (normally called SMTP).

An MX record tells a mail sending process that's trying to send mail to a domain which machine they actually need to give the mail to. Although a lot of the time these point to sub-domains of the parent site (smtp.example.com or mail.example.com are favourites) they can point anywhere really.

You can also attach multiple MX records to a domain and assign them an order/priority so that all mail will go to the first mailserver unless that happens to be down or unreachable in which case it should try the next in line until it runs out of MX records, giving larger operations redudant systems to fallback to.

- Tony

[john_k]

The MX record is simply a DNS record to identify the mail server for the domain name. You can have more than one MX record if you have redundant or secondary mail server(s).

As with a "Web Server", a mail server is actually comprised of the physical server hardware and the mail server software.

To get much more useful/detailed help, you'll need to let people know what platform you'll be working with (linux/ms/other). If you have 3rd party SMTP or mail server software already in place, include specifics on that also.

In this golden age of spam, blacklists, hacking, and worms, the best advice I could give is to be fully versed on your server software configuration options and your spam blocking measures before you make any changes. You need to understand content filters, open-relays, ip-blocking, etc. If you aren't also responsible for your firewall, get friendly with the person that is.