Configure MX Records for Incoming SMTP E-Mail Traffic

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Configure MX Records for Incoming SMTP E-Mail Traffic

by Daniel Petri - January 7, 2009
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How do I configure and test the MX Record for my Internet Domain name?
When you want to run your own mail server, and it does not matter what version and make of mail server
you're using - as long as the mail server is using SMTP as the e-mail transfer mechanism - you'll need to
configure the MX Records for your domain.
MX is an acronym for Mail eXchange. MX is defined in RFC 1035. It specifies the name and relative
preference of mail servers for the zone. MX is a DNS record used to define the host(s) willing to accept
mail for a given domain. I.e. an MX record indicates which computer is responsible for handling the mail
for a particular domain.
Without proper MX Records for your domain, only internal e-mail will be delivered to your users. External
e-mail from other mail servers in the world will not be able to reach your server simply because these
foreign servers cannot tell to which server they need to "talk" (or open a connection to) in order to send
the mail destined for that domain.
You can have multiple MX records for a single domain name, ranked in preference order. If a host has
three MX records, a mailer will try to deliver to all three before queuing the mail.
MX Records must be in the following format:
domain.com.

IN

MX

10

mail.domain.com.

The Preference field is relative to any other MX Record for the zone and can be on any value between 0
and 65535. Low values are more preferred. The preferred value is usually 10 but this is just a convention,
not a thumb rule. Any number of MX Records may be defined. If the host is in the domain it requires an A
Record. MX Records do not need to point to a host in the same zone, i.e. an MX Record can. point to an A
Record that is listed in any zone on that DNS or any other DNS server.

External and Internet-connected networks

When connecting your mail server to the Internet (or to another ex-organizational mailing system that
uses SMTP) you must always make sure that the rest of the world can successfully resolve your domain's
MX Record. Failing to do so will cause e-mail traffic not to be delivered to you.
In order to properly configure your domain's MX Record you should contact your ISP (Internet Service
Provider) or the party responsible for hosting your DNS Domain name. They will ask you for your FQDN
(Fully Qualified Domain Name) and IP address of your mail server. Make sure you know them.
When your mail server is connected directly to the Internet
In cases where no NAT (Network Address Translation) is being used and where your mail server is directly
connected to the Internet, you will need to provide them with the FQDN and IP address of your mail
server.
Note: This is, by far, the least secure method for connecting a mail server to the Internet.
Let's say you have the following LAN configuration:

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In the above example you need to give the mail server's IP address as your MX Record.
Domain name: dpetri.net
Record FQDN

Record Type

Record Value

mail.dpetri.net

212.143.143.130

dpetri.net

MX

mail.dpetri.net

MX Pref
10

You should make sure the ISP has had all the necessary routing tables updated in order to provide
Internet availability to your internal IP network range.
Note: It doesn't matter if the real host name of the mail server is NOT "mail". Internet hosts don't mind
that, they just need to know what's the name of the mail server, and what's the IP address for that name.
When NAT is being used
In cases where NAT (Network Address Translation) is being used you will need to provide them with the IP
address of your external NAT interface, and configure your NAT device with Static Mapping for TCP Port
25, and have all TCP Port 25 traffic forwarded to the internal IP address of your mail server.
Let's say you have the following LAN configuration:

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In the above example you need to give the NAT's IP address as your MX Record.
Domain name: dpetri.net
Record FQDN

Record Type

Record Value

mail.dpetri.net

192.90.1.1

dpetri.net

MX

mail.dpetri.net

MX Pref
10

Note: Make sure you properly configure the NAT device to forward all TCP Port 25 traffic to 192.168.0.10.
When a Mail Relay is being used
In cases where you have a DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) with a Mail Relay host (i.e. Linux, Windows
2000/2003 + IIS and SMTP, a dedicated appliance and so on) you will need to provide the FQDN and IP
address of your Mail Relay machine, and configure the Firewall to only allow TCP Port 25 traffic to be sent
to the Mail Relay's IP address, not to your real mail server.
You should then configure the Mail Relay to forward the incoming e-mail traffic to the real mail server
(after scanning it for spam, viruses and so on).
Let's say you have the following LAN configuration:

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In the above example you need to give the Mail Relay's IP address as your MX Record.
Domain name: dpetri.net
Record FQDN

Record Type

Record Value

mail.dpetri.net

192.90.1.17

dpetri.net

MX

mail.dpetri.net

MX Pref
10

Note: Make sure you properly configure the Firewall device to forward all TCP Port 25 traffic to
192.90.1.17, and to allow 192.90.1.17 to send TCP Port 25 traffic to your internal mail server at
192.168.0.10. Also, make sure you let the internal mail server communicate only with the Mail Relay
device and that you set up an SMTP Connector on the mail server and configure it to relay all external
mail to the Mail Relay.
Note: Some networks might use the Internet Router as their NAT device, and let the Firewall do just that.
In those cases, the scenario is a mixture between option #2 (NAT) and this one.

Internal networks
As stated above, there is usually no need to configure MX Records for internal use, simply because
internal (i.e. inter-organization) e-mail and replication traffic is usually controlled via Active
Directory-store information. However there are some cases where you will want to configure internal MX
Records.
While these MX Records will generally not cause any harm even if you configure them without actually
needing them, you must pay close attention to various configuration issues, especially when Mail-Relays
and Smart-Hosts are involved. Therefore I cannot say for sure if configuring non-necessary MX Records
will cause any problems to your local network. If you do not know for sure (and this might be the case
since you've bothered to read this article in the first place) I suggest you consult a network specialist
before doing any changes.

Fault Tolerance
In case your mail server fails you'd like to still be able to receive incoming e-mail messages. Most small to
medium sized companies will pay their ISPs some monthly fee and that will buy them storage space on the
ISPs mail servers. For that to happen, a new MX Record will be added to their DNS information, pointing to
the ISPs mail server with a higher priority. For example:
Record FQDN

Record Type

Record Value

mail.dpetri.net

192.90.1.17

MX Pref

mail.isp.com

212.143.25.1

dpetri.net

MX

mail.dpetri.net

10

dpetri.net

MX

mail.isp.com

100

Load Balancing
Medium to large sized companies will want to configure some load balancing features for their incoming
mail servers. For that to happen, the company must set up a number of mail servers, each one with a

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different IP address (actually, one can use Network Load Balancing - NLB, or even clustering but that's a
topic for a different article). Then new MX Records will be added to their DNS information, pointing to the
mail servers, all with the same priority. For example:
Record FQDN

Record Type

Record Value

MX Pref

maila.dpetri.net

192.90.1.17

mailb.dpetri.net

192.90.1.18

mailc.dpetri.net

192.90.1.19

mail.isp.com

212.143.25.1

dpetri.net

MX

maila.dpetri.net

10

dpetri.net

MX

mailb.dpetri.net

10

dpetri.net

MX

mailc.dpetri.net

10

dpetri.net

MX

mail.isp.com

100

Testing the MX Record configuration

Testing the MX Record configuration is critical especially when configuring it for the first time with a new
ISP you don't know that well and so on. Use NSLOOKUP or DIG or any other DNS querying tool to make
sure your records are set straight.
Sample screenshot is of an NSLOOKUP test to Microsoft's MX Records:

Also, make sure you can connect to the mail server by using the MX Record information. You can do so by
using Telnet, as described in the SMTP, POP3 and Telnet in Exchange 2000/2003 and Test SMTP Service in
IIS and Exchange articles.

Related articles
You might also want to read the following related articles:
Block Incoming Internet Mail to Specific Users or Groups
Change the IMAP4 Banner
Change the POP3 Banner
Change the SMTP Banner
Configure IIS to be a Smart Host for Exchange
Message Protocols Used by Exchange 2000/2003
Ports used by Exchange Server
Preventing Exchange 2000/2003 from Relaying
Quickly Send Email Messages
Remote Version Checking through SMTP/POP3/IMAP4
Send Mail from Script
Send Mail (from the Tools and Scripts section)
SMTP, POP3 and Telnet in Exchange 2000/2003
Test SMTP Service in IIS and Exchange
Related Articles
Configure Instant Messaging SRV Records
Block Incoming Internet Mail to Specific Users or Groups
Configure Exchange 2007 to Receive E-Mail for other Domains
Configure Exchange 2000/2003 to Receive E-Mail for other Domains

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