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CaptSaltyJack
Asked: 2014-02-13 17:34:05 +0800 CST

Do I need an MX record for my main domain?

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Let's say I have several domains. bossguy.com is the domain that hosts my mail (IMAP server) and where I ssh in to manage other domains, for example:

  • domain1.com
  • domain2.com
  • domain3.com

It makes sense to set up MX records for domain1/2/3.com to point to bossguy.com, so if someone emails me at [email protected], it gets routed to bossguy.com for storage. But does bossguy.com need its own MX record (for emails sent to [email protected])? Currently I have it set up like this:

bossguy.com.     86400 IN MX 10 mail.bossguy.com.
bossguy.com      86400 IN A     23.xx.xx.xx
mail.bossguy.me. 86400 IN A     23.xx.xx.xx

Is the MX record needed in this case?

Also, assume all these domains share the same IP address. Then really, they could all just have MX records that equal the domain/host (domain1.com's MX being domain1.com), and it doesn't really matter since they all share the same IP. Correct?

domain-name-system

2 Answers

  1. If you send mall to example. com, and that name has an IP address but no MX, the sender has to ask twice (once for MX, which fails; again for A). It works, but adding the MX record is done as a courtesy to senders.

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  2. Best Answer

    If you're receiving mail addressed to [email protected], then yes, this domain needs MX records of its own. If this is not the case, then they are not needed.

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