The MX record directs emails to a mail exchange server.
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A DNS 'mail exchange' (MX) record directs email to a mail server. The MX record indicates how email messages should be routed in accordance with the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP, the standard protocol for all email).
Example of an MX record:
| example.com | record type: | priority: | value: | TTL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| @ | MX | 10 | mailhost1.example.com | 45000 |
| @ | MX | 20 | mailhost2.example.com | 45000 |
The 'priority' numbers before the domains for these MX records indicate preference; the lower 'priority' value is preferred. The server will always try mailhost1 first because 10 is lower than 20. In the result of a message send failure, the server will default to mailhost2.
The email service could also configure this MX record so that both servers have equal priority and receive an equal amount of mail:
| example.com | record type: | priority: | value: | TTL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| @ | MX | 10 | mailhost1.example.com | 45000 |
| @ | MX | 10 | mailhost2.example.com | 45000 |
This configuration enables the email provider to equally balance the load between the two servers.
Message transfer agent (MTA) software is responsible for querying MX records. When a user sends an email, the MTA sends a DNS query to identify the mail servers for the email recipients. The MTA establishes an SMTP connection with those mail servers, starting with the prioritized domains (in the first example above, mailhost1).
A backup MX record is just an MX record for a mail server with a higher 'priority' value (which means a lower priority), so that under normal circumstances mail will go to the more prioritized servers. In the first example above, mailhost2 would be the 'backup' server because email traffic will be handled by mailhost1 as long as it is up and running.
A CNAME record is used for referencing a domain's alias instead of its actual name. CNAME records typically point to an A record (in IPv4) or AAAA record (in IPv6) for that domain. However, MX records have to point directly to a server's A record or AAAA record. Pointing to a CNAME is forbidden by the RFC documents that define how MX records function.
For help setting up MX records in Cloudflare, refer to Set up email records.