Making the correct DNS settings for different mailserver

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michaeljansse

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We've recently updated our DirectAdmin, and I came across some problems with setting up MX records for a different mailserver.

When adding MX records in our previous version of DirectAdmin, the only fields you had to fill in were Name, Type and Value. Where Value was only a dropdown with the priority.
So, when adding a new record (for example our mailserver 109.70.5.63) we only had to filll in the following values to make it work:
Name: 109.70.5.63
Type: MX
Value: 10
Of course also uncheck the Local Mail Server option and removing all other MX records. (see attachment 1.jpg)
1.JPG

But with our update of DirectAdmin the field Value is not only a dropdown but also a textfield. (see attachment 2.jpg)
2.JPG
DirectAdmin gives an error when that field is left blank (because I don't know what to fill in there).

This setting is need to be made so our customers (who got their own mailserver) can receive mail send out with the same domain as their website.
I've allready tried a lot of different settings for this to work, but did not succeed.

Can somebody tell me the correct MX record setting (or maybe the complete DNS settings) for this to work?

Thanks a lot!
 
Both images are wrong.

Name should be @ symbol which means your full domain or else put in your whole domain followed by period. Your value should be a subdomain in which you already created an A record for.

So if you want to point to 109.70.5.63 you first create a subdomain A record for example mail.domain.com and point it to the ip.

Then you enter:

1. name - @
2. value - mail.domain.com

The drop down menu for the priority level is for whatever server is on the lowest number will receive mail first and then the higher numbers and so on.

Mx records should never point to an ip address only.

http://site-helper.com/dns.html#mx

In the end you will end up with the following dns records basically:

Code: 
mail   IN A 109.70.5.63
@      IN MX 10 mail

Use mxtoolbox.com to check your values after you enter them and dns is updated.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the clear answer. I've tried this configuration with a customer of ours.
They maintain their own domain settings and DNS settings, but their website is hosted on our server.

This website contains contact forms that sends e-mails to @adullamzorg.nl addresses with a @adullamzorg.nl sender information.
When I do a nslookup on their MX record, this is what I see:

adullamzorg.nl MX preference = 10, mail exchanger = filter01.mx-relay.com
adullamzorg.nl MX preference = 10, mail exchanger = filter02.mx-relay.com

But in DirectAdmin I can't make an A record to a domain. This must be an IP address.
Even if I set the correct A record with the IP according to filter01.mx-relay.com and filter02.mx-relay.com and set the MX records like you said, it doesn't work.
See here the current configuration:
3.JPG

What am I doing wrong here?
 
A recent change in DirectAdmin (I'm not sure in what version this change was introduced) means a subtle but important difference in the way MX records are defined in the interface.

Previously, you could only issue a value and destination for an MX record; you could not specify, for example, an mx record for a subdomain inside the main domain's zone file. So the destination went into the left side (in theDirectAdmin interface), and the value on the right.

However, because of requests for admins to be able create subdomain MX records in DirectAdmin, the interface was recently changed so you could enter a domain/subdomain (prefilled in by DirectAdmin with the domain name, but you can change it), which now goes on the left side (again, in the DirectAdmin interface), and the value and destination on the right.

This has unfortunately not yet been updated in the site-helper documentation.

Jeff
 
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