Mail Exchange Record (MX)

Defined in RFC 1035. Specifies the name and relative preference of mail servers (mail exchangers in the DNS jargon) for the zone.

Format

name           ttl  class   rr  pref name
example.com.        IN      MX  10   mail.example.com.

The Preference field is relative to any other MX record for the zone (value 0 to 65535). Low values are more preferred. The preferred value 10 you see all over the place is just a convention you can use any number you wish. Any number of MX records may be defined. If the mail server lies within the domain it requires an A record. MX records do not need to point to a host in this zone. MX records should not point to CNAME RRs (but frequently do, see the discussion on this topic). Defining MX records for subdomains.

Examples & Variations

; zone fragment example.com
; mail servers in the same zone
$TTL 2d ; zone default = 2 days or 172800 seconds
$ORIGIN example.com.
example.com. IN       SOA   ns1.example.com. root.example.com. (
               2003080800 ; serial number
               3h         ; refresh =  3 hours 
               15M        ; update retry = 15 minutes
               3W12h      ; expiry = 3 weeks + 12 hours
               2h20M      ; minimum = 2 hours + 20 minutes
               )
              IN      MX     10  mail  ; short form
; the line above is functionally the same as the line below
; example.com. IN       MX     10  mail.example.com.
; any number of mail servers may be defined
              IN      MX     20  mail2.example.com.
; use an external back-up
              IN      MX     30  mail.example.net.
; the local mail server(s) need an A record   
mail          IN      A      192.168.0.3
mail2         IN      A      192.168.0.3

No mail servers in zone:

; zone fragment for example.com
; mail servers not in the zone
$TTL 2d ; zone default = 2 days or 172800 seconds
$ORIGIN example.com.
example.com. IN       SOA   ns1.example.com. root.example.com. (
               2003080800 ; serial number
               3h         ; refresh =  3 hours 
               15M        ; update retry = 15 minutes
               3W12h      ; expiry = 3 weeks + 12 hours
               2h20M      ; minimum = 2 hours + 20 minutes
               )
; mail servers not in zone - no A records required
               IN     MX     10  mail.foo.com.
               IN     MX     20  mail2.foo.com.

Subdomain MX records

You can define subdomains (aka subzones) as being fully delegated (uses a separate zone file) or as what we call virtual (or pseudo) sub-domains (uses a single zone file). The following example uses a virtual subdomain (all the definitions are contained in a single zone file).

; zone fragment for example.com
; name servers in the same zone
$TTL 2d ; zone default = 2 days or 172800 seconds
$ORIGIN example.com.
example.com. IN     SOA   ns1.example.com. hostmaster.example.com. (
               2003080800 ; serial number
               2h         ; refresh =  2 hours 
               15M        ; update retry = 15 minutes
               3W12h      ; expiry = 3 weeks + 12 hours
               2h20M      ; minimum = 2 hours + 20 minutes
               )
; mail server for main domain
              IN      MX 10  mail.example.com.
; A record for mail server above 
mail          IN      A      192.168.0.5
; other domain level hosts and services
....
; sub-domain definitions
$ORIGIN us.example.com.
              IN      MX 10  mail
; record above could have been written as
; us.example.com.   IN  MX 10 mail.us.example.com.
; optional - define the main mail server as backup
              IN      MX 20 mail.example.com.
; A record for subdomain mail server
mail          IN      A      10.10.0.29
; the record above could have been written as 
; mail.us.example.com. A 10.10.0.29 if it's less confusing
....
; other subdomain definitions as required 

An alternate way of defining the above (which we think is confusing) is shown below:

; zone fragment for example.com
; name servers in the same zone
$TTL 2d ; zone default = 2 days or 172800 seconds
$ORIGIN example.com.
example.com. IN     SOA   ns1.example.com. root.example.com. (
               2003080800 ; serial number
               2h         ; refresh =  2 hours 
               15M        ; update retry = 15 minutes
               3W12h      ; expiry = 3 weeks + 12 hours
               2h20M      ; minimum = 2 hours + 20 minutes
               )
; mail server for main domain
              IN      MX 10  mail.example.com.
; mail server for subdomain 'us'
us            IN      MX 10  mail.us.example.com.
us            IN      MX 20  mail.example.com.
; A record for main mail server above 
mail          IN      A      192.168.0.5
; other domain level hosts and services
....
; sub-domain definitions
$ORIGIN us.example.com.
; A record for subdomain mail server
mail          IN      A      10.10.0.29
; the record above could have been written as 
; mail.us.example.com. A 10.10.0.28 if it's less confusing
....
; other subdomain definitions as required