Not a stupid question at all :) ! When talking about your DNS records for your email environment, there are three different records which you need;
1. Your A record will simply resolve mail.motorcyclemonster.com to the IP address your mail server is connected through. If your DNS hoster doesn't provide an interface to create A records for yourself, you will need them to do it.
2. Your PTR record is the opposite of your A record in that it will resolve from your IP address back to your A record. There can only be one PTR record per IP address, and you'll actually have to contact your Web hoster rather than your DNS host as they will be the only ones with control over your PTR. Some web hosts may not be prepared to change this for you, but if your have a dedicated or virtual server then I'd say they would.
3. You MX record is vital as this instructs other email servers where email destined for your domain should be sent. All the MX record does is contain the name of the A record you created for your domain, i.e mail.motorcyclemonster.com along with a number indicating the preference for this server. In the even you have multiple email servers you would have multiple A, PTR and MX records, and the MX record with the highest preference (lowest number) would be used first.
After you have set up these DNS records, you'll also need to ensure you configure the host name setting for the SMTP service.
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Dominic Ryan
4 x Microsoft IIS MVP, MCSE, MCSA
IIS Aid owner/webmaster
Not a stupid question at all
Not a stupid question at all :) ! When talking about your DNS records for your email environment, there are three different records which you need;
1. Your A record will simply resolve mail.motorcyclemonster.com to the IP address your mail server is connected through. If your DNS hoster doesn't provide an interface to create A records for yourself, you will need them to do it.
2. Your PTR record is the opposite of your A record in that it will resolve from your IP address back to your A record. There can only be one PTR record per IP address, and you'll actually have to contact your Web hoster rather than your DNS host as they will be the only ones with control over your PTR. Some web hosts may not be prepared to change this for you, but if your have a dedicated or virtual server then I'd say they would.
3. You MX record is vital as this instructs other email servers where email destined for your domain should be sent. All the MX record does is contain the name of the A record you created for your domain, i.e mail.motorcyclemonster.com along with a number indicating the preference for this server. In the even you have multiple email servers you would have multiple A, PTR and MX records, and the MX record with the highest preference (lowest number) would be used first.
After you have set up these DNS records, you'll also need to ensure you configure the host name setting for the SMTP service.
----------------
Dominic Ryan
4 x Microsoft IIS MVP, MCSE, MCSA
IIS Aid owner/webmaster