May
01
2007
How to Setup MX Records
Categories:
Setting up MX (Email) Records
Settings MX records manually can be useful if you want to host your site on one server but handle email via another server or hosting company. If you have access to WHM, you can usually set MX records yourself. If you do not, submit a support ticket to your hosting provider.
Adding and Settings MX Records in WHM (Web Host Manager)
- Log into WHM (via example.com/whm)
- Under "DNS Functions," click on "Edit DNS Zone"
- Choose the domain name for which you wish to set MX records and click "edit"
- Add new records (usually two) pointing to the server (domain name) that is hosting your email, in the following format:
domain name | TTL | Record Type | Priority | MX Record
example.com. | 14400 | MX | 0 | mx1.example.com. Important - remember to place periods after the domain name and MX record entries!
- Erase the values for your old MX entry and click "save"
- Voila - you have successfully created new MX record entries, setting your email to be handled by another server.
Post any questions or comments below 
One more step
If the email for a domain is handled by an external server, shouldn't the domain also be removed from /etc/localdomains and added to /etc/remotedomains ?
This is easy if one is running a VPS, but if it is just a reseller account, one has to ask the hosting company to do it.
A word or two about how to make the changes using command line would add to the value of this tutorial.