Custom MX for own Exchange Server

[htech]

Ok I have a quick question for you. I'm used to cpanel so I'm not familiar with hpshere. I can add my A record fine and go to exchange.mydomain.com and actually get into the web based mail however I have a setup question about putting in the mx record.

When adding an mx in hsphere it shows: NAME, CLASS, TYPE, DATA, and then a blank. Whats the formatting needed? I put:

domain.com IN MX 1 exchange.domain.com is this right? I did turn off mail on the domain so it will go to my external server. When I added the above info it would put domain.com.domain.com IN MX 1 exchange.domain.com and I don't think that looks right when it goes back to the screen to show the settings.

[Brangwyn]

That sounds about right to me. It'll need to propagate of course, and make sure you have an "A" record for exchange.domain.com as well pointing to the IP address of the exchange server.

I'd recommend leaving mail switched on actually, and use it as a secondary mailserver, setup a POP3 connector to download any mail from the Vortech server to your exchange server. Then if your exchange server is down for any reason at least you know you'll still be getting mail via the Vortech one.

[htech]

Seems like the A record propigated right away and I could see the webbased exchange mail. However I'm not quite sure I entered the mx part right? Is what I entered in those fill in fields right in hsphere? I can also enter the mx info at the registrar. By changing the mx of my main website will it kill mail for setting up new clients for hosted mails...like making a webmail at my domain for everyone to login to to check? just curious. thanks for your help!! I'm a cpanel convert and this hsphere stuff is new.

[Brangwyn]

Your DNS in HSphere should end up looking like this

techserver.techkiwi.com is my exchange server.

[htech]

ok thanks! I was putting in my domain in the first blank and then it would show up domain.com.domain.com so if I left it blank it would just say domain.com.

[Brangwyn]

Happy to have helped ... I guess its true a picture is worth a thousand words.

[treeves]

Well, I guess that I pulled the "everything's fine" trigger too quickly. The client is not receiving their email.

Here's the scenario: We are hosting their web site, actionequipmentsales.com. They want thier mail routed to MX Logic (www.mxlogic.net), a firm who does their antispam and av. MX Logic sends the mail to the client's Exchange server at 65.196.223.179.

I did the MX records that MX Logic required, but i don't think that I set up the A record right. It may be because I don't understand the relationship between the "A" record and the "MX" record.

Here is the result of the change. MX Logic stepped me through the MX record part of it, so I think that it is ok... I'm not sure about the rest (the A record was developed before the MX record changes- the IP address is the client's Exchange Server):

Name TTL Class Type Data
Built in A records
actionequipmentsales.com 86400 IN A 216.157.xxx.xxx
*.actionequipmentsales.com 86400 IN A 216.157.xxx.xxx

Custom A records
mail.actionequipmentsales.com 86400 IN A 65.196.223.179

Built in MX records

Custom MX records
actionequipmentsales.com IN MX 10 actionequipmentsales.com.inbound10.mxlogic.net
actionequipmentsales.com IN MX 20 actionequipmentsales.com.inbound20.mxlogic.net
actionequipmentsales.com IN MX 30 actionequipmentsales.com.inbound30.mxlogic.net

Should I do something to change the A record now that MX Logic has changed the MX records?

I did turn off their mail service.

Please help!