This article covers:

• What is a Mail Exchanger (MX) Record?
• How do I add my MX Records?
• How do I edit an existing record?
• Troubleshooting

What is an MX Record?

Mail Exchanger (MX) Records are a type of Advanced DNS record that are necessary for delivering email to your email address. Unlike Address (A) Records, MX Records point to a server, not an IP address.

Priority
If your domain has more than one MX record, the mailer has to determine which record to use first. When you create an MX record, most DNS hosting providers require you to set the priority number. The lower the number, the higher the priority, and it sets the order in which the records are used.

Host Name
This is the name of the record. Your domain name will automatically be appended to the end. If you enter "@", it will simply be replaced with the root domain (such as rebelexample.com).

Value (Goes To)
This is the server name to which the MX record will point. 

TTL (Time To Live)
The TTL sets the amount of time in seconds for the record to stay cached before retrieving it again. The default TTL is 3600, which is approximately one hour. Lowering the TTL of a new record will not decrease the amount of time it takes for the record to update.

How do I add my MX Records?

Step 1.

Log in to your Rebel account, then select "Products" in the top-left corner. In the top toolbar, you will see "Domains”. Please select this. 

 

Step 2.

Select “Manage” on the right-hand side of the domain you’d like to edit the DNS for.

Step 3.

On the domain editing page, select the "DNS" tab in the upper left.

Step 4.

Scroll down to Manage Advanced DNS Records and click on "Advanced DNS Settings". 

Step 5.

To add an MX record, click the button showing "Add Record" in the upper right.

Step 6.

Click the drop-down and set the Record Type as "MX".

Step 7. 

Enter the required details for the DNS record in the “Host” and “Points to” fields.

• Host: Enter the subdomain or record name (for example, @ for the root domain or www for a www record).

• Points to: Enter the destination value provided by your hosting or email provider.

If the record includes a priority value, enter the appropriate number in the “Priority” field. The TTL field can be left as the default if no information is provided. 

Once all required information has been entered, select “Add Record” to save the DNS record.

How to Edit Existing MX Record

Click the "Edit" button to the right of the record, update the Host and/or Points To field, as instructed by your hosting service provider.

Once finished adding the necessary information, you can click "Update Record".

Troubleshooting

My email stopped working!
If your CNAME record alias is a root domain (such as rebelexample.com, rather than www.rebelexample.com or shop.rebelexample.com) it will block your Mail Exchanger (MX) record from being expressed. Your CNAME records should not be a root domain.

For more troubleshooting articles, check out our articles here!