Question concerning Custom MX Record addresses

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Perch
Hey all,

I was hoping someone could help me on this one.

I am going to be setting up Custom MX Records for a clients' Domain so that they can use an alternate external email account. I already know how to do this but I have a question about how they can setup their email addresses on their pc's.

Since I host their website on their own Domain (www.theirdomain.com), once I setup their new MX Records, will they still be able to setup their addresses like this: ([email protected]) or would they have to be setup using their new email host's Domain like this: ([email protected])?

I realize that when I setup their new MX records, I will be replacing (mail.theirdomain.com) with (mail.theiremailhost.com). Based on that assessment, it seems to me that they would NOT be able to use their own Domain name in their addresses, but I am not sure??(

Can someone here help straighten this out for me.

Thanks!:)
 
Creating custom MX records will route any mail (mail.domain.com) activity to the alternate server. You would have to have that alternate server set up to accept their domain.com email. This should have been worked out prior to changing mx records. I am hoping that you were not expecting that changing mx records would automatically allow them to receive the @domain.com emails at their local ISP or alternate mail provider.

If they are going to use [email protected] then you should have just turned off email services and have them setup the accounts @theiremailhostsdomain.com using their pop/smtp servers. (basically never setting up a [email protected] at JH email account)

I guess you could just create forwarding accounts at JH to their alternate email accounts
 
Hi Penhall,

I appreciate your response. Let me explain why I am doing this for them. I have been hosting their website and email for a few months. But they have been having a lot of problems with the email service and don't want to use it anymore. They want to move their email to another provider.

I "want to" change their MX records ONLY if it will allow them to use their @domain.com email addresses. Someone had suggested I do this in this case.

However, when thinking about this myself, I thought that if this proposed solution didn't allow them to do that, then what would be the point of doing it in the first place? If they were not concerned about using their @domain.com addresses, they could have just setup email anywhere, with any provider! There would be no point in doing this at all!

So, are you saying what I think you are saying? That changing the MX records will NOT allow them to do this?

If that is the case, then you would be correct. I might as well just forward their Domain email to them at another provider.

I realize that all of this is a little hard to explain in writing. I hope that you understand what I am saying.

Thanks again for your help!
 
I think I know what you are saying and was wondering what the point in doing it myself was - changing the mx records wil only work though if their current email provider allows them to set up their email server to accept email at their @domain.com (your hosted).

So in other words, its possible but requires work at both ends. Their are some dedicated email hosters out there, you may want to check out http://domains.live.com/ (I haven't used them myself)
 
You just need to set the MX record once, then they will need to add email addresses on the other side.
 
Correct, but the domain will have to be set up on the new recieving email server first - not just a simple matter of setting up email accounts on the new server without having the server software setup to allow reception of the email. That's were I think there is some confusion.

EG: can't just setup gmail mx records and expect [email protected] be recieved at gmail.
 
Hi Guys,

Sorry...I had to leave for a couple of hours.

Well, again I appreciate all of your input. So, let me take a stab at this then and please tell me if I am on the right track.

First, I tell them to have their alternate host setup their email account. I am assuming that for them to do that in this case, they will need to setup POP3/SMTP using their hosts addresses. (eg:mail.theirhost.com) or whatever the case may be. I don't believe (maybe I'm wrong) that they could be setup as (mail.domain.com) on their hosts server since "I" am hosting their Domain. ???

Second, I would setup the custom MX records on my server like this: (mail.theirhost.com). ???

Lastly, after a day or two, I would shut off mail service to their Domain (this would give them a chance to get all of their emails during propagation).

This next part is where I am getting confused... if all of the above is correct, would that mean that they would be able to send and receive using @theirDomain.com or would they have to use their hosts Domain for their emails?

The more I think about all of this, the more confused I am becoming!:D

AAAARRRRGGGG!

I would just like to get this all straight once and for all! I know you guys know what you are talking about, but I am just totally, totally mixed up!?(

Anything you could add would be great! Thanks again!
 
First step is to get the details of what your client wants to do. First, we know they want to use a different email service to get their @domain email.

Ask the client for the details on where they want it to go; you will need the settings from the new email server in order to change your mx records to match. Have the client (or yourself) contact the new mail provider to make sure they will accept what the client is looking to do --- if not, you can stop there.

If they will host the email for @domain then they will provide you the mx info to add the record to the DNS settings on JH. Also provide the hoster with the @domain they would be adding.

All account setup for joeblow@domain who happen on the new provider - you would not have to do any of that.

Basically all you are doing is telling your DNS server to redirect any email traffic to the new email host

I suspect, though, that your client hasn't taken the step to figure out what OTHER email service they can use.
 
My client already has a local ISP/Host picked out that they want to use. They want to keep their website hosted with me because they like the speed of our server. They want to be able to use their email @domain.com from the ISP.

They want to be able to send and receive just like they would be able to if I were hosting their email. So, send/receive using @Domain.com.

If their ISP cannot make it work like that, then they will not be happy. Also, they are not happy with me at the moment because of problems they have been having with email at JH.

So, I am really in a bind here. I don't want to lose them as a client, but I don't know of any other way to setup their email like that.
 
Either you or the client will first have to contact their ISP to see if this is a viable option. If they say yes, then next steps can be taken but until you know for sure there is nothing much you can do.
 
Penhall,

I may be way off base with this but... is it possible for an email host to setup a special suffix for their mail server address? I guess what I mean is, could they setup their own domain and include a suffix that would reference my customers Domain? Does this make any sense to you?
 
I think you are meaning setting up a domain alias... so [email protected] would be the same as [email protected] - again, that is doable but is something you will have to talk to the ISP about.

All you can do on this end for the client is:
1) if the host isp will allow domain.com email on their server or domain aliasing then you change your mx records
2) if the host isp will not then you can setup email forwarding through JH to ispdomain.com - assuming this will help the client
 
I guess I will have to have them contact their ISP. You see, the problem here is that they are upset with me due to email problems and they pretty much "demanded" today that I find a resolution, and fast! They expect me to know what to do on my own and if they think that I don't, they will drop me completely!

I have been searching on Google about this problem and no one seems to know how to do this. I guess before today I had just assumed this was a common practise. Shows what I know!:)

Anyway, thanks for all of your help!
 
No problem and good luck... worse case scenario it has been a learning experience for you.

Anyhoot, off to bed.

zzzz
 
Penhall & Stephen,

OK! I think this might be starting to happen now. I spoke with my customer and asked them to call their ISP and ask for mail settings. They gave me settings for both the mail Domain and the SMTP Domain.

They also told my customer that they will not only receive their Domain email that would normally be sent to our server, but that they could also mask the outgoing emails to appear that they are coming from [email protected]!

I have one last question for the experts!;) When changing the MX records, do I have to make one entry for mail.theirhost.com and another one for smtp.theirhost.com? OR, should I just add one entry (being the first one listed above)?

Thanks again guys!:)
 
ok, yes if their ISP is using different, then you will need to make two, likley their incoming server is different than the outgoing, so making them the same would not function(at least properly).
 
Stephen,

I just set it up like this:

Custom MX records
 mailsite.*****.com IN MX 1mail.*****.com

mailsite.*****.com IN MX 1 smtp.*****.com

Does this look correct to you?
 
Actually MX is only incoming, I thought you meant to make an A record.

For MX you only need the mail.*****.com
:)

Sorry about that confusion SMTP does not need an MX record
 
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