Total Newbie Question

[zshuford]

OK, I've never set up a mail server before, so I have a Total Newbie Question that I'm sure someone can answer fast for me.

When I'm setting up my MX record with my DNS what exactly do I put in the fields?

I use Namecheap, and it has a field for Host Name, Mailserver Host Name, and MX Pref (which is default set to 1).

Now, if I go to the Server Management screen and go to Advancet Management, under there is my server where it says Foo (Exchange). Under that is a Servers folder, and under that is a server called FooServer.

Are these my Host Name and Mailserver Host Name?

 

[WhoKilledKenny]

For outside name resolution, configure external DNS-
My MX record is set up as follows:
mail.domain_name.net and points to the IP Address of my mail gateway (IIS Server running SMTP), really it's the external interface of my firewall. The domain name is a name I registered as my public domain, which is a different name than what is used as my Active Directory name.

For inside name resolution, if you are using exchange, you are not required to create an MX record.

 

[markdmac]

To translate the above into soemthing a little more basic,
the MX record is the fully qualified domain name that you want your mail server to be reachable by. It is linked with whatever your public IP address is.

The name does not need to start with mail.blahblah.com. It can be anything like:

exchange.company.com
mail.company.com
bubba.company.com

On your side you need to be sure that whatever IP you registered with the MX record directs port 25 traffic to the Exchange server.



I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

Check out my scripting solutions at

http://www.thespidersparlor.com/vbscript

 

[zshuford]

OK, so my HOST NAME should be "mydomain.com" and my MAILSERVER HOST NAME should be "mail."? Does that sound right

 

[markdmac]

OK, so my HOST NAME should be "mydomain.com"

Would be helpful if you were more specific of where you were looking. This sounds like you are looking in the TCP/IP properties on an old Windows 9x machine.

The MX record is configured on your PUBLIC DNS which is typically hosted by your Internet Provider.

On the local side you need to configure the public IP to be directed to your mail server. You may have this IP configured directly on the server (bad idea) or typically it is done with NAT, keeping a firewall between your mail server and the Internet.

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

Check out my scripting solutions at

http://www.thespidersparlor.com/vbscript

 

[sharkbyte6171]

It goes like this, on the site you registered your domain name with you need to access there control or setup panel.

First you set forwarding of your domain name to your WAN IP, example World.com = XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX

Then you set your HOST to your WAN IP address. Next create a CNAME like for example mail.world.com

Finally you create an MX record which you wold enter your HOST name like world.com and then a goes to or points to the CNAME mail.world.com

Hope this is helpful