Guide

How to check MX records of a domain

Identify servers that receive emails from a domain.

⌚ About 2 min read
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DNS & Email Beginner 3 min

Identify servers that receive emails from a domain.

Avant de commencer : adaptez toujours les commandes et manipulations à votre environnement. Sur un système de production, prévoyez une backup ou un retour arrière lorsque l’action peut modifier la configuration.

Étapes à suivre

  1. 1

    Open a terminal.

    Use Windows Terminal or Power Shell.

  2. 2

    Ask type MX

    Run Resolve-Dns Name domain.fr -Type MX.

  3. 3

    Read priorities

    A lower preference value is generally a priority.

  4. 4

    Solve Targets

    Then check that the names of the MX servers are properly resolved.

Commands utiles

Resolve-Dns Name example.fr -Type MX

À retenir

  • Editing MX can interrupt the reception of,email.
  • MX records must point to of host names, not directly to IP addresses.
Technical deep dive

MX: priority, target and resolution must be consistent

Technical checkpoints

  • The lowest numeric value has the highest priority; multiple MX records at the same priority can provide load sharing or redundancy.
  • An MX target must be a resolvable hostname; it must not be an IP address.
  • An MX target must have coherent A/AAAA records and accept SMTP on the expected port from the Internet.

Example

Compare MX order then resolve each target separately.

10 mx1.example.com.
20 mx2.example.com.

Topic-specific pitfalls

  • Do not invert priorities: 10 is preferred over 20.
  • An old MX still published can continue receiving part of the traffic if its priority remains valid.

How to validate

  • Each MX target resolves and answers SMTP as designed.
  • Old MX targets and transition TTLs are removed after the migration window.
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