Using two MX entries for email in cpanel

[hdelony]

... I accidently posted this in DNS forum before, so I will post it here now...

Hi all --

This is my first time dealing with MX entries, ZoneEdit, or DNS issues... so bare with me.

I have a client who setup MS Exchange on his own server and he wants to host his email there. The server is a static IP... not a domain. So, we added the IP to the MX entry in his email settings in cPanel. It works great!

Question: Is there anyway we can add another MX entry to still keep email on the server for a while? We would like to use webmail as a back up for a short while incase the server messes up. During this time he would double check mail... on his server and on webmail, continously deleting mail of his webmail. After a while we would remove the entry... once he feels comfortable with the server.

Any help is great.

Thanks!

-- Hugh in Houston

[Amitabh]

The mail would only be delivered in one location, even if you have multilpe DNS entries.

Infact, I would suggest that before your client uses the exchange server as his primary mail server to send his mails, check the IP against DNS blacklisting at www.sorbs.net . These people also keep a list of dialup IP's, and if your IP falls within this range, the mails might start getting rejected. I had this experience once where even a static IP block was designated as a dial-up block.

[scojam]

backup server?

You can specify multiple MX records with different priority values such that if one mail server is down, it will automatically look for the next in the chain. Something like this:

First mail server to try is 10.1.1.50. If no response then .51 finally .52

mail MX 10 10.1.1.50
mail MX 20 10.1.1.51
mail MX 30 10.1.1.52

Hope this helps,
Scott