Proper Email Server Configuration – Properly Configure Your Public Dns

It is this record that tells all of the other mail servers on the planet where to route email destined for your domain.

What most do not tell you is the importance of getting both the forward (A record) and reverse (PTR record) DNS entries right for the server that is the send connector. In some cases this is the same server as the receive connector, but it does not need to be. It is very important that any server that is configured as an Internet Send Connector have both a forward (A record) and reverse (PTR record) published in DNS, and that these records exactly match what you have entered in the FQDN field on the general tab of your Send Connector. If this one server is Hosting both the send and receive connectors, the MX record should also point to this same name. If your organization accepts mail for more than one domain, simply point the MX record in each domain to the same FQDN. There is no requirement that an MX record point to a server in the same DNS domain as the MX record.

You may be thinking, “Why is it so important that all of these names match?”…  The underlying reason is that mismatched entries and a lack of a reverse DNS entry are used by most Anti-Spam services as a signal that mail messages from this host should be treated as Spam. Some organizations, such as AOL and Comcast, go as far as to outright block mail from hosts that do not have a matching reverse DNS entry. If your organization’s email is to get delivered, you need to do everything you can to lower the suspicions of the Anti-Spam services.

Getting the forward (A record) entry published in DNS is no different than publishing any other address. You simply work with your DNS Hosting Provider to publish the name you have setup for your send connector just like you did when you added your MX record or published the WWW address for your domain by providing them with the full name and apparent IP address. It is the reverse entry or PTR record that is a bit tricky.

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DNS “Domain Name System” Basics

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