Knowledgebase

MX Records

The MX records tells DNS servers on the internet where your IP address, or, in an exchange environment, where our servers are located. So DNS servers know where to send incoming messages to. Without proper MX records, mail will be delivered to a previously known mail server prior to migration, or will either simply remain ignored without being delivered, or be returned with a failure notification as the current valid mail address/server cannot be found.

• inboundcluster1.messageexchange.com              pref/priority 10
• inboundcluster2.messageexchange.com              pref/priority 10
• inboundcluster3.messageexchange.com              pref/priority 20
• inboundcluster4.messageexchange.com              pref/priority 20

PLEASE NOTE: Ensure that these are the only MX records applied to the domain name.

The CNAME Autodiscover entry is needed in order for Exchange 2010 and Outlook 2007/2010/2013 to function properly. This would especially relate to

• Free/Busy information in your calendar
• Out of office messages setupin Outlook.
• IMPORTANT - Proper syncing of 'Offline Address Book' – which is what your exchange environment uses instead of the Global Address Book (GAL)
• For externally connected clients (roaming users) the SSL certificate must include the CNAME Autodiscover record.
• IMPORTANT - Outlook Anywhere - required for devices and mobiles etc.
• IMPORTANT - Exchange ActiveSync
• Unified Messaging

The Autodiscover service uses a user's e-mail address and password to automatically configure a user's profile. Using the e-mail address, the Autodiscover service provides the following information to the mail client:

• The user’s display name.
• Separate connection settings for internal and external connectivity.
• The location of the user’s Mailbox server
• The URLs for various Outlook features that manage functionality such as OOF, free/busy information, Unified Messaging, and the offline address book
• Outlook Anywhere server settings

In your clients DNS settings set up the following CNAME record:

  •  'autodiscover.yourdomain' pointing to 'autodiscover.messageexchange.com'

The SPF record is necessary due to the fact that a significant majority of spam comes from forged addresses. A Sender Policy Framework (SPF) standard is being implemented by a number of ISPs and mail hosts, including several major providers (Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL and cloud-based hosting providers etc). Those providers require SPF to be used in order to allow mail through their networks. Mail systems need SPF records for their domains if they want their mail to be accepted by those providers. If no SPF record is in place your domain emails will be flagged and scored as high probability spam items and will not get delivered to the intended recipients.

In your clients DNS settings set up the following SPF record: include:spf.messageexchange.com

The SPF record should resolve to: v=spf1 include:spf.messageexchange.com -all

Important:

• If an existing SPF record exists,  then you need to add include:spf.messageexchange.com into the current record before the "-all" part of the syntax. For instance v=spf1 ip:xx.xx.xx.xx  include:spf.messageexchange.com -all
• Any other servers that are allowed to send for the domain will have to be included this way as well.