Changing MX records

ollielaroo

Hi all,

Not sure if I'm posting in the right area but here it goes..

This is all on Hosting365.
My client's previous tech-support had set my client's name servers to 'ns1.somedomain.com' and MX record to '10 somedomain.com'. Can I just change the MX record to whatever I like.. it's just that I don't know why the client's previous tech-support have set the client's name servers and MX record set to 'somedomain.com' and not the usual ns3.hosting365.ie and mail.hosting365.ie ?

Can anyone please tell me are their any expected issues if I change MX records for the client's website or should I take any precautions first?

Thank you for your response.

cgarvey

The only issues, I can think of straight up, are:
+ Is new MX record destination set up to accept mail as expected (same accounts/aliases/forwarders as the current MX record's SMTP server is configured to accept)
+ Some mail will still end up at the current MX record while DNS changes propogates (allowing extra time for ISPs that over-cache)
+ Consideration for the current MX destination (delete the accounts? update config to no longer accept for client's domain? forward accepted mail on to somewhere?)
+ Only slightly related, but often MX record (SMTP) is also used for POP/IMAP as well .. so (especially for IMAP), make sure all those accounts are migrated as well.

The biggie is making sure accounts are setup, as expected, in the new location before changing the MX record over. That often involves at least some headache around managing mail arriving at both destinations, and password/config changes.

ollielaroo

Hi cgarvey,

Thanks for the quick reply. I'm not experienced in mail and MX records so I'll need to take a second look at your reply tonight.

I wonder does this change anything..
I notice in the Mail Manager on Hosting365 that my client's email addresses are only email addresses if you know what I mean,i.e.they are not ticked as being 'mailboxes', also each has an eircom address as a forwarder/subscriber. Their emails are actually going to corresponding Eicrom email accounts. Weird or what ?

Due to my lack of experience and my clients unique-looking scenario I am feeling nervous about changing MX records. I wonder could I approach this gently and add in the 'mail.hosting365.ie' record anyway to avoid any loss of email during later attempts to make other changes?

Also I still don't understand why my client's previous support/web person has used other specific nameservers 'ns1.somedomain.com' and MX record 'mail.somedomain.com' ??

Thank you anyone very much.

aidan_walsh

Please contact H365's support team for assistance with this, they should be able to help you.