mx record preferred fallback 553 sorry...

[Scothorse]

Hi there.

I want to test this Forum for possible problem solving... Here is my current situation:

I have 2 dedicated servers, both use Plesk and are mirrored. One of the domains hosted on both servers has an email address, for the benefit of this post, let's say "mail@example.com". This email address on both servers redirects emails to a gmail.com addy (using the Plesk redirect system).

I am trying to operate a failover email system to enable emails to still be delivered, to that end I have altered the DNS MX records like this:

MX 10 {first email server IP}
MX 11 {second email server IP}

In theory, this system redirects the emails to the second server if the first one is not accepting emails.

To test this, I sent an email with both server accepting emails. As expected. the email got sent and delivered. However if I turn the 1st domain off using Plesk on the MX10 preferred mail server, I get a bounce with a "553 sorry, that domain isn't in my list of allowed rcpthosts"

I read on some other Forums that it could be due to DNS propagation not being complete, however it's been over 24h now and I wonder...

Any of you got some input Many thanks

[eUK-Martin]

Originally Posted by Scothorse

MX 10 {first email server IP}
MX 11 {second email server IP}

I don't think this is recommended set of MX record. Try changing them to:

MX 10 {first email server IP}
MX 25 {second email server IP}

This should reflect within an hour.

And please post back the results.
If it is does not help then we will have a closer look.

[Scothorse]

Originally Posted by eUK-Martin

And please post back the results.
If it is does not help then we will have a closer look.

Thanks! I will. I have just done it.

[Scothorse]

On another note, I am not shure giving an IP in the MX is allowed, is it? But it works...

[eUKhost.com]

Originally Posted by Scothorse

On another note, I am not shure giving an IP in the MX is allowed, is it? But it works...

nope. You cannot specify IP address as Mail Exchanger. You will need to associate specific IP address with a hostname and then specify that hostname as your MX record.

[Scothorse]

okay, so to do things right I should have

IN A mail.example.com IP1
IN A mail2.example.com IP2
IN MX 10 mail.example.com
IN MX 25 mail2.example.com

As my DNS server is not in action on the Plesk server (I outsource the ns'es on mydomain.com) This should work yes?

[eUKhost.com]

Originally Posted by Scothorse

okay, so to do things right I should have

IN A mail.example.com IP1
IN A mail2.example.com IP2
IN MX 10 mail.example.com
IN MX 25 mail2.example.com

As my DNS server is not in action on the Plesk server (I outsource the ns'es on mydomain.com) This should work yes?

thats right. This should work as long as mail.example.com and mail2.example.com resolve to assigned IPs.

[Scothorse]

well technically speaking mail2.example.com is not set, although example.com listens to incoming on the 2IP server, but it remains to be seen...

[Scothorse]

I am afraid it is not working. I will take a further reading later on as it is low priority and I think I might revert to test with two different domain names... It's not a big deal, although it would be nice if it worked..

[eUKhost.com]

Originally Posted by Scothorse

I am afraid it is not working. I will take a further reading later on as it is low priority and I think I might revert to test with two different domain names... It's not a big deal, although it would be nice if it worked..

hmmm. I can get this sorted for you if you provide some more information. You can PM me as disclosing IP over here won't be good.