mail exchange (MX)

Mail Exchange(MX) is the exchange of e-mail addresses. In this technique, MX records are used to enter multiple e-mail addresses with different priorities on different mail servers.

If one mail server is unavailable, then another e-mail address with a lower priority on a different mail server is used. The priority of the e-mail address is determined by a prefixed digit. The MX record shows under which Fully Qualified Domain Name( FQDN) the mail server can be reached.

If the actual mail address is kontakt@itwissen.info, then another with higher priority can be 10kontakt@itwissen.info. The mail server with the lowest priority is contacted first.

With the mail exchange technique, several mail servers can accept mails, so that there are no bottlenecks in case of high mail volume or if one server fails or cannot be reached. The mails are delivered in any case. In addition, the MX technique has the advantage that incoming mails are not collected on many computers.