Question

How to setup MX records with DigitalOcean?

Posted on March 31, 2017
Ubuntu 16.04 Email
Asked by Jazcash

I just pointed my 1and1 domain and nameservers to my new DigitalOcean droplet and the DNS propagated and the domain is pointing to the droplet just fine. Emails aren’t working though, and I have no idea what MX records to enter to make it work. I don’t really know much about networking stuff.

I setup one that I just saw somebody else mention in a post, but it doesn’t work.

http://i.imgur.com/pHqYZrx.png

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Flamber Hansen • March 31, 2017

Accepted Answer

@Jazcash Have you setup a mail server on your DigitalOcean droplet? Otherwise you need to point to somewhere that handles your email. DigitalOcean does not run a mail-service, like many other webhosting companies, since they provide full virtual private servers instead, so you can do it if you want.

arworley • July 26, 2017

Thanks for the help guys! I am leaving this here for additional clarification/discussion.

Helpful reading

Note: The following solution works, but may not be optimal (with my current understanding). If it is incorrect, I will update this post.

HOSTNAME: @ MAIL PROVIDERS MAIL SERVER: mx00.1and1.com PRIORITY: 10

HOSTNAME: @ MAIL PROVIDERS MAIL SERVER: mx01.1and1.com PRIORITY: 20

jwmikecz • July 22, 2017

I called 1and1 about the same thing. I am in the US so they gave me:

MX Servernames:

mx00.1and1.com - I set priority to 10 mx01.1and1.com - I set priority to 20

I’m not sure if the priorities are right but I have my mail routed properly.