CNAME and MX Records

#1

I was looking at this very helpful guide for using custom hostnames. Since I have a CNAME record set up for mail.mydomain.tld that I am using for IMAP and SMTP settings in my mail client, I was wondering about using mail.mydomain.tld as an MX record for the domain. According to the guide, “Technically you’re not supposed to use this as your MX record, and attempts to mask DNS by doing so will be wasted with most DNS tools. However, the rumor that it breaks your email is not true. You will receive email fine if you set this as your MX record.”

So, I was wondering:

  1. What sorts of problems might I run into if I did this? and

  2. Would I cause any problems for Jarland and the MXroute crew if I did?

Thanks in advance for any guidance.

#2

Great questions!

Theoretically someone might not be able to send you email because their mail server follows the standards outlined in RFC 2181. In practice, I’ve never seen this occur. Not once.

Won’t break my heart any :smiley:

#3

Thanks, Jarland, I appreciate the reply and all the work you put into
MXroute.

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