MX (Mail Exchange) records tell the internet which server should receive email for your domain. Setting them correctly is essential before email can be delivered to your inbox.
Add an MX Record in cPanel
- Open Zone Editor and click Manage next to your domain.
- Click + Add Record and choose MX Record.
- In Name, enter your domain (or leave it as the root).
- In Priority, enter a number such as 0 or 10. Lower numbers are tried first.
- In Destination, enter the mail server hostname, for example mail.yourdomain.com.
- Click Add Record.
Example Configuration
| Priority | Destination | | -------- | ----------- | | 0 | mail.yourdomain.com | | 10 | mail2.yourdomain.com |
Important Settings
- Remove old or conflicting MX records so mail is not sent to a server that no longer handles it.
- The destination must be a hostname, not an IP address. Create an A record for that hostname if needed.
- In cPanel under Email Routing, set it to Local Mail Exchanger when mail is hosted on the same server, or Remote Mail Exchanger when using an external provider.
Verify Delivery
After propagation, check the record:
dig yourdomain.com MX +short
Send a test message from an outside account to confirm delivery. If mail bounces, recheck the priority values, the destination hostname, and the email routing mode.