MX Records scoring 0 (zero)

[iwebserv]

I am just curious as to why MX Records, although setup properly in WHM/cPanel get a score of 0, when the standard should be a score of 10.

I found this site http://www.1usa.com/tech/not-receiving-emails.html and half way down the page it said this:

Is the sender's Dot.Com company name set up correctly in the worldwide DNS system?
Probably not.

Their DNS Administrator for their Dot.Com name needs to check to see if the MX "A" Records are set up correctly in the worldwide DNS system.
We've run across some screwed-up setups where the System Administrators have not correctly set up the MX Records in the DNS, and see this a lot with low-cost T-1 line service or low-cost website hosting service.
This can happen to both large and small companies, who buy T-1 lines based on price vs. quality.

DNS Administrators:
To test your system:
run NSLookup on your computer.
Set Query=mx
Type in your dot.com name
If the name shows up as MX=10 with the same dot.com name, then it resolves correctly, otherwise it will not resolve.

You can goto any DNS site that allows you to check MX Records such as dnsstuff.com - network-tools.com etc.

I just went here: http://network-tools.com/nslook/
Put in your domain name, and the server ip and select MX from the query list and click "go". In the results look under "preference" and you should see a score.

*EDIT* From that same site just above, do a test on google.com, you will find for example they have scores of 10 and one score of 40 which is great

[iwebserv]

Hmm, ok, I found the MX DNS Entry and it is set to 0 normally. Is there some sort of configuration where when an account is created in future the MX record is set to 10 and not 0?

[Izzee]

Change it in DNS templates in your WHM. Should be in the DNS section near where the Edit DNS Zone is.

The higher the number the lower the priority. The lower the number the higher the priority when more than one MX record is present.

Primary MX = 0 or (10) will be lower number (higher priority)
Secondary MX = 10 (20) will be higher number (lower priority)
etc.

[iwebserv]

thanks izzy.

Is there anyway I can set all existing dns zone files to the new setting of 10 without having to manually edit each one?

[Izzee]

Originally posted by iwebserv
thanks izzy.

Is there anyway I can set all existing dns zone files to the new setting of 10 without having to manually edit each one?

I don't think so in WHM but I will stand to be corrected if there is a file that can be edited via SSH.

[chirpy]

Also, there is no standard to what number you set your MX records to at all (although there may be an upper limit). Having an MX value of 0 is perfectly acceptable and anyone not allowing it will be bouncing a lot of email.

[iwebserv]

But a majority use 10 or more, so it would be safer to assume 10+ is a good MX entry setting compared to 0.

[chirpy]

safer to assume 10+ is a good MX entry setting compared to 0

No, it really isn't. 10 is not "safer" than 0. That's why the default setting in cPanel is perfectly fine.

However, if you feel more comfortable using 10, go ahead

[iwebserv]

Well, I must tell you know, we first of all had quite a few issues with mail just not being received and mail we send to certain email address' they do not receive them either. We have don a few tests since we have changed the MX Entry to 10 from 0 and they send through fine. I presume it all depends on the host of the email address. But like I said, since we use 10, mail works fine.

[alan-tor]

But a majority use 10 or more, so it would be safer to assume 10+ is a good MX entry setting compared to 0.

No. In fact, if you're only using a single Mx server, then the number you choose is irrelevant.

That number, whether 0 or 10 or 528, refers to the priority of the Mx server. That priority is a relative value, relative to the priority set for other Mx servers for the domain. If you have just one Mx server, then the number you choose is irrelevant because it isn't relative to any other servers anyway.

It only becomes significant when you have additional Mx servers as secondaries. The lowest number indicates the server with the highest priority. So, an Mx server with a value of 2 has a higher priority than an Mx server with a value of 15. A "0" represents highest priority possible.

Since you have only one Mx server, it makes no difference whether you set its priority as 0, 10, 126, or any number. The fact that the "majority use 10 or more", if that's even true, is irrelevant.