Is @ the same as the IP address for @ in the MX record entry of a zone file?

Question

I have the following configuration in my DNS Zone. I want to switch the @ record to a different IP address, but I want to keep the MX records the same. Please note the IP address has been changed to 76.13.141.185 to protect privacy.

So, what I'm wondering is, can I change then @ record and then can I just change the MX entries Host from @ to 76.13.141.185 ?

I'm wondering because when I use http://www.mxtoolbox.com/ and do a MX lookup for a different domain that is I believe on the same server, it gives me 4 different IP addresses, none of which match the current @ record's IP address.

So should I change my MX section to look like this?

Answer 1

MX entries specify which server(s) to contact for delivering emails to a certain domain. The "@" refers to the base domain, and not to an ip address.

The MX records have nothing to do with the A records for the same domain, they are completely separate. So if you change the A record for "@", it normally won't affect any MX records.

But if you change the "@" to 1.2.3.4 in an MX record, that means the server it points to (e.g. mx1) will be used for delivering emails sent to something@1.2.3.4 and not to something@your.domain. I think there is no point in doing that, and it probably wouldn't work at all.

Answer 2

The @ symbol refers to just the domain... Basically when no prefix is used, the @ symbol can be used. So just put @ in the column on Godaddy.