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up vote 3 down vote favorite

It is an ordinary server: we will run a web site on and it should be able to send/recieve email.

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2 Answers

up vote 8 down vote accepted

You should set up an A record, a PTR and an MX record, which points to the A record.

A: Mapping hostname to IP (server.foo.net -> 11.22.33.44)
PTR: Reverse mapping of the above (11.22.33.44 -> server.foo.net)
MX: Tells foreign mail server who takes mail for your domain (foo.net) (MX = server.foo.net)

HTH

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Note that the PTR record will be in the reverse DNS zone, which is handled by whoever owns/provides your IP addresses. Usually this will be your ISP or co-location provider. In some cases, with AT&T especially, they will want to delegate the reverse DNS to your DNS servers, so be ready for that if needed. – Justin Scott Jul 9 '09 at 14:44
up vote 4 down vote

To state the most obvious only, you will need an A record for the domain you wish to use pointing to that server, and you'll need to specify that server in the MX records of your domain. You will probably also want to setup SPF and SRV records as well, to help legitimize the standing of the email server.

Is there anything more specific you'd like some help with?

Ehtyar.

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Yes. I would like to hear more about interaction with mail servers. What records should I set up so they won't treat my e-mail messages as spam? – exquisitor Jul 9 '09 at 12:26
As PEra mentioned, you should also have a PTR record in place which I forgot to mention. That and SPF should have you up and running no trouble. – Ehtyar Jul 9 '09 at 12:30

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