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Configuring Your MX Records for Gmail email

Apr 9, 2016 4:47:00 PM / by Vu Long Tran

What is MX Records?

From Wikipedia, a mail exchanger record (MX record) is a "type of resource record in the Domain Name System that specifies a mail server responsible for accepting email messages on behalf of a recipient's domain, and a preference value used to prioritize mail delivery if multiple mail servers are available".

Why do you need to configure your MX Records for Google Apps?

You'll need to set this if you want to use Google Apps for Work - Gmail for your organisation. By adding the MX records it'll allow the systems to direct and associate your mail to your specific domain.

How to configure your MX Records for Google Apps?

To do this, you'll need to log into your DNS settings of your domain name registrar. This is normally who you brought your domain name originally from. 

Here's the MX records from Google. 

Enter the following MX records.

You may not be able to enter the priority value exactly as it appears in the table below -- if you can, make sure each record follows the indicated order. If you aren't able to assign priorities, you should only enter aspmx.l.google.com.. Set any TTL values to 1 Hour (value=3600).

Priority Mail Server
1 ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM.
5 ALT1.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM.
5 ALT2.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM.
10 ALT3.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM.
10 ALT4.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM.
 

Google Apps MX record values

Here are the values to use in your domain's DNS settings to configure MX records for Google Apps. Each record points to a Google mail server. Note important details below about setting mail server Priorities.

You enter these values at your domain host, not in your Google Admin console.

Note: Some domain hosts use different labels for the name and value fields, and some hosts also require a trailing period at the end of the server name.

For example: ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM.

Make sure you follow the specific instructions for your domain host when entering these record values.

Note: Some domain hosts use different labels for the name and value fields, and some hosts also require a trailing period at the end of the server name.
For example: ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM.
Make sure you follow the specific instructions for your domain host when entering these record values.
Name/ Host/ Alias Time to Live (TTL*) Record Type Priority Value/ Answer/ Destination
Blank or @ 3600 MX 1 ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM
Blank or @ 3600 MX 5 ALT1.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM
Blank or @ 3600 MX 5 ALT2.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM
Blank or @ 3600 MX 10 ALT3.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM
Blank or @ 3600 MX 10 ALT4.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM


* The TTL is the number of seconds before subsequent changes to the MX record go into effect. Once the MX records are configured correctly, we recommend changing the TTL value from 3600 to 86400, which tells servers across the Internet to check every 24 hours for updates to the MX record instead of every hour. 

Topics: tech, google

Vu Long Tran

Written by Vu Long Tran

Solutions Engineer APAC. ex-@Forrester consultant. Writing on #cloud #howto guides and #tech tinkering!