Hello guys,

I have set MX records provided by google on top of mine at my DNS.

I just do not know if this is sufficient for email redundancy or I have to get an account with Google apps for my domain.

I need to have extra MX records for security, but need my email to arrive to my domain not Gmail.

Any ideas? Thank you

you can't have your own mx + google's mx

well, you can, but there's a chance your emails will be split.

having 4-5 mx records from google = redundancy.

also, yes you do need to sign up with them :p

Your emails will be sent to MX servers in order of their priority set in the DNS..
So first it will be sent to highest priority, and if that fails second highest priority, etc.
What you should do is have all the google records a lower priority (higher number) than your servers own email..

I know there are a lot of email hosting services. None expensive.

You can't use both your MX records and Google's MX records, it's one or the other.
And yes, you need a Google Apps account for their MX to actually work for you.

If you want redundancy you need to first look at your DNS servers, they should be separate from your actual web server. Even if your mail server is offline, as long as your DNS servers are online, the sender will continue to try to deliver your mail for somewhere around 2~3 days. If your DNS servers are offline, it doesn't matter how redundant your MX is, you're not getting the mail.

You can't use both your MX records and Google's MX records, it's one or the other.
And yes, you need a Google Apps account for their MX to actually work for you.

If you want redundancy you need to first look at your DNS servers, they should be separate from your actual web server. Even if your mail server is offline, as long as your DNS servers are online, the sender will continue to try to deliver your mail for somewhere around 2~3 days. If your DNS servers are offline, it doesn't matter how redundant your MX is, you're not getting the mail.

Thank you all for the replies.

I have my DNS spanning across 4 different name servers. That is mean I have quadraple redundancy and according to "mds85" above the extra MX records do not needed.

However, what if MX server fails, how the emails would be delivered, even DNS is there?

You can't use both your MX records and Google's MX records, it's one or the other.
And yes, you need a Google Apps account for their MX to actually work for you.



Sorry? It is possible to use both at the same time. When the main mail server is down the email will be delivered to google apps instead.
Redundant MX is normal.

Guys,

I have just read the terms and conditions at Google Apps and do not really like that they keep my email info and could pass them through.

Any other email redundancy provider you may know would be more than welcome.

Thank you

http://www.dyndns.com/services/mailhop/backupmx.html