This document is provided primarily for clients that are moving an existing domain name to FASO that have an active email account on the domain and wish to keep email with their current provider instead of using FASO for their email account.
MX Records (Mail Exchange Records) are records used by mail servers to determine where to deliver email.
Example of MX records:
mail1.example.com
mail2.example.com
MX records contain a TTL (Time to Live) value that indicates how long Domain Name Servers (DNS) should use the record before checking for updates. This is measured in seconds.
If you have an existing email on an off-site domain name that you will be using with your FASO website and want to keep the email with your current provider, you will need to provide us with your current host's MX Records (Mail Exchange Records).
See this FAQ:
How do I use my existing domain if I currently have email on that domain?
When you provide FASO with the MX records you wish to use (from your current email hosting company), we change the MX records on our servers. The FASO TTL is set at 5 minutes.
However keep in mind that every single provider (hosting company) has their own TTL built into their system.
Any time MX records are changed, it can take up to 72 hours for your new records to propagate. The duration varies depending on your hosting company and may be less than 72 hours; however, during this time, mail sent to your domain may bounce. While there's no way to avoid downtime entirely, there are several steps you can take to avoid bounces during the transition.
-
Reduce MX record TTL in advance of changing MX records.
You will need to contact your current provider for assistance with this on their end. -
Make the transition during an evening or weekend
To reduce the number of possible bounced messages when you change your domain's MX records, we recommend scheduling the change for an evening or weekend or other time when your email volume is low. -
Notify key contacts of the change
To avoid confusion over any bounced messages, you may want to let some or all of your contacts know about the upcoming change to your email system.
Make sure to include the date and time of the planned change, instructions to resend any bounced messages, and any alternative contact channels people can use for time-sensitive issues. You can emphasize that any downtime should be brief, and that no messages will be lost during the transition; some may simply need to be resent.
(This info is from Avoid bounced messages from new MX records)
NOTE: FASO has no control over another provider's TTL.
For further reading see these off- site articles:
07122018 - 407343