Hi there.
I am looking at pointing a domain name to my virtual server. The DNS is currently managed elsewhere, but I want to manage it from within VirtualMin.
I want the email to stay how it is though (not through VirtualMin).
Do i just need to make sure that the A record to mail. points to the same IP address as it currently does, and MX records are created to match what it currently is? Also, I need to make sure the SPF record matches what it currently is.
Once all that is set, should that work ok with the current email setup whilst moving the DNS control to my server?
To setup DNS for external email hosting, simply add the “MX”, “SPF”, “DKIM” and “DMARC” records for the external provider to your DNS records in Virtualmin.
*** SPF, DKIM and DMARC are optional, however they are seriously recommended due to industry standards which are rapidly changing. ***
Does mail.domainname A record have to point anywhere as well?
For example, if I just set the MX record to mail.domainname.co.uk, its not going to know where to go, so I need an A record for mail.domain name pointing to the external mail IP address?
It depends on how the email server is setup. For instance, if you’re using Google G-Suite, you don’t need such an A record, as you’d be connecting to “smtp.gmail.com” and “imap.gmail.com” respectively.