do MX records work with IP addresses (instead of domain names) as well? (if 
not, would such an entry just be ignored or..?)If they do, is it necessary 
to put a period at the end to avoid appending the base domain?

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Request for Question Clarification by landog-ga on 03 Aug 2005 13:21 PDT

Hi
Are you referring to Mail Exchange? What type of entry are you intersted in?
Can you give an example of what you are asking about?

Thanks
landog !

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Clarification of Question by myq-ga on 03 Aug 2005 14:28 PDT

yes, mail exchange. MX entries (the last question applies to A records
as well. The second line is fine but what will the first line in the
example do? First, will it be ignored? Will it send the mail to the
IP? If so, would it try and append the base domain (mydomain.com) in
some form to the IP, IN CASE the PERIOD after the IP were missing?
example:
@    43200 MX 10 212.60.43.91.
@    43200 MX 20 mail.mydomain.com.

Howdy myq-ga,

MX (Mail eXchange) records must point to an "A" record, so an IP (Internet
Protocol) address will not work for an MX record.  From the plusnet Usertools
"Tutorials & FAQs: Domains: Setting up Domain Records" web page.
http://usertools.plus.net/tutorials/id/14

"MX records can only point to domains not IP addresses ..."

The following would be a typical entry snippet, as shown on this Allegiance
Internet web page titled "An Explanation of DNS Records."
http://support.algx.net/cst/dns/dns2.html

"...
eric.foobarbaz.com. IN A 36.36.1.6
...
foobarbaz.com. IN MX 10 eric.foobarbaz.com.
..."

From personal experience, an entry of an IP number for an MX record would
generate an error message on the restart of the DNS services, and the error
would most likely be a "local configuration error" message.

If you need any clarification, please feel free to ask.


Search strategy:

Personal experience.

Google search on: MX record example IP address
://www.google.com/search?q=MX+record+example+IP+address

Looking Forward, denco-ga - Google Answers Researcher

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Clarification of Answer by denco-ga on 03 Aug 2005 14:33 PDT

Just to respond to your clarification, myq-ga, when the record is parsed
it will generate an error on the first line as it is not a valid MX record
entry.

Looking Forward, denco-ga - Google Answers Researcher

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Request for Answer Clarification by myq-ga on 03 Aug 2005 23:15 PDT

thanks a lot, denco-ga , for a to the point answer.
Just a minor clarification: when you say that "generate an error on
the first line ", will this error generation mean that the DNS entries
below the error causing entry be ignored? how about those ABOVE the
error causing entry? In general, will an error make all the entries
invalid (for that domain)

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Clarification of Answer by denco-ga on 04 Aug 2005 11:28 PDT

Howdy myq-ga,

Usually, all of the entries for that domain will be ignored, as the DNS
service will not include a record with an error.  In some environments
the DNS services will not restart at all if one of the domain entries
is in error.

Looking Forward, denco-ga - Google Answers Researcher

to the point and fast!thanks!

Thanks for the 5 star rating, myq-ga.  My pleasure!

Looking Forward, denco-ga - Google Answers Researcher