The term “hosting” doesn't describe just one service, but several services that provide a variety of functions to a domain name. Having a site and e-mails, for instance, are two independent services despite the fact that in the general case they come together, so many people see them as one single service. Actually, each and every domain has a several DNS records called A and MX, which show the server that manages each particular service - the first one is a numeric IP address, which defines where the site for the domain address is loaded from, while the second one is an alphanumeric string, which shows the server that handles the emails for the domain name. As an illustration, an A record is 123.123.123.123 and an MX record would be mx1.domain.com. Each time you open a website or send an email, the global DNS servers are contacted to check the name servers that a domain name has and the traffic/message is first directed to that company. When you have custom records on their end, the web browser request or the e-mail will then be forwarded to the correct server. The idea behind using separate records is that the two services employ different web protocols and you can have your website hosted by one provider and the e-mails by another.

Custom MX and A Records in Hosting

If you have a hosting account from our company and you would like to switch either your website or your e-mails to a different service provider, it is going to take you literally just two clicks to do so. Our Hepsia CP comes with an easy-to-use DNS Records tool, where all your domain names and subdomains will be listed alphabetically and you'll be able to see and edit the A and/or MX records for any of them. If you decide to use a different email provider and they ask you to set up more MX records than the standard two, it's not going to take more than a couple of mouse clicks either to add them. Also you can set different latency for these records and the lower the latency, the bigger the priority a particular MX record will have. The propagation of each record that you modify or create is not going to take more than a few hours and if necessary, you'll also be able to set the so-called Time-To-Live value, which shows how long a record will stay active after it's changed or deleted.

Custom MX and A Records in Semi-dedicated Hosting

If you purchase a semi-dedicated server plan through us, you are going to be able to see and edit the A and MX records for every one of the domain addresses or subdomains which you host in the account. The Hepsia Control Panel, which you'll get to control the account, comes with an sophisticated, though easy-to-use tool where all hosts will be listed in alphabetical order and you're going to be able to change their records with no more than a couple of clicks. If you have to create a new record, it's going to be just as simple - choose the domain/subdomain, enter the IP address or mail server record and you're going to be all set. Additionally, you will be able to set different priority for the MX records that you create in case that you choose to use a third-party e-mail provider and they ask you to set up additional records besides the two default ones. If you encounter any issues, we've got a in-depth Help section with videos where you can see first-hand how to create or edit any record.