This example helps identify the mail server for a given email address. This is useful for Identify your own SMTP mail server to use with Net mail box
If you are unsure of the name of the mail server for an email address, first try “mail.domain.com” or “smtp.domain.com”. If neither work, try the following.
Steps
1. Open a DOS Command Prompt
2. Type “nslookup”.
3. Your computer’s DNS Server name and IP address will be displayed.
4. Type “set type=mx” – This will cause NSLOOKUP to only return what are known as MX (Mail eXchange) records from the DNS servers.
5. For an example, type “hotmail.com” or use your own domain name.
6. Results returned should look similar to this:
Server: ns1.xxx.com
Address: 192.168.0.1
Non-authoritative answer:
hotmail.com MX preference = 5, mail exchanger = mx2.hotmail.com
hotmail.com MX preference = 5, mail exchanger = mx3.hotmail.com
hotmail.com MX preference = 5, mail exchanger = mx4.hotmail.com
hotmail.com MX preference = 5, mail exchanger = mx1.hotmail.com
hotmail.com nameserver = ns1.hotmail.com
hotmail.com nameserver = ns2.hotmail.com
hotmail.com nameserver = ns3.hotmail.com
hotmail.com nameserver = ns4.hotmail.com
mx2.hotmail.com internet address = 65.54.254.145
mx2.hotmail.com internet address = 65.54.252.230
mx2.hotmail.com internet address = 65.54.166.230
mx3.hotmail.com internet address = 65.54.254.140
mx3.hotmail.com internet address = 65.54.253.99
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – — –
Note the first line after “Non-authoritative answer”.
The “MX preference” specifies which mail server to use and in which order. The lower the number, the more preferred the mail server is. In this case, since the preferences for each mail server are the same, you can use any of the four “mail exchangers”.
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