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How do I set up an "MX Backup" Server?

Answer

Setting up an MX Backup server is very easy with a special product from Gordano designed specifically for this purpose. Full product details are available from Gordano’s sales department. You will need a second machine to run this MX mail server backup software and also need to make a small addition to your MX records in DNS.

First, set up the machine that is going to act as your MX Backup server and install the Gordano MXBackup software on it. When installing please specify your domain name and use a hostname that is appropriate.

It is probably best if this machine is sited at a remote location so that it can continue to collect your mail if your local connectivity is affected. In the "Allow relay for the following domains" section of the Security > Relay page of the Gordano MXBackup software administration GUI, add a list of all domains for which it should act as a backup server.

Next, add the MX Backup server as a lower priority MX record to your DNS zone files for each of these domains. Make sure that you use the same hostname in DNS as the one you have set up on the MX Backup machine itself. An example of a DNS setup might look something like: :

   gordano.com   MX 10   mail.gordano.com
                 MX 20   mxbackup.gordano.com

To ensure that mail for the primary domain name you set up on the server is correctly routed go to the Domains > Settings page and set the "Unknow User Action" to redirect all mail for unknown users to your primary mail server. (The MX Backup Server can not itself contain any user accounts.) You only need to do this for the single domain set up on the MX Backup server, all the other domains will be handled automatically.

To test what you have done, switch off your primary mail server and then send an email to yourself from a completely separate account (such as a yahoo or hotmail account). That email should then arrive in the out queue on the MX Backup server. Bring your primary mail server back up. The email should then be forwarded from the MX Backup machine to it automatically and appear in your usual inbox.

Keywords:MX, Backup, secondary

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