The word “hosting” does not describe just one service, but a set of services that provide different functions to a domain. Having a website and e-mails, for instance, are two individual services though in the general case they come together, so most of the people consider them as one single service. In fact, every domain name has a couple of DNS records called A and MX, which show the server that manages each specific service - the first one is a numeric IP address, which identifies where the website for the domain address is loaded from, while the second one is an alphanumeric string, which shows the server that manages the e-mails for the domain address. As an example, an A record would be 123.123.123.123 and an MX record would be mx1.domain.com. Each time you open a site 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 forwarded to that company. If you have custom records on their end, the web browser request or the e-mail will then be directed to the correct server. The concept behind using separate records is that the two services employ different web protocols and you may have your site hosted by one provider and the e-mails by another.

Custom MX and A Records in Cloud Website Hosting

If you have a cloud website hosting account with our company and you would like to switch either your site or your e-mails to another provider, it'll take you literally simply two clicks to do it. Our Hepsia Control Panel comes with an easy-to-use DNS Records tool, where all your domain names and subdomains are going to be listed alphabetically and you're going to be able to see and edit the A and/or MX records for any of them. If you want to use a different email provider and they ask you to create more MX records than the default two, it is not going to take more than a few clicks either to add them. You can even set different latency for these records and the lower the latency, the bigger the priority a certain MX record will have. The propagation of any record that you modify or create is not going to take more than a few hours and if required, you'll also be able to set the so-called Time-To-Live value, which reveals 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 our company, you're going to be able to see and update the A and MX records for any of the domains or subdomains you host within the account. The Hepsia Control Panel, which you will get to handle the account, offers an advanced, albeit easy-to-use tool in which all hosts will be listed in alphabetical order and you are going to be able to edit their records with no more than a couple of clicks. If you have to set up 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 are going to be ready. You'll also be able to set different priority for the MX records that you create in case you want to use a third-party e-mail provider and they ask you to create additional records besides the two standard ones. If you ever experience any troubles, we've got a in-depth Help section with videos where you can see first-hand how to setup or change any record.