How to Setup Backup MX


What is it?

Backup MX is a Managed Mail service that backs up inbound emails if your mail server goes offline. It holds any amount of inbound email for 7 days or until the main server receives mail again. This is crucial to ensure you never lose any mail when you have email hosted at a different POP3/IMAP provider or are hosting your own mail server.

Note: We will not start holding mail until the MX records are set. If you are using No-IP as your domain’s Managed DNS provider, we will automatically update your MX records for you once Backup MX is purchased.

Setup

To confirm your domain is configured properly with No-IP, follow these steps:

  1. Login to your No-IP account
  2. Click “My Services” and then “Managed DNS” in the navigation
  3. Click “Modify” next to the domain you want to verify the MX record configuration of Backup MX on
  4. Ensure the following MX records are listed:
Host Priority
mail.yourdomain.com (Primary Email MX) 5
mail1.no-ip.com 10
mail2.no-ip.com 15

If you are not using No-IP as your Managed DNS provider, you need to login with your DNS provider and add No-IP’s MX records:

  • Mail.yourdomain.com (Primary Email MX) – priority 5
  • Mail1.no-ip.com – priority 10
  • Mail2.no-ip.com – priority 15

Important Information

  • If your mail server becomes unavailable, our mail server will accept and hold your emails. Once your mail server becomes available again, we will deliver your emails to your mail server. Our servers will check to see if your server is up on a sliding interval starting at 5 minutes to 45 minutes, depending on how long your server is down.
  • Please ensure that your mail server is functioning properly before you put it back online. If your server is responsive but rejects an email we try to deliver, those email will be returned as undeliverable (bounced) to the sender. No-IP does not keep copies of undeliverable/bounced emails.
  • Emails for the domain will be held for up to 7 days. If you know that your server will be down for more than seven days please contact us. Without special arrangements, our server will automatically return emails to the sender if they are not delivered within 7 days.