FAQ

Backup MX Service for Email Continuity

Protect incoming email when your mail server is down. DNSExit queues messages, retries delivery, and can provide rescue mailbox access during outages.

Start Backup MX How It Works Read FAQ Backup MX Guide Compare Options
5-Day Free Trial Available Secondary MX for inbound mail Queue and retry delivery Rescue mode with webmail access

Spool mail during outages

When your primary mail server is unreachable, DNSExit accepts inbound mail and keeps retrying delivery.

Rescue mailbox access

Enable rescue mode so users can read and reply through webmail or POP/IMAP while your server is offline.

Monitoring mode and spam control

Monitoring mode only accepts mail when your server is down, reducing unwanted secondary-MX spam attempts.

Mail Backup FAQ

Give your email server a secondary MX and never let down your emails

If your mail server goes down or is inaccessible from the Internet, your Emails will automatically fail over to our backup MX server. Our mail server will queue your emails and automatically forward emails to your server after it comes back available.All email users will be able to read/reply Emails through our webmail or POP3 while your server is down.

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Email Backup & Rescue Highlights

Email backup and rescue
Secondary Mail Exchanger

  • Served as Secondary MX for your mail server
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  • Store your emails for 7 days and can be extended to 30 days or more if needed
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  • Unlimited storage space and mail boxes with 5 days free trial. Max Message sice 60MB
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  • Automatically forward your emails to your server after it comes back online
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    Monitor Primary MX: Greatly Reduce Spam

  • Monitoring Mode: You may not know that more than 90% of spam will be sent to secondary MX instead of primary MX. We monitor your
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    mail server and only take your emails when it is down. Otherwise,  the email reaching our server will be rejected as greylisting
    and the spam server will usually give up the sending. The service will greatly reduce the spam emails to your mail server.

    SPF, DKIM, Anti-Spam, Anti-Virus, Greylisting

  • All emails will be checked with SPF, DKIM, anti-spam, and anti-virus before being forwarded to your server.
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  • We also look up multiple blacklist agents, like spamcop, to reduce spam.
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  • Option to turn on GreyListing for your emails to reduce spam.
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    Resuce as your Mail is Down

  • Mail Rescue will allow your users to access their emails when your mail server is down.
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  • Simply turn on Mail Rescue, and emails to your domain will be forwarded to our mail rescue server, which can be accessed via
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    webmail or any email client using POP3 or IMAP.
  • You can fetch emails from the mail rescue server after your mail server is back online.
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    $ Pricing and Sign Up


    Only $24.99/domain/year. Unlimited storage space and mailboxes.


    How to Set Up Email Backup for Your Domain
    Case 1: Your Domain Uses Our Name Servers
      If your domain is using our name servers, setting up email backup is simple. Just sign up for the service, and we will automatically update your DNS settings to enable email backup for your domain.
    Case 2: Your Domain Does Not Use Our Name Servers
      If your domain is managed by another DNS provider, you can still use our email backup service. After signing up, simply add smtp.dnsexit.com as the secondary MX at your domain's DNS configuration.

    How to Signup


    You can click here to sign up for mail back MX for your domain. You may be asked to create an account with us first.
    If you are already logged into the member account:
    A - domain using other name servers instead of our name servers:
      At the main menu of your account, there is a link for "Signup Services" and choose "Mail Backup MX service" to sign up. Since the domain is not using our name servers, you must add our mail server, smtp.dnsexit.com as the backup MX for your domain at the DNS server serving your domain.
    B - domain using DNSEXIT name servers:
      You must first set up DNS for the domain and specify the primary MX at "MX Settings" of the domain DNS. Then, click on the "Mail Backup Service" link at "MX Settings" to add Mail Backup MX Service to the domain.

    SignUP Mail Backup


    Other Email Backup Features


    Optional monitoring mode: DNSExit checks your mail server every 8 minutes and accepts mail on your behalf only when your server is down.
    icon While in monitoring mode, you have the option to view your mail server uptime history.
    icon Monitoring mode can reduce spam reaching your server because many low-quality senders try secondary MX hosts first and do not retry properly.
    icon Filter queued mail with SpamAssassin before forwarding it to your server.
    icon Multiple backup servers receive your mail. The maximum message size is 60 MB. There is no limit on the number of queued messages or storage space for your domain.


    How email backup rescue works


    's mail backup service acts as your second priority mail server. If your mail server cannot be reached, the mail will be routed to our mail backup server and wait in queues. Our server will keep checking your mail server every 20 minutes. Once your mail server is detected as available, our mail server forwards queued messages to your mail server. Delivery retries continue for 7 days, after which undelivered messages are removed from the queue. You can enable spam checking so unwanted mail is dropped before reaching your server. A web interface lets you check queued mail and read messages even while your own mail server is down. You can also return the service to monitoring mode, where DNSExit checks your mail server every 8 minutes and only accepts mail when your server is unavailable.

    While your mail server is down, you can enable Mail Rescue Mode so queued messages are rerouted to the rescue server. Users can read and reply from rescue mailboxes, then send those messages back to your own server once it is available again.

    the diagram explains how email backup and rescue works


    SMTP Backup in Monitoring Mode


    Monitoring mode keeps your primary mail server in charge while it is healthy. DNSExit watches the server and rejects secondary-MX deliveries until the primary becomes unavailable.

    This reduces a common source of junk mail: poor senders often try secondary MX hosts first and fail to retry correctly when those hosts reject delivery. Legitimate mail should continue to use the primary MX while it is available.

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    Need help with Mail Backup setup?
    Read FAQs for backup mode, rescue mode, POP access, and trial details.
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