MX Record updated hours ago, still bouncing mail

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We just moved our website to a hosted server – but are keeping Exchange 2003 to manage our mail for the meantime. The DNS change has taken effect, but I think there maybe something wrong with the MX records.

I have:

mail.mydomain.com  A  Points to x.x.x.x which is the destination of the exchange server
And
mydomain.com       MX Points to mail.mydomain.com

I updated the MX records after changing the domain DNS, but my understanding is that the MX record change time is typically the TTL (1 hour in my case) however, it’s been several hours and I’m still bouncing mail.

Can someone give me their experiences with record changes and TTL times? Are they usually consistent?

Update: – from farseeker and mrdennys answers, it’s just a slow update on the DNS cache. I hope it doesn’t take 72 hours – but as long as the configuration is right, then it takes as long as it takes. I’ll keep checking every 10 minutes and report the results.
Thanks

This is the Non Delivery Report:

Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:

    timothy.powell@ttanet.com

    Technical details of permanent failure:
    Google tried to deliver your message, but it was rejected by the recipient domain. We recommend contacting the other email provider for further information about the cause of this error. The error that the other server returned was: 550 550 sorry, no mailbox here by that name. (#5.7.17)
     (state 14).

This is my first experience with Plesk. I thought I was modifying my DNS records but I think it may be having no effect.

Latest Update: – Alright, mail.mydomain.com is now pointing to my mail exchange server, but emails are still getting the same NDR. Are there other variables to consider, such as ports – since the emails are being routed through an external server?

Answer

It all depends on whether or not the SMTP server you’re sending your emails through has an up-to-date MX record. A lot of ISPs do not obey the TTL and make their own up, and I’m guessing this could particularly be the case for MX.

I’ve seen cases of up to 72 hours before MX’s are updated, particularly with South African ISPs.

If it’s still bouncing for everyone after 24 hours, that’s when I’d be more concerned.

— Update —

I did an nslookup on your domain and got the following:

C:\Users\Mark>nslookup
Default Server:  bladedc1.live.local
Address:  192.168.163.50

> set q=mx
> ttanet.com
Server:  bladedc1.live.local
Address:  192.168.163.50

ttanet.com
        primary name server = NS87.WORLDNIC.COM
        responsible mail addr = namehost.WORLDNIC.COM
        serial  = 110011012
        refresh = 10800 (3 hours)
        retry   = 3600 (1 hour)
        expire  = 604800 (7 days)
        default TTL = 3600 (1 hour)
>

It looks like your DNS is not serving any MX records at all, however your aforementioned A record for mail.example.com DOES exist:

> set q=a
> mail.ttanet.com
Server:  bladedc1.live.local
Address:  192.168.163.50

Name:    mail.ttanet.com
Address:  206.188.207.108

And the authoriative nameserver is set to:

> set q=ns
> ttanet.com
Server:  bladedc1.live.local
Address:  192.168.163.50

Non-authoritative answer:
ttanet.com      nameserver = ns87.worldnic.com
ttanet.com      nameserver = ns88.worldnic.com

ns87.worldnic.com       internet address = 205.178.190.44
ns88.worldnic.com       internet address = 205.178.144.44

Are we seeing records from the correct DNS server?

— Update #2 —

I believe I’m seeing the correct details now:

> ttanet.com
Server:  bladedc1.live.local
Address:  192.168.163.50

ttanet.com      MX preference = 10, mail exchanger = ttamail.ttanet.com
ttamail.ttanet.com      internet address = 67.78.188.51

So it’s just a propgation/caching issue for your end users. It’s definately set up correctly.

Attribution
Source : Link , Question Author : cinqoTimo , Answer Author : Mark Henderson

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