Phillip Vandry wrote:
My imperfect understanding of how most mail agents handle MX records is that with the first configuration, mx1 will always be tried first, followed by mx2, etc. With the second configuration, a BIND server will return the A addresses in an effectively random pattern, so load should be distributed across the 3 servers.
Indeed if the MXes have different priorities, only in this case they have the same priorities so they will also be load balanced. (The key being, BIND will round robin any kind of record, not just A records).
BIND will round robin the MX records, how mail agents deal with multiple MX records of the same priority is less of a known factor (to me at least). Actually I'd be interested to hear from people who try both configurations for say a month at a time to see what influence each configuration has if any. Doug -- *** Chief Operations Officer, DALnet IRC network *** "Yes, the president should resign. He has lied to the American people, time and time again, and betrayed their trust. He is no longer an effective leader. Since he has admitted guilt, there is no reason to put the American people through an impeachment. He will serve absolutely no purpose in finishing out his term; the only possible solution is for the president to save some dignity and resign." - William Jefferson Clinton, 1974