Mail sent to the A record of the server, not MX

[BarthezZ]

Hi,

I'm using zimbra community on my dedicated server. I've installed it in a vmware machine to test, and if my test succeeds i will, at the next time i go to the datacenter, install it properly on my server.
It uses a live domain.

The installation gone without any problems. I needed to modify some things toget it working on etch but the forum helped me with that perfectly.

Everything works, except that I am unable to send email.
I've discovered that the emails aren't send to the MX record of the domain but to the A of the domain. For example i've made the following screenshot.

http://bart.ha-lo.be/images/linux/ScreenShot025.png

The IP showing up at the zimbra admin console, isn't an MX record. I've eventually traced it to be the A record of the full domain.
On IRC I've asked some support for this issue, they told me that the mail server, if it's unable to find/use an MX record, trys to send the email to the A record.

Now the thing I'm trying to find out is... Why? Why can `nslookup` and `host` get the information but the mailserver can't?

I would appreciate it if anyone can give me a direction i have to look at. I'll post more information on request, as i don't really know where i have to look at.

[phoenix]

Is this server behind a router or firewall? If it is you need a local DNS server to resolve the IP of you Zimbra server, have a look at the wiki article on Split DNS.

[BarthezZ]

The dns to the server is setup properly, i can receive mail on it etc. the big problem is just sending mail

Btw. i'm using my colocations provider dns servers in /etc/resolv.conf

[phoenix]

The question was, is this Zimbra server behind a firewall or router?

What do the following produce when run on the Zimbra server:

host `hostname`  <-- backticks not single quotes
dig yourdomain.com any
dig yourdomain.com mx

[BarthezZ]

No the server isn't behind a NAT router or something, it can use an external IP wich only is limited by an IP firewall, but currently allow'ing all traffic.

email:/opt/zimbra/libexec# host email.influx-gaming.com
email.influx-gaming.com does not exist, try again
email:/opt/zimbra/libexec# dig influx-gaming.com any

; <<>> DiG 9.3.4 <<>> influx-gaming.com any
;; global options: printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 30981
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 3, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 2

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;influx-gaming.com. IN ANY

;; ANSWER SECTION:
influx-gaming.com. 27500 IN MX 10 mail.influx-gaming.com.
influx-gaming.com. 27500 IN A 85.12.31.167
influx-gaming.com. 25228 IN NS ns.influx-gaming.com.

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
influx-gaming.com. 25228 IN NS ns.influx-gaming.com.

;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
mail.influx-gaming.com. 27500 IN A 85.12.31.168
ns.influx-gaming.com. 25228 IN A 85.12.31.167

;; Query time: 5 msec
;; SERVER: 85.12.15.250#53(85.12.15.250)
;; WHEN: Fri Jun 22 14:12:32 2007
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 135

email:/opt/zimbra/libexec# dig influx-gaming.com mx

; <<>> DiG 9.3.4 <<>> influx-gaming.com mx
;; global options: printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 45533
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 2

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;influx-gaming.com. IN MX

;; ANSWER SECTION:
influx-gaming.com. 27486 IN MX 10 mail.influx-gaming.com.

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
influx-gaming.com. 25214 IN NS ns.influx-gaming.com.

;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
mail.influx-gaming.com. 27486 IN A 85.12.31.168
ns.influx-gaming.com. 25214 IN A 85.12.31.167

;; Query time: 4 msec
;; SERVER: 85.12.15.250#53(85.12.15.250)
;; WHEN: Fri Jun 22 14:12:46 2007
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 105

I'm now resolving the error of being unable to resolve the hostname. Consider it as resolveable