The definition of “hosting” does not describe a single service, but several services which offer different functions to a domain. Having a website and emails, for instance, are two individual services though in the general case they come together, so a lot of people see them as one single service. In reality, every single domain name has a number of DNS records called A and MX, which show the server that deals with each particular service - the former is a numeric IP address, that defines where the website for the domain address is loaded from, while the second one is an alphanumeric string, which shows the server that deals with the emails for the domain. As an illustration, an A record can be 123.123.123.123 and an MX record is mx1.domain.com. Each time you open a website or send an e-mail, the global DNS servers are contacted to check the name servers that a domain name has and the traffic/message is first directed to that company. In case you have custom records on their end, the web browser request or the email will then be forwarded to the correct server. The reasoning behind using separate records is that the two services work with different web protocols and you can have your site hosted by one provider and the e-mail messages by another.
Custom MX and A Records in Website Hosting
If you have a website hosting account through our company and you wish to move either your website or your e-mails to another service provider, it'll take you literally simply two clicks to do it. Our Hepsia CP comes with an easy-to-use DNS Records tool, where all your domains and subdomains are going to be listed alphabetically and you are going to be able to see and modify the A and/or MX records for any of them. If you decide to use a different e-mail provider and they ask you to create more MX records than the standard two, it won't take more than a couple of mouse clicks either to add them. You could also set different latency for these records and the lower the latency, the greater the priority a given MX record will have. The propagation of each record that you change or create isn't going to take more than a few hours and if required, you'll also be able to set the so-called Time-To-Live value, which shows how long a record will remain active after it's modified or deleted.
Custom MX and A Records in Semi-dedicated Hosting
If you purchase a semi-dedicated server plan from our company, you are going to be able to see and edit the A and MX records for each of the domain names or subdomains that you host in the account. The Hepsia Control Panel, which you will get to take care of the account, offers an sophisticated, albeit easy-to-use tool where all hosts are going to be listed in alphabetical order and you are going to be able to edit their records with no more than a few mouse clicks. If you have to create a new record, it will be equally simple - select the domain/subdomain, enter the IP address or mail server record and you are going to be all set. Additionally, you will be able to set different priority for the MX records you create in case that you decide to use a third-party email provider and they ask you to set up additional records besides the 2 default ones. If you experience any issues, we have a detailed Help section with videos in which you can see first-hand how to create or change any record.