Using my own mail server

Hello,
I was just wondering if it would be possible to use my own server as a mail server (handling IMAP, POP3 and SMTP)? I have got a pc at home that is able to handle this, and the ISP isn’t giving me any problems either. Now the only question is: how? My pc is running windows, but I’ve already got xampp installed and configerd (hopefully).

We can let you set your MX record here at 000webhost if you’ve parked a domain.
Else set your MX record at the registrar.

If you’re saying it’s that easy, then something else has to be not working correctly. Every time I search for the mx record for my domain it gives the cname record for my 000webhost site. Am I doing something wrong, or is something not working correctly at Freenom? I am using Freenom’s DNS Zone.

What is your domain?

My domain is noordermeer.tk and this is my current DNS zone:


P.S. some subdomains have been left out for privacy’s sake
P.P.S. it’s called laptop because that’s what I’m testing it on

Your MX record appears empty at the bottom :cat2:

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Isn’t it supposed to be? You’d want to send mail to the domain noordermeer. tk (as in user@noordermeer. tk), and not to laptop.noordermeer. tk.

MX record should be set to the mail server i.e. if you use Google for your mailing use ALT1.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM or if you use Zoho then usually mx.zohomail.com or if your own then set it to mailserver.yoursite.com and then you’d have to setup mailserver to point to your exchange or whatever you are using on your server

Make an A record that names your mailing server like mailserv. or mail. yoursite.com and point it to your IP address and then the MX record as well needs to point to that i.e. mx will be mailserv.yoursite.com or mail.yoursite.com etc

I don’t really get what has to go where… What needs to go in the name field and what has to go in the target field?
By the way, I followed the instructions at goo.gl/4wgWfC

If that IP resolves to your mailing server, then make an A record called mailserv.yoursite.com and then set your MX record to mailserv.yoursite.com

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But what about the ‘target’ field in the mx record?
There are 4 fields for an mx record: name, ttl, target and priority.

TTL can be any value but normal values are 1800 which is 30 minutes depending on registrar.
Priority for one mail server would be 10 and your backup mail server if you have one would be 20 and a third backup would be 30 etc.

At least I’m beginning to understand all the DNS terms and all that, thank you for that, but that’s not what I asked. If you create an MX record at Freenom you get these fields:


Now in my case, what has to go where? I’ve got TTL and the priority figured out. And you’re saying that mail.noordermeer.tk has to go in the name field, but then what has to go under target? Sorry for not understanding. I’m fairly new to this and I like learning about it.