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I have 2 smarter mail servers

1 x Professional Ver 5 (Servername:WEB2)

1 x Enterprise Ver 5 (Servername:WEB4)

I have 2 mx records seet up,

First one goes to WEB2

Second goes to WEB4

On WEB2 I have set up domain forwarding rules for the domains to forward to my WEB4

So working as a backup style mail server.

Whats the difference if I simply remove the domain forwarding rule from WEB2 and simply add the ip address of WEB4 to the smart host section on WEB2.

Does that make sense?

Is this any different to how I have it now?

What are the benefits (if any of doing it that way)?

Thanks

Does anyone from SM actually reply to posts as we are always told by them to post here!

SmartHosting requires that the domain have two MX records and is usually used as a backup solution.

With domain forwarding, the domain would have a single mx pointing to the gateway server, which acts as a proxy to the primary mail server.

In general, no, we do not reply to all posts in the forums. The forums are meant for users to discuss amongst themselves.

thanks for the reply.

I understand what you have said but does it answer my question?

I have 2 mx records seet up,

First one goes to WEB2
Second goes to WEB4

On WEB2 I have set up domain forwarding rules for the domains to forward to my WEB4

So working as a backup style mail server.

Whats the difference if I simply remove the domain forwarding rule from WEB2 and simply add the ip address of WEB4 to the smart host section on WEB2.

Does that make sense?

Is this any different to how I have it now?

What are the benefits (if any of doing it that way)?

Also

I have been told many times by ST when I have asked previous questions such as this either to take out a paid support ticket or post in the forum as ST will answer it there.

Perhaps I have been given duff info.

Is WEB2 the higher priority MX or lower?

You can do both for a backup MX server (Domain Forwarding, or Smarthost). If you use domain forwarding, you have to maintain that list manually. SmartHost, you only need to have an IP listed. SM will accept the message if primary MX record for the receiving domain is on the SmartHost list. For Domain Forwarding, SM will accept the message if the receiving domain is on its list, then force the message to the associated IP in Domain Forwarding.

with smart hostign the server will hold the message and retry based on your retry settings until the other server comes on line.

Is that the same for domain forwarding?

There are subtle differences but will both do what you want. The main benefit of smarthosting is that you can simply add the IP of the primary server to the backup server and any domain that has that IP for its MX record will be accepted. Whereas with domain forwarding you need to add/maintain each domain.

SmartHosting is generally the prefered method for MX backup. Just make sure that with this method the backup server has a larger MX priority number.

cheers