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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-12T11:40:08+00:00

Using the unix dig command, I can get the following MX record: $ dig

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Using the unix dig command, I can get the following MX record:

$ dig +nocmd gmail.com MX +noall +answer

gmail.com.      1868    IN  MX  20 alt2.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com.
gmail.com.      1868    IN  MX  40 alt4.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com.
gmail.com.      1868    IN  MX  5 gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com.
gmail.com.      1868    IN  MX  10 alt1.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com.
gmail.com.      1868    IN  MX  30 alt3.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com.

My question is, what does the fifth column (20, 40, 5…) mean?

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    The numbers give the relative preference of the MX records. Lower values are more preferred. See RFC 1035

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