DNS updates

[#1]

I created a MX DNS record yesterday evening to allow me to confirm my domain ownership with Office 365. "4 hours later it's not been published. 

I didn't put anything in the "left" field  - should i? If so what ?

      mx    32767   ms56----.msv1.invalid 

Any other thoughts? 

Eric 

[#2]

You would usually put an '@' symbol in the left-hand side - this essentially means 'same as parent' and signifies that the record you are entering (usually a TXT record pointing to a string of Microsoft's choosing) applies to the domain itself and not a host or sub-domain of it.

For example, if you were trying to prove ownership of the example.com domain name then you would add the following record to the example.com zone file:

@   IN   TXT   MS=ms123456789

(your right-hand string will be different; and assuming your example isn't completely made up and just has some characters obfuscated it's just a slightly different string type that's all)

Having done this Microsoft would perform a query for a TXT record for example.com, get the result back and be able to confirm that you do indeed own the domain (or at least control it which for all intents and purposes is the same thing!).

Who's your domain/DNS registrar?

Edit: I somehow didn't spot that your post mentions MX records. This is not massively different to what I've described above (just a very non-standard way of doing things!) but again for most DNS servers you would put an '@' symbol in the left. PM me your domain if you wish and I can query it and see what your records are looking like.

[#3]

Thanks for the thoughts - the DNS hosting provider is PlusNet! 

The UI doesn't offer TXT records (which I've always used elsewhere), nor permit the use of the @ in the left side. 

[#4]

I suspect you probably just leave it blank then.

What's the domain name?

[#5]

Finally got there.  Unusual system, but I think I can see why...

Left: Full domain name with trailing . (period)

type MX:

right: Full name with trailing . 

knaphillbaptist.org.uk.

mx

65535

ms77719679.msv1.invalid.

I think my assumption was that I was working inside the zone having selected the domain on the previous screen, so didn't need to qualify the left side. When you think about it from Plus' side - they could be doing this for any domain they hold, so need a FQDN on the left. 

Now to work out to bypass the office 365 requirement for TXT records for SPF...  

Or move the DNS elsewhere! Sorry Plus - time to update your systems.  SPFs are near compulsory these days. 

[#6]

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@60lgr2 wrote:

Or move the DNS elsewhere!

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Do it! What's keeping you with Plusnet?

I'd recommend zonomi.com which is free for one domain (upto 10 records) and pretty cheap for subsequent ones too.

[#7]

I use afraid.org - it's free but it does allow other members to use a subdomain of your domain unless you go premium. But its pretty advanced and offers a lot for a free service.

[#8]

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@7up wrote:

I use afraid.org - it's free but it does allow other members to use a subdomain of your domain unless you go premium.

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That sounds terrible! It could lead to all sorts of abuse and loss of reputation for your own domain.

[#9]

I moved my DNS SOA record back to my domain registrar (123) and had it ALL up and working in half an hour:(. i only left the NS record with plus 'cos I thought they needed it to host my website.  Not true!! 

Morale - use a "pro" DNS provider...