Question : MX record

Anyone could you please explain in details what is the MX record in dns used for ? I am not quite clear on it

Answer : MX record

MX records are used by mail transfer
agents (MTA's). You associate an MX
record, for a host or a domain, to one
or several hosts (with different priorities). When the MTA shall deliver
a mail it first checks the MX record,
if it exists, and tries to deliver the
mail to the host with the highest
priority. If that one doesn't answer it
tries the next one aso. If an MX record
doesn't exist it tries to lookup the IP
adress of the host instead.
You can find more information on:
http://doc.gigo.com/doc/faq/faq_-_mxreceiv.htm