How to add MX record when CName exists (BigRock)?

Question

I have a website which is currently hosted on GitHub. I have added a CNAME entry

Name: requestly.in
Value: requestly.github.io

This works perfectly fine. Now, I am trying to setup email service by Zoho. I need to add couple of MX records. According to Zoho documentation, I have to add the following entries:

Host Name   Address Priority
@   mx.zoho.com 10
@   mx2.zoho.com    20

When I am trying to add any of the above entries, I am getting into an error situation saying "CNAME entry already exists with same name. Please check for conflicts."

Here are couple of screenshots for reference:

List of CNAME entries

Error Screenshot when trying to add MX Record

Answer 1

This is a very helpful warning. It is there because of a weird rule in how mail sending is implemented. If there is a CNAME entry for the domain apex, all MX records are ignored and mail does not work.

To be able to add MX records, you need to specify an A record rather than a CNAME record for your apex record (requestly.in). Github has instructions for setting up the apex record this way: https://help.github.com/articles/setting-up-an-apex-domain/ It looks like your DNS provider does not offer ALIAS or ANAME records. Those are basically proxy records where you enter a host name but the DNS looks up its IP address and serves an A record. You will have to use the instructions for A records from github.

Answer 2

You need to change that first record, "requestly.in" to something else. Maybe an A record (IP address) or maybe just forward to your www subdomain, it just depends on what options are available to you. It doesn't APPEAR that forwarding is an option, though it might be through some other page/screen.

Answer 3

Delete your CNAME. Add MX Records first.

Add your MX Records. Then add your CNAME.