On Wed, 31 Oct 2007 23:51:09 -0500 "Mikkel L. Ellertson" <mikkel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Also, the same IP > address may receive e-mail for more then one host, or be a relay for > the real host. The host pointed to by the DNS records may be a > server that then forwards the mail to the "real" host using another > transport mechanism. But those are all special cases. My question was, why can't I just send an email to an IP address if I know that there is a mailserver on the other end that's waiting for me to talk to it. Les Mikesell just told me how to do that, as I'm sure you already noticed. So it actually is possible to do that. That sums up the question for me. I wanted to know why it's required to go through a real MX record and the answer is, it's not required if you enclose the IP address in square brackets. Which is interesting information to know. Not of any immediate use, actually, but still... should a situation arise when it would be convenient to be able to do that I now know how it's done. -- MELVILLE THEATRE ~ Melville Sask ~ http://www.melvilletheatre.com