diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index e94a7611c..60d035e32 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -1919,4 +1919,5 @@
 * oauth: add backward compat layer for backup and uninstall
 * fix bug in disk usage sorting
 * mail: aliases can be across domains
+* mail: allow an external MX to be set
 
diff --git a/src/mail.js b/src/mail.js
index 229a1f73a..b34619580 100644
--- a/src/mail.js
+++ b/src/mail.js
@@ -269,7 +269,7 @@ function checkMx(domain, mailFqdn, callback) {
         if (error) return callback(error, mx);
         if (mxRecords.length === 0) return callback(null, mx);
 
-        mx.status = mxRecords.length == 1 && mxRecords[0].exchange === mailFqdn;
+        mx.status = mxRecords.some(mx => mx.exchange === mailFqdn); // this lets use change priority and/or setup backup MX
         mx.value = mxRecords.map(function (r) { return r.priority + ' ' + r.exchange + '.'; }).join(' ');
 
         if (mx.status) return callback(null, mx); // MX record is "my."
diff --git a/src/routes/test/mail-test.js b/src/routes/test/mail-test.js
index 30848da08..65cf261da 100644
--- a/src/routes/test/mail-test.js
+++ b/src/routes/test/mail-test.js
@@ -298,7 +298,7 @@ describe('Mail API', function () {
         it('succeeds with all different spf, dkim, dmarc, mx, ptr records', function (done) {
             clearDnsAnswerQueue();
 
-            dnsAnswerQueue[mxDomain].MX = [ { priority: '20', exchange: settings.mailFqdn() }, { priority: '30', exchange: settings.mailFqdn() } ];
+            dnsAnswerQueue[mxDomain].MX = [ { priority: '20', exchange: settings.mailFqdn() }, { priority: '10', exchange: 'some.other.server' } ];
             dnsAnswerQueue[dmarcDomain].TXT = [['v=DMARC2; p=reject; pct=100']];
             dnsAnswerQueue[dkimDomain].TXT = [['v=DKIM2; t=s; p=' + mail._readDkimPublicKeySync(DOMAIN_0.domain)]];
             dnsAnswerQueue[spfDomain].TXT = [['v=spf1 a:random.com ~all']];
@@ -324,9 +324,9 @@ describe('Mail API', function () {
                     expect(res.body.dns.dmarc.value).to.eql('v=DMARC2; p=reject; pct=100');
 
                     expect(res.body.dns.mx).to.be.an('object');
-                    expect(res.body.dns.mx.status).to.eql(false);
+                    expect(res.body.dns.mx.status).to.eql(true);
                     expect(res.body.dns.mx.expected).to.eql('10 ' + settings.mailFqdn() + '.');
-                    expect(res.body.dns.mx.value).to.eql('20 ' + settings.mailFqdn() + '. 30 ' + settings.mailFqdn() + '.');
+                    expect(res.body.dns.mx.value).to.eql('20 ' + settings.mailFqdn() + '. 10 some.other.server.');
 
                     expect(res.body.dns.ptr).to.be.an('object');
                     expect(res.body.dns.ptr.expected).to.eql(settings.mailFqdn());