MS-102 Deploy and manage a Microsoft 365 tenant Practice Question
A company has a Microsoft 365 tenant with domain contoso.com. They own an additional domain fabrikam.com and have already added and verified it with a TXT record. Now they need to configure email to be routed to Exchange Online for fabrikam.com. Which DNS record must they create?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often think they need to create an MX record pointing to 'fabrikam-com.mail.protection.outlook.com' (using the added domain), but Microsoft 365 always uses the primary domain's hashed value in the MX target regardless of which domain's email is being routed.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
MX record pointing to contoso-com.mail.protection.outlook.com
To route email for fabrikam.com to Exchange Online, you must create an MX record that points to the Exchange Online mail exchanger. The correct target is contoso-com.mail.protection.outlook.com, where 'contoso-com' is the hashed version of the primary domain (contoso.com) used by Microsoft 365. This MX record tells the internet's mail servers to deliver messages addressed to @fabrikam.com into the tenant's Exchange Online environment.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
MX record pointing to contoso-com.mail.protection.outlook.com
Why this is correct
Creating an MX record for fabrikam.com that points to `contoso-com.mail.protection.outlook.com` correctly configures email routing to Exchange Online. The MX record is the fundamental DNS mechanism that directs sending mail servers to the correct destination for a domain's email. For Microsoft 365, all verified domains within a single tenant share the same Exchange Online mail routing infrastructure. The `contoso-com` prefix identifies the specific Microsoft 365 tenant's mail protection service, ensuring that email for fabrikam.com is routed to the correct Exchange Online instance.
- ✗
CNAME record for autodiscover
Why it's wrong here
The CNAME record for autodiscover is used by Outlook and other email clients to automatically locate the Exchange Online endpoint (such as outlook.office365.com) for client configuration and connectivity, not to direct SMTP mail delivery. Mail routing is determined exclusively by the MX record, which tells sending servers where to deliver a message. Creating or modifying an autodiscover CNAME will not affect where email for the domain is routed, so it cannot satisfy the requirement to route incoming mail to Exchange Online.
- ✗
TXT record for SPF
Why it's wrong here
A TXT record for SPF is an email authentication mechanism that publishes a list of servers authorized to send mail on behalf of the domain, helping to prevent spoofing and improve deliverability. SPF does not participate in the SMTP delivery path; it only provides receiving servers with policy information to validate the envelope sender. Since the question requires actually routing incoming mail to the Microsoft 365 tenant, an SPF record alone would leave the domain without a valid MX record, and email would be undeliverable or misrouted.
- ✗
SRV record for SIP
Why it's wrong here
An SRV record for SIP is used to locate the service for Voice over IP clients such as Skype for Business or Microsoft Teams phones (e.g., _sipfederationtls._tcp.contoso.com). This protocol has nothing to do with SMTP mail routing or the transfer of email messages between servers. The MX record is the only DNS record type that tells sending mail servers which host to connect to for message delivery, so an SRV record for SIP cannot fulfill the requirement to route fabrikam.com email to the Microsoft 365 protection service.
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Microsoft 365 Tenant Setup
Key term
Microsoft 365
Microsoft 365 is a subscription-based cloud service from Microsoft that combines productivity tools like Office apps with security, device management, and online storage.
Key term
Exchange Online
Exchange Online is Microsoft's cloud-based email, calendar, and contact hosting service that is part of the Microsoft 365 suite, allowing organizations to manage corporate messaging without maintaining their own mail servers.
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