mail servers

The two aren't really related, but…

Set up mail.domainname.com as an A record pointing to your IP that runs sendmail.

You don't need an MX record in your DNS, but it is a good idea. Point the MX record to the FQDN of the machine that spools mail for your domains. It doesn't have to be "mail.domainname.com" -- it can be "www.domainname.com" or "domainname.com" if you've got an A record for "domainname.com'…

-Chris

so im guessing once i created a new A record i have to wait a few hours till its updated?

One trick not to wait, is – set the DNS servers of your Linux box and home machine to use the DNS servers of your domain. That way, you don't have to wait! :-)

-Chris

oh neat idea.. hmm, only if i could find out the domain servers of namecheap.

EDIT: nm i found it.. its in the whois db.