Recently our server's domain had lapsed, meaning we hadn't pay to renew in time and they had stopped it from pointing to our server. Even after this, however, we've been able to send and receive emails.
In my mind that doesn't make sense. I may be wrong, but I thought the process was:
- We have a server set up with an IP address.
- We purchase a domain that points to the IP.
- Browser requests to that domain head to the company we purchased the domain from.
- The company's server maps that domain to our server's IP.
- We receive the broswer request.
- Same thing goes for email: the domain after the '@' symbol is where the request is sent.
How exactly does an email sent to an expired domain still manage to make it's way to my inbox?