How to work with Custom MX Records

I'm transferring a domain/client from another host that uses a custom MX record for their email system. I understand the concept, but I've never done this before, and all the warnings in the control panel and wiki articles kinda scares me. So I thought I'd run this by all the smart people here and see if I'm doing this right...

1. Changed the DNS settings on the old host to DH.
2. Entered the MX settings from the old host for the domain to DH under Mail>>Custom MX/Gmail.

Now everything should match between DH and the old host. I'll change the DNS with the registrar before canceling the old hosting account.

I haven't created/duplicated the email addresses from the old host yet, because they have a strange, circular forwarding thing going on with a few of their emails I need to clarify first.

The old hosting account is still active, so I would think their email is still working as usual.

So am I ok, or did I just break everything and everyone is going to be screaming at me in the morning? :-)

Thanks in advance for your input!

It sounds like you've got it covered. Essentially, your DreamHost DNS entries should look like your old host's DNS entries. As long as the MX records match, there shouldn't be a problem. If something does break, you can always revert to the old DNS server until you work things out, but I can't think of a reason this wouldn't work.

-Scott

Thanks Scott. I appreciate you looking at this.

- Robin