NoobTech Blog

Get an email like this: your-name@your-domain.com with Google Apps

If you run a business, or if you have ever switched ISPs, then you know how valuable it can be to retain your email address.  Connecting a mailbox with a domain that you own will enable to keep the same email address even if you switch ISPs or your email service providers.

Google Apps

The nice people at Google are offering this for free.  Only if you start adding more than 50 users (mailboxes) to your domain that they will ask you to purchase the Google Apps Premier Edition.  For a small to medium business this is gold!  It even allows you brand your login with your company logo.

The advantage of having Google host your email on their servers (other than that it is free) is that you can take advantage of all the extra features that Gmail offers such as on of the best spam detection systems available.

Below I will provide you with a very high level guide to setting this up for your domain.  You can have all this set up in under 30 minutes.  However the caveat is that you do have to wait for your DNS servers to pick up the new settings.  Once that happens you are in business.

Step 1 – Update your MX records

For Google to start receiving email that is sent to your domain (@your-domain.com) you must update the MX records where you host your domain.  I cannot provide you with detailed steps as to how to find the MX record settings for your domain host because every company has a different administration user interface.  I host mine at no-ip so it was easy to find.  Once you find where you can add your MX records add the following.

ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM  (MX Priority 1)
ALT1.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM  (MX Priority 5)
ALT2.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM  (MX Priority 5)
ASPMX2.GOOGLEMAIL.COM  (MX Priority 10)
ASPMX3.GOOGLEMAIL.COM  (MX Priority 10)

If your admin screen does not allow you to set these priorities exactly do not worry too much, just try to get them as close as you can to these settings.  It is more critical to add the addresses without any typos otherwise email will have trouble making its way to your mailbox.

Once you have made these changes it can take some time for your DNS settings to become active.  Depending on your setup it can take 24/48 hours.  In the mean time you can go on to Step 2.

Step 2 – Register a Google Apps account

If you are a company with under 50 users and you want the free service then you will want to sign up for the “Standard Edition”, otherwise choose the pay version “Premier Edition”

Standard Edition:
http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/group/index.html

Premier Edition:
http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/business/index.html

1. Click the Get Started button.  On the next screen make sure you are on the “I want to use an existing domain name” tab.  On this tab you will want to choose “Administrator: I own or control this domain”, then fill in your domain name you wish to use for your email account in the box below, then click Get Started.
2. On this next screen you will need to fill in some required information about you/your organisation such as your name, current email address, country etc..  Click Continue to proceed.
3. On this last screen you will be asked to create the domain administrator account.  This will be your first new email address on your own domain.  Also to continue you will need to read the Terms and Conditions at the bottom of the screen and if you don’t have any objections accept the agreement by clicking “I accept Continue with setup”

Step 3 – Verify Domain Ownership

By this point your account will have been provisioned.  To be able to use it, however, for security reasons they will ask you to verify that you are the real owner of the domain you are using.  Some where towards the top of the screen there will be a link labelled “Verify Domain Ownership”.

They give you two options: create a CNAME record or upload an HTML file.  I chose to upload an HTML file to a web server that I host under my domain.  This is the fastest and easiest way to verify.  If you do not have a web server then you will need to choose the CNAME record option.  Brief instructions will be provided for both options, follow them.

If you chose the HTML file option then you are done verifying your domain ownership.  However if you chose CNAME then it may take approximately 24/48 hours to verify.

Finishing It Up

When your domain is verified, and your MX record settings become active your shiny new Gmail account using your own domain name should be ready.

To access your mail user interface you can navigate to
http://mail.google.com/a/YOUR_DOMAIN.  (Replace YOUR_DOMAIN with your actual domain you are using.  Mine for example is
http://mail.google.com/a/noobtech.com

Congratulations you are done.  Go ahead and play, have fun discovering all of the great features that Google Apps provides.

Doing More

As you start exploring Google Apps, you will find that you can customize your experience a little more.  A couple of noteworthy ones are branding Google Apps with your company logo, and creating custom URLs for your services such as your mail.  For example to access your email instead of using the default
http://mail.google.com/a/YOUR_DOMAIN
you could use
http://mail.YourDomain.com

All of these settings can be found in the Google Apps dashboard:
https://www.google.com/a/cpanel/YOUR_DOMAIN/Dashboard (Replace YOUR_DOMAIN)

I am sure you are smart enough to figure out how to set these up, but I will point you in the area where you need to be looking.

• For color theme and logo branding, click on “Domain Settings” and then “Appearance”
• For custom URLs click on “Service Settings” and then choose the service you want to customize (for example Email).  Under the “General” tab near the top there is a “Web address” section. Click “Change URL” and follow the on screen instructions.

I hope you will find this as useful as I do.  I applaud Google for offering this.  I believe it is things like this that make us loyal Google customers which is why they are so successful.

Posted By:
Roberto Sebestyen

Interesting Email, Google, Software As Service