Own domain, need email hosting - so confused...

[DarkHeraldMage]

Morning all!

I know this most likely isn't the exactly correct space, but I'm hoping somebody will help out of the kindness of your hearts. ... The sucking up is working, right? *crosses his fingers* Here goes:

I've recently begun working for a small business as a free lance IT contractor. Their last IT guy set them up on a server running from their home office which hosts their e-mail through exchange, allowing the 2 local and 1 remote users access to their e-mail only while connected to the server. A problem when remote (so far).

I unfortunately don't know enough about servers to try and fix his problem at this point, but we're looking for an immediate solution. I've been able to assist with everything else he's looking for, but getting his e-mail off the server has been a problem thus far. He owns a domain through Go Daddy though he doesn't have a website put there at this time. To my knowledge, I'd assume that having that domain makes it possible to have the e-mails there as well.

For instance, he owns www.example.com and his e-mail is hosted through exchange on the server as name@example.com. So how do I pull it off the server and set it up through (I'm assuming) Go Daddy? What we're wanting is to simply set up Outlook as Pop or IMAP with his e-mail wherever it's hosted online, not on the server.

Am I making any sense? Is there anyone out there that owns a website and corresponding e-mail accounts? Help? Please? *puppy dog eyes*

 

[tobefirst ⚽️]

I'm not extremely well versed in exactly how to do these things, but I have two domains through GoDaddy, so maybe I can help a little bit. I recently switched my email from their "included" services to Google Apps for Your Domain. All the love of Gmail, but for my domain!

Perhaps you could think about setting that up?

 

[DarkHeraldMage]

That looks great, but I think what's confusing me the most is how it all works really. He has three email addresses with his domain name at the end:

user1@example.net
user2@example.net
user3@example.net

They're all set up on the exchange server (which I have no idea how to do it or how it was done in the first place), but what's to stop anyone from just claiming those e-mail addresses and setting them up through google? How does google authenticate that he owns the @example.net domain? That's what is really confusing me I guess. Thanks for the help so far!

 

[Darth.Titan]

Read the instructions from Google. You'll have to add a CNAME record in GoDaddy's account control panel to verify ownership of the domain, then add a few MX records to enable the email in Google Apps. Then it's just a matter of setting up the accounts through GMail. There are GoDaddy-specific instructions for this after you've setup Google Apps for the domain.

 

[tobefirst ⚽️]

Read the instructions from Google. You'll have to add a CNAME record in GoDaddy's account control panel to verify ownership of the domain, then add a few MX records to enable the email in Google Apps. Then it's just a matter of setting up the accounts through GMail. There are GoDaddy-specific instructions for this after you've setup Google Apps for the domain.

Exactly. It sounds (to a web n00b like me) intimidating, but with the instructions Google provides, it's a piece of cake.

 

[DarkHeraldMage]

Exactly. It sounds (to a web n00b like me) intimidating, but with the instructions Google provides, it's a piece of cake.

I've been going through the website and it looks like it shouldn't be too bad. I don't happen to be the kind of IT guy that ever works with servers or websites, so this will be new territory for me. The only downside I see right now is that it can take up to 48 hours to complete verification and make the transition, and that makes it difficult to deploy all at once. Hmm. I guess I'll have to look at it all tonight. Thanks everyone! If you have any more advise, please feel free to share.

Sorry - one more question. One thing I haven't seen on the site so far is if this has the same ability as regular gmail to be linked through Outlook? That's the primary motivator here. Sorry to be a pain.

 

[tobefirst ⚽️]

I've been going through the website and it looks like it shouldn't be too bad. I don't happen to be the kind of IT guy that ever works with servers or websites, so this will be new territory for me. The only downside I see right now is that it can take up to 48 hours to complete verification and make the transition, and that makes it difficult to deploy all at once. Hmm. I guess I'll have to look at it all tonight. Thanks everyone! If you have any more advise, please feel free to share.

I just did my most recent one the other day, and I was able to receive email within probably 5 hours. So, while I'm sure it *can* take 48 hours, it's often much, much quicker.

 

[gazfocus]

Sorry - one more question. One thing I haven't seen on the site so far is if this has the same ability as regular gmail to be linked through Outlook? That's the primary motivator here. Sorry to be a pain.

I have just set up my domains emails through gmail and it all works great. To use it within outlook, gmail has something called iMAP enabled email which constantly syncs your emails in outlook with the emails on the server (so both your web based access and outlook based access will both contain the same emails.)

Hope this helps

 

[DarkHeraldMage]

This all worked great. It seems to be working perfectly. Thanks for the wonderful advice!

 

[tobefirst ⚽️]

Good to hear. Enjoy.

 

[ChicoWeb]

Out of curiosity, why did you get rid of their exchange server? It's considered a benefit to many small businesses.

 

[DarkHeraldMage]

Out of curiosity, why did you get rid of their exchange server? It's considered a benefit to many small businesses.

The server wasn't working properly, and was set up to be both a server and a PC for one of the users. Everything was running ridiculously slow, and it was a problem for the remote user to access her e-mail since she'd have to remote into the server to gain access to exchange. The way it is now is much easier.