I have just purchased a personal domain off ZipHosting (from the post on 24/1/11). I do not have it hosted yet and want to use it for email only. I was thinking of getting it hosted on Google Apps but was wondering if it was going to be easy to transfer over a non hosted domain to Google Apps? Any suggestions or alternatives?
Thanks
Mike
Are you sure llama?
You realise he's only bought a domain ie tmike.com.au?
I'm pretty sure the domain needs a host (with a static IP address), otherwise it doesn't actually "exist" and therefore the DNS servers wont know where to send the email in the first place!
As you can tell I'm no expert, I have "fringe" knowledge on this topic.
I think Scubacoles may be correct - looks like it has to be hosted somewhere to be able to redirect unless there are some companies that allow that. Unfortunately, it looks like ZipHosting won't mail redirect without hosting first!!
Many domain packages include parking, DNS and mail services. It's one of the "value add" that they offer to get a competitive advantage.
For example, a quick Google found this one that includes those services
http://www.domainsregistration.com.au/
However I didn't check what ZipHosting includes, and I was speaking generally.
If they don't have it, then all you can do is point the DNS elsewhere to somewhere that does mail (that doesn't necessarily mean MX). You can do it by forwarding or complete MX mail record redirection to a proper server.
No you don't need to have an IP address for a domain to exist. You don't even need name servers for domains.
As for emails, you just need MX records for your domains to point to somewhere, and in Google Apps' case just point them to Google's servers.
Thanks - helps a lot++++++. I haven't been able to find mail redirector on the ZipHosting website but I have "Mass DNS Delegation" and a "name Server" section. I checked out MyDomain but they do not handle .com.au addresses.
Thanks
Mike
OK - well what you need to do is research "Free DNS Hosting". I did a quick google and found a few - there is lots of differences so don't go with the first one you find.
http://www.google.com.au/#num=50&hl=en&newwindow=1&safe=off&…
I've been using my own hosting for years, so I am out of the loop re: who is good and bad now days. The freebies are unlikely to give you a mailbox with storage, so no "direct" POP or IMAP
But you can use the DNS service to redirect to Gmail account(s) and then grab from there. I did it that way for about 10 years, only transferred the last few accounts off from MyDomain a few weeks ago.
Also, you might have been on the right track re: Google Apps - there are pros and cons. Read this thread on Whirlpool, good stuff in there and right on topic…
Thanks for all tha advice. I have ended up using Google Apps. Reasonably simple. I was able to alter my MX (mail exchange) and CNAME settings from my ZipHosting (where I registered my domain) logged in page in a page called the "parked domain" then the "Zone Manager" tab. The settings were what Google Apps recommended but took a bit of fiddling. ZipHosting would not tell me that I could do that - they wanted me to buy another product from them - understandable!! Then I had to alter my email account settings in Outlook as per Google Apps (there was an issue with the outgoing port but some Googling solved that)and now all working fine.
Thanks again
Mike
Free DNS hosting:
http://www.lowendbox.com/wiki/free-dns-providers
If you want to use Google Apps, just point your domain to one of the DNS hosting (I used Zerigo and Point both are very good although Zerigo free account has very low monthly query quota), and then follow Google Apps' instruction of setting up MX records to point to their servers.
I did that 2 years ago migrating my mail email account from my own server to Google Apps (I have run my own email servers since around '98). Couldn't be happier.
I've been using Google Apps for my domains for a good few years now and it is great.
You have nothing to loose, its totally free, and it just works, never had an outage, and its from a big known company.
Each account you create on your GAPPS domain is entitled to the full range of google services and free storage space etc, I think you can have up to 50 users for free.
You don’t need Google anything if you only wish to redirect your emails to Optus.
Just go to your domain registrar and set up a Mail Redirector. If they don’t do any form of DNS or Mail, get an account at somewhere like MyDomain that does it for free.
The main reason to use Google for email (via Gmail no need for Apps) is to set up IMAP rather than POP. The reason being, with a ISP-based email addies, you will run out of storage space for IMAP.
With POP email, you can just forward the domain email to Gmail or Optus or whatever you want - when you download it, it’s gone from the server. Using IMAP, you keep everything on the server and access it and sync copies of it to local devices.
It’s all about the amount of mail STORAGE that you can get. So, if your domain registrar provides hosting, use that. If they only provide redirection, redirect to Optus. If you want IMAP, redirect to Gmail.
The other decision is whether to make a "catchall" email or specific ones. For a ctachall, all you do is create a mailbox or redirector that sends (anything)@tmike.com to teh same place. You then sort them out using filters in Outlook.
If you use a DNS service, you can make specific email addresses, block them, redirect them separately, etc. You have a lot more control but it's more work to maintain. This allows you to make a dedicated email address for each person or even site, but for each one that you want to keep separate, you also must have a corresponding mailbox to store the mail in. As you can imagine, this soon gets out of hand and you can have 20 or more accounts in Outlook which takes an eternity to do a Send/Receive.
I have my own web hosting, which means I can do all my own mail. Some email address are "dedicated" and have their own mailboxes. But I also have one that is set to be a catchall as default. Then, each time I sign up for a deal I just type (eg:) [email protected]. The catchall redirects that to my optus account and I see the mail as-usual.
But if I start getting spam, I go back to the server and put in a dedicated entry "[email protected]" and bounce it as "user unknown". I know for EVERY bit of spam who sold my email address, which gives me great pleasure.
Somewhat rushing this response - does that help or confuse you?