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Using Google apps as your mail server

It is possible to use google apps as your incoming and outgoing mail server, rather than PHP-Web-Host.com's mail servers.

There are several reasons why you might want to do this. For instance, if you already have other google app accounts, it might be convenient to have your email accounts in the same place.

Another good reason is if you receive very large mails. We host a number of recruitment agent's and estate agent's websites and they receive CVs and property photos. In their cases their mail boxes could fill up quickly and they run the risk of going over quota. With Google Mail you get 10Gb per mail box on their free accounts and up to 25Gb on their pro accounts (which are not free).

Limits

Google Apps is free for up to 10 accounts, so if you use 10 or LESS emails then you won't pay anything. If you need 11 or more accounts Google charges $5 per account, per month, so if you have 15 mail accounts then that would cost $75 per month.

There are 3 parts to setting up your mail with Google Apps:

1. Setup your Google Apps account
2. Modify your MX records with PHP-Web-Host.com
3. Create your mail account in your mail software (like Outlook)

NOTE: For purposes of this article we'll use the domain name "gssports.co.za" and we'll setup an email account "[email protected]"

Setup your Google Apps account

• Go to http://www.google.com/enterprise/apps/business/pricing.html

• Click on the "Start Now" button
• Enter your domain name in the box and click on "Submit"

• Now fill in the rest of the form and then click the "Create Account" button.

• In the Google setup wizard, click on the "Go Express" button

• Click on "Next" in the next screen
• Click in "Next" in the next screen again
• You'll now need to verify that you are the owner. Click on the download link to download the verification file. This will be something like google342342544354.html.

• Now, open a new browser window and go to Cpanel (in our case, www.gssports.co.za/cpanel)
• Click on "File Manager" (you can also upload it via FTP)

• In File Manager, make sure you're in the public_html folder, then click on the "Upload" button and upload the verification file.
• Go back to the google screen and click on the "Verify" button
• If all goes well, you should see a success message

Modify your MX records with PHP-Web-Host.com

• Go back to Cpanel (www.gssports.co.za/cpanel) and click on the "MX Entry" icon in the "Mail" section

• Scroll down to the "MX Records" section and delete the current MX record

• Scroll up a little and add the following MX records (note the numbers to use)

• Once done, your cpanel should look like the following mx setup

• Scroll up a little further and select the "Remote Mail Exchanger" from the "Email Routing" section, and then click on the "Change" button

Create your mail account in your mail software (like Outlook)

We use Thunderbird mail client, but if you use outlook, the steps are similar. This article is not a detailed guide to setting up mail clients, its purpose is to give you the correct values to use.

• Go to tools and add a new mail account using the new email address you setup in Google Apps and the password you setup there
• The settings are:

Email Address - The full email address, eg, [email protected]
Password - Whatever you entered in Google Apps

Incoming - POP3. The POP3 server is pop.gmail.com. It is on port 995 and uses SSL/TLS
Outgoing - SMTP. The SMTP server is smtp.googlemail.com. It is on port 465 and also uses SSL/TLS

UserName - this is your full email address

That's it! Verify your MX Records

That is it. Note that MX records just like DNS records need time to propogate throught the globe, so you might not be able to use your mail for up to 24 hours. This may also have an impact on setting the mail up in your mail client, so you might need to delay that step.

To check that you've setup your MX Records correctly, go to www.mxtoolbox.com, then type your domain name in and click on "MX Lookup".

If you've done the CPanel setup correctly, you'll see setting as follows:

Send an email from your new Google Mail account.

If you look at the message headers you should see this mail as coming from google.com! You're all done!

Conclusion

For most users, its probably not worth setting up your mail to route through Google, however, if you're expecting your mail box to get very full this might be a good option for you.

Please post here if you have any questions or comments about using Google Mail for your mail.

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