[How To] Use Google Apps Email with GlowHost Tutorial

[Matt]

Google Apps Email Tutorial


The first thing you need to do to start using Google Apps is sign up for it. There is a "Premier" service which costs money, and a "Standard" service which is free. Choose whichever you like better. For purposes of this tutorial, we will use the Standard edition. Sign up or compare editions here


If you would like the premium service and have more than 25 email accounts that you would like to add to Google Apps Email, please contact our helpdesk as we are able to offer discounted pricing and support for your accounts. Google Apps Sign-up

1. Click the "Get Started" button.
2. Select the option for "Administrator: I own or control this domain".
3. Enter the domain name which you want Google to create email accounts for.
4. Fill in the required fields and place a check next to "I understand that if I cannot alter DNS records for my domain, I may impact my organization's ability to use Google Apps".

Click the Continue button.
Google Apps Create Administrator Account

1. Type a username and a password. Be sure to re-enter the password.
2. Type the words you see in the Word Verification image.
3. Read the Terms and Conditions for using the Google Apps service. When you are ready, click "I accept. Continue with set up".
4. Registration should be complete by now and you should be logged in to your Google Apps Dashboard (control panel).

Verify your account

Once you create an account for your domain name, you must verify that you own the domain name. Click the "Continue" button to proceed.


Now you must log in with the Google Administrator username and password you picked.
There are three ways you can verify that you own the domain:


1. OPTION 1: Create a DNS record to point to google.com.

• Get the special code from the Dashboard.
• Login to your GlowHost cPanel and click the Advanced DNS Zone Editor icon.
• Under "Add a Record," fill in the following values:
  
  • Name: yourdomainname.com
  • TTL: 14400
  • Type: TXT
  • Address: google-site-verification=sOmE_RanDomHaSh
  • Please note "sOmE_RanDomHaSh" is an example, use the code that google gives you here instead.
  
  
• Go back to the Google Apps page and click the Verify button.

2. OPTION 2: Add a meta tag to your site's home page.

• Copy the meta tag below, and paste it into your site's home page. The meta tag must be pasted between the HTML head tags.
  

  • <meta name="google-site-verification" content="sOmE_RanDomHaSh" />

  • Please note "sOmE_RanDomHaSh" is an example, is an example, use the code that google gives you here instead.
  
  
• Save the changes to your page and upload it to the server.
• Go back to the Google Apps page and click the Verify button.
• You should probably leave the meta tag in place even after verification succeeds. Refer to their documentation to be sure.

3. Option 3: Upload an HTML file to your website.

• Download the HTML file by clicking the link to get the HTML file.
• Upload that file to http://yourdomain.com/
• If this is your primary domain, the correct folder is public_html.
• Confirm successful upload by viewing the new .html file in your browser.
• Go back to the Google Apps page and click the Verify button.
• You should probably leave the HTML file in place even after verification succeeds. Refer to their documentation to be sure.

After you click the Verify button, allow up to 48 hours for Google to verify your are the owner of the domain name. In many cases it will be much faster than that. The last time I tried it was done instantly.


While you wait, you can continue using the Google setup guide to complete your Google Apps. Alternatively, here is a tutorial that skips straight to the email setup. Start using Google Email

1. At the Google Apps Dashboard, click the Email link. You can change any of these settings as you see fit.
2. Click the link for Email Activation
3. Read the instructions carefully. If your domain already has email addresses, you should create user accounts before changing your MX records.

A. Create user accounts

1. Click the "Create user accounts" link.
2. Enter a first and last name for the email user. Enter the name of his email address.
3. Click the "Create new user" button.
4. If you need to enter more emails, click the "Create Another User" link.
5. Once finished, go back to the Dashboard tab at the top.
6. To quickly get to the next step, click the Activate Email link.

B. Set up email delivery

If you skipped creating email users, then click the "Change MX records" link.


Google reminds you to create the email users before you change the MX records, or you may have email downtime.


Google also offers you temporary email addresses, so you can use Google mail before the MX record change.



You see "Showing instructions for" and a drop down box. Select "cPanel" as your hosting company. Follow the instructions.


Note: The instructions they give are for the cPanel X theme. However, almost all GlowHost clients are using the GlowHost X3 theme. Here are the instructions for GlowHost X3 instead.

1. Log in to your cPanel account.
2. Click the MX Entry icon.
3. Under"Domain" in the drop-down box, select the domain name you are changing.
4. Select the "Remote Mail Exchanger" option.
5. Click the Change button.
6. Paste the following combination of Priorities and Destinations and add each one:
   
   • Priority: 1 Destination: ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM.
   • Priority: 5 Destination: ALT1.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM.
   • Priority: 5 Destination: ALT2.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM.
   • Priority: 10 Destination: ASPMX2.GOOGLEMAIL.COM.
   • Priority: 10 Destination: ASPMX3.GOOGLEMAIL.COM.
   
   
7. Finally, delete the original MX record. That is the one that has a Priority: 0 and Destination: yourdomain.com.
8. Be sure to go back to the Google Apps page and click the "I have completed these steps" button.

Accessing Webmail

Go back to the Google Apps Dashboard and click the email link.
Next to Web address you see a sign-in address (URL) which is similar to:


http://mail.google.com/a/yourdomain.com/



The login is the email name WITHOUT @yourdomain.com and the temporary password given by Google. You can find the temporary password by going to the "Users and Groups" tab at the top. Click the email account in question, and the password will be shown.