Best option for small businesses email and setup

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RickW

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#198793 22-Jul-2016 20:05

Hey guys,

I'm probably going to sound like a noob but I have a small business that I've recently started and need some advice on how to setup email for 2 people. It's mainly just email that we need and not really any of the Office/Google apps and it needs to play nice with macs and iPhones.

My limited knowledge is I need to get a domain for the business to enable having a business email. Where would you recommend and after we have registered the domain what are the next steps to getting everything up and running?

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BDFL - Memuneh
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#1597031 22-Jul-2016 20:07

For this size you can get Zoho Mail for free. Alternatively Office 365 or Google Apps...

Once you have the domain you have to follow their instructions to create a DNS MX record and off you go.

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RickW

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#1597032 22-Jul-2016 20:10

Ok, so how do we go from registering a domain to having the email up and running?

freitasm

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#1597035 22-Jul-2016 20:20

If it's a .nz domain go to https://metaname.co.nz, load your account via credit card or PayPal with thge amount need to cover domain registration for a year, register the domain you want.

Then go to Zoho, register with an existing email (not the new domain yet), follow the instructions and when it get to the point of creating a DNS MX record go back to Metaname and update the DNS there. Wait some time as I am not sure Metaname update the zones instantly or take some time to create it, but after a while Zoho should let you know the email is ready to use.

Create the users in Zohol and assign email addresses to them...

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deadlyllama

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#1597041 22-Jul-2016 20:46

Just did this for my Church. Zoho isn't as nice as gmail but the price is great. No one has had trouble with the webmail and IMAP works if you want a thick client.

mattwnz

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#1597044 22-Jul-2016 21:02

Also depends if you want support, or you are self managing it all. Some hosting companies will help you set everything up and with more hand holding.

RickW

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#1597045 22-Jul-2016 21:10

Ok so I've now registered the domain and created an account with zoho but I can't figure out how to verify the domain there are the 3 options but nowhere to enter them into metaname, I'm missing something easy I bet?

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#1597047 22-Jul-2016 21:30

What options are these?

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RickW

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#1597049 22-Jul-2016 21:39

I selected the cname method. I then went to metaname, to the dns settings and added an entry as cname. I put the "Name / Host / Alias / CNAME" code in the name box and the "Value / Points To / Destination" which didn't really match any of the wording so I put it in the data box and hit save. Nothing has come through in zoho saying the domain has been verified so I can't progress yet.

freitasm

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#1597050 22-Jul-2016 21:49

You can use http://mxtoolbox.com/CNAMELookup.aspx to look cname (for example www.geekzone.co.nz is a cname to geekzone.co.nz) - this means I enter www as the cname and geekzone.co.nz as the point to value.

As I mentioned Metaname may not create the zones instantly - I think they do a few times a day, so may be you have to wait a bit.

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mattwnz

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#1597064 22-Jul-2016 22:41

I find using cloud flare for dns is far easier plus possibly more reliable. As it happens a nz dns provider I also use had an hour outage today.

timmmay

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#1597138 23-Jul-2016 08:41

If you get stuck message me, I do a bit of this work for small businesses.

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RickW

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#1597139 23-Jul-2016 08:44

timmmay:
If you get stuck message me, I do a bit of this work for small businesses.

Cheers mate, I ended up getting it sorted. Just after midnight it just started to work almost like magic.

timmmay

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#1597150 23-Jul-2016 09:26

Ah, could just be DNS propagation time.

freitasm

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#1597193 23-Jul-2016 11:26

timmmay:

Ah, could just be DNS propagation time.

There is no DNS propagation. DNS does not propagate - records in caches timeout and servers fetch new records. If there's no record in cache then servers will always grab the most updated one regardless of TTL.

In the Metaname case, as I mentioned twice before, DNS zones are updated a few times a day (unlike Cloudflare that updates as you create/change records). This means that if a client tries to fetch a DNS record it will come back as non-existent until the zone is updated - which may be an hour or so away.

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timmmay

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#1597194 23-Jul-2016 11:27

freitasm:

timmmay:

Ah, could just be DNS propagation time.

There is no DNS propagation. DNS does not propagate - records in caches timeout and servers fetch new records.

In the Metaname case, as I mentioed twice before, DNS zones are updated a few times a day (unlike Cloudflare that updates as you create/change records). This means that if a client tries to fetch a DNS record it will come back as non-existent until the zone is updated - which may be an hour or so away.

True, for new records. That delay sounds like it.

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