abillybob Posted May 19, 2015 Posted May 19, 2015 Hey guys, So I'm setting up our gmail and went to make it live yesterday. Though Google said it couldn't complete the process as we haven't created our MX Records. We can login and send emails to people from gmail but we aren't receiving them. The school uses Squirrel Mail at the moment and I have no clue at all on how to go about this, I contacted county and they have just said I need to create at least an MX10 and an MX20 or something but I seriously have no clue how to go about that? We are expecting Ofsted soon so we really need to sort this out. Any help would be most appreciated Thankyou!
sparkeh Posted May 19, 2015 Posted May 19, 2015 Who hosts your DNS? Do they give you access to edit your own records? If so then this should help: https://support.google.com/a/answer/140034?hl=en If not then you need to request the changes from them.
abillybob Posted May 19, 2015 Author Posted May 19, 2015 Who hosts your DNS? Do they give you access to edit your own records? If so then this should help: https://support.google.com/a/answer/140034?hl=en If not then you need to request the changes from them. It sounds bad but I seriously don't even know. I presume county and I have a admin password for their Squirell Mail box although I have gone into all the options and can't seem to edit and settings. I've requested the changes from them but they said I have to make the MX record...? I asked them how I go about doing it and they couldn't answer me and didn't know themselves.
3s-gtech Posted May 19, 2015 Posted May 19, 2015 Personally I would hold any major changes like this until after an inspection. The changeover, possible downtime, staff training, and your own learning curve mean that you could miss something, and from a safeguarding and just general information point of view this would be very bad just before an inspection. Can you delay the project until afterwards? If not, you're probably looking at your LEA needing to change the central DNS MX records on their servers. If you had internal email before, it may pay to change any that you may have too (that would have been done to save mail routing out from your LAN and back in). I seriously doubt you'll be permitted to edit the central records yourself.
sparkeh Posted May 19, 2015 Posted May 19, 2015 Stick your domain in here: https://www.easywhois.com/index.php It will tell you who hosts your records under the 'Registrar' section.
Domino Posted May 19, 2015 Posted May 19, 2015 Your mail server won't host the MX records. They will be in public DNS as pointers to your mail receiver. Putting your mail domain in here MX Lookup Tool - Check your DNS MX Records online - MxToolbox will tell you your current records, and hopefully which server replied to the lookup.
abillybob Posted May 19, 2015 Author Posted May 19, 2015 (edited) Personally I would hold any major changes like this until after an inspection. The changeover, possible downtime, staff training, and your own learning curve mean that you could miss something, and from a safeguarding and just general information point of view this would be very bad just before an inspection. Can you delay the project until afterwards? If not, you're probably looking at your LEA needing to change the central DNS MX records on their servers. If you had internal email before, it may pay to change any that you may have too (that would have been done to save mail routing out from your LAN and back in). I seriously doubt you'll be permitted to edit the central records yourself. Unfortunately not the school has wanted to go ahead with it for over 2months now so it was agreed yesterday would be the day. Ofsted haven't confirmed they are coming it's just in our suspicion as we are due one but also all the schools around us have been done. Training and everything has already been covered so everyone's up to scratch on how to use it I just can't get the flaming thing to receive email's. I didn't think I'd be permitted to edit the MX records either so I'm a bit confused as to why I'm being asked to do this? I've done the process before on a domain the school has bought independently so I'm not a complete noob to it all but have no clue on what to do with their email system. I'm quite disappointed to be honest by the lack of support we are getting from them, it seems everything is a battle. Your mail server won't host the MX records. They will be in public DNS as pointers to your mail receiver. Putting your mail domain in here MX Lookup Tool - Check your DNS MX Records online - MxToolbox will tell you your current records, and hopefully which server replied to the lookup. Thankyou I've done this and it's found 4 server names but when I try to access the site it just gives me a proxy not responding thingy and won't let me see anything! Edited May 19, 2015 by abillybob
Gardinho Posted May 19, 2015 Posted May 19, 2015 Unfortunately not the school has wanted to go ahead with it for over 2months now so it was agreed yesterday would be the day. Ofsted haven't confirmed they are coming it's just in our suspicion as we are due one but also all the schools around us have been done. Training and everything has already been covered so everyone's up to scratch on how to use it I just can't get the flaming thing to receive email's. I didn't think I'd be permitted to edit the MX records either so I'm a bit confused as to why I'm being asked to do this? I've done the process before on a domain the school has bought independently so I'm not a complete noob to it all but have no clue on what to do with their email system. I'm quite disappointed to be honest by the lack of support we are getting from them, it seems everything is a battle. Who provides your broadband? Often if it's LA provided, they also host your DNS. Historically they have handled nearly all internet services, including website hosting, domain name etc. Only in recent years has there been a shift and the LA provided ISPs lost the monopoly.
abillybob Posted May 19, 2015 Author Posted May 19, 2015 Stick your domain in here: https://www.easywhois.com/index.php It will tell you who hosts your records under the 'Registrar' section. Under Registrar it just says my schools name? Who provides your broadband? Often if it's LA provided, they also host your DNS. Historically they have handled nearly all internet services, including website hosting, domain name etc. Only in recent years has there been a shift and the LA provided ISPs lost the monopoly. Yeah LA provides the broadband.
Gardinho Posted May 19, 2015 Posted May 19, 2015 Under Registrar it just says my schools name? Yeah LA provides the broadband. That would be my first port of call. Our LA provider is RM/SWGFL, and we can log in to an online portal and submit a change request. This is where you would ask them to add a new DNS record. I'd bet that they deal with your DNS requests.
IrritableTech Posted May 19, 2015 Posted May 19, 2015 Under Registrar it just says my schools name? What does it say under Name Servers - that should give you a clue. A bit late now, but agreeing a switch over date without planning the necessary DNS changes is a recipe for disaster.
DavePa Posted May 19, 2015 Posted May 19, 2015 This site will show you a wealth of information including the existing MX records : DNS Inspect - Free DNS checking tool with IPv6 support As already mentioned above, you need to be able to edit the DNS zone file to modify the existing records - or delete them and create new ones, whichever you prefer. Bear in mind also that DNS is a distributed service and changing it at the records host does not mean everybody else knows about it immediately, it can take 48hrs to propogate although it is usually far less than that - often 20 minutes and rarely more than an hour
Michael Posted May 19, 2015 Posted May 19, 2015 In summary, if performing a whois lookup proves uninformative, you could try contacting your LA, your ISP, or indeed a neighbouring school. They may (you never know), have already made the switch to O365.
abillybob Posted May 19, 2015 Author Posted May 19, 2015 Finally got it resolved thank you guys for all your helpful comments Seemed it was their job to do it and they where asking the wrong thing from me
Michael Posted May 19, 2015 Posted May 19, 2015 I've seen Squirrel Mail before - no comparison really compared to O365. Glad you got it sorted!
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