DNS Records for Hosted Exchange 2013

Article Id
kb259
Published
26 Feb 2016 at 15:00

Overview

This article details the DNS records that are required for you to use our Hosted Exchange service. These settings only apply to hosted exchange customers. For standard hosting customers, see the standard mail server settings.

MX Records

MX Records are part of a domain's DNS record that tells other mail servers on the Internet where messages addressed to a domain should be delivered to.

To change MX records, you may need to contact the domain hosting company or the owner of the domain. If you registered the domain through Calzada Media, contact our support team.

The following MX records are required for the hosted exchange service:

  • inboundcluster1.cloudplatform1.com pref/priority 10
  • inboundcluster2.cloudplatform1.com pref/priority 10
  • inboundcluster3.cloudplatform1.com pref/priority 20
  • inboundcluster4.cloudplatform1.com pref/priority 20

IMPORTANT - Please ensure that these are the only MX records applied to a domain name on our Exchange platform. If not, email will randomly pass into any other listed mail servers and not be delivered correctly, even if they're listed on a higher preference. In fact, those that distribute spam often pick the MX record with the highest preference in the hope that this route will have less spam protection.

CNAME Records

The CNAME 'AutoDiscover' entry is needed for Exchange 2013 and Outlook to function properly together. It helps both with the quick configuration of Outlook, but also smartphones and other similar devices.

  • Free/Busy information on your calendar
  • Out of Office messages configuration within Outlook
  • Proper synchronisation of the Offline Address Book. This is what Exchange uses instead of a Global Address Book (GAL)
  • Correct functioning of Outlook Anywhere
  • Correct functioning of Exchange ActiveSync

To add a CNAME record, you may need to contact the domain hosting company or the owner of the domain. If you registered the domain through Calzada Media, contact our support team.

The CNAME record that should be created is:

  • autodiscover.yourdomain.com which should point to autodiscover.cloudplatform1.com

So, if your domain is greenfields.com, the CNAME record will be autodiscover.greenfields.com

SPF Records

The last DNS entry that is required is the SPF, or Sender Policy Framework record. SPF is a significant and increasingly used method to protect against spam sent from forged addresses.

SPF is used to confirm that a message actually has been sent from a mail server that has the authority to send the e-mail. If no SPF records are in place, e-mails may be scored with a high spam probability.

To add the SPF record, you may need to contact the domain hosting company or the owner of the domain. If you registered the domain through Calzada Media, contact our support team.

Your domain does not have an SPF record

If your domain does not have a SPF DNS record, then the SPF record should resolve to:

  • vspf1 include:spf.cloudplatform1.com -all

Your domain has an SPF record

If your domain already has an SPF record, then you need to add include:spf.cloudplatform1.com into the current record before the "-all" part of the syntax. For example:

  • vspf1 'ip-of-previous-spf-record-details' include:spf.cloudplatform1.com -all

Other SPF Considerations

  • If you have other servers that are allowed to send messages for the domain, they will have to be included in the SPF record.
  • SPF records can be complicated, so if you you are in any doubt, contact your domain hosting company for assistance.
     
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