Overview
This article details the DNS records that are required for Hosted Exchange 2016. The settings below only apply to Hosted Exchange customers; for standard hosting customers, see 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 2016 service:
- inboundcluster1.giacomcp.com pref/priority: 10
- inboundcluster2.giacomcp.com pref/priority: 10
- inboundcluster3.giacomcp.com pref/priority: 20
- inboundcluster4.giacomcp.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 Autodiscover Record
The CNAME Autodiscover entry is needed in order for Exchange 2016 and Outlook 2013/2016 to function properly. It helps with the configuration of Outlook but also with smartphones and other similar devices.
Please note: Using Outlook 2007 is not recommended with Exchange 2016 and it may not function correctly.
- Free/Busy information in you calendar
- Out of Office message setup in Outlook
- Important - Proper syncing of Offline Address Book. This is what Exchange uses instead of the Global Address Book (GAL)
- For externally connected clients (roaming users) the SSL certificate must include the CNAME Audodiscover record.
- Important - Outlook Anywhere - required for mobile devices like laptops, smartphones etc.
- Important - Exchange ActiveSync
- Unified Messaging
The Autodiscover service uses a user's email address and password to automatically configure a user's profile. Using the email address, the Autodiscover service provides the following information to the mail client:
- The user's display name
- Separate connection settings for internal and external connectivity
- The location of the user's Mailbox server
- The URLs for various Outlook features that manage functionality such as Out of Office (OOF), free/busy information, Unified Messaging, and the offline address book
- Outlook Anywhere server settings.
CNAME record to create
The following CNAME record is required for Autodiscover:
autodiscover.yourdomain.com pointing to autodiscover.giacomcp.com
SPF Record
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:
- v=spf1 include:spf.giacomcp.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:
- v=spf1 'ip-of-previous-spf-record-details' include:spf.giacomcp.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.