Getting Started with Exchange

Checking and changing your domain MX Records to point to your Hosted Exchange 2007 Server

You or your domain host will need to change your domain’s MX records to point to your Hosted Exchange 2007 server. An MX record is used to allow incoming mail to reach your mailbox server, and without it you wouldn’t be able to receive incoming mail.

You need to create a MX record to be as follows:
* Set the MX Record as: mx.msexchange2007.com.
* Set the MX Priority as: 10 (Note: Number must be lower than all other MX Records)

The MX record change will take between 12-48 hours to propagate throughout the Internet. The time it takes depends on your domain host and will vary. During this time your e-mail will continue to go to your current mail provider. Once the change is complete all e-mail will then be routed to the Hosting Ireland hosted services.

You can check if the propagation is completed by performing a DNS lookup on your domain name and checking the MX record is set to mx.mxexchange2007.com.

If it doesn’t, then your MX records are pointing to the wrong location or have not been changed yet. You will need to speak to support (support@hostingireland.ie) and ask them to change the MX records to point to the MX record:mx.msexchange2007.com.

Note: If you are unsure of how to action the above or if you domain host cannot make these changes for you, then please contact the Technical Support Team on 1890 987 000.

Creating a CNAME record for Exchange 2007 Autodiscover Service

You or your domain host will need to create a CNAME record in order for Exchange 2007 to work correctly. Autodiscover will allow you to quickly and easily configure Outlook for Exchange 2007. Not having Autodiscover will cause problems at a later point, so it’s highly recommended that a CNAME record is created. A CNAME record can be created by your current domain host or by Hosting Ireland if we host the domain for you. We recommend you ask your domain host to create the CNAME record for you (If need be), to avoid mistakes.

A CNAME record must be created as follows:
* CNAME = autodiscover.yourdomain.com. Pointing to -> autodiscover.msexchange2007.com.
For example: autodiscover.hostingireland.ie. Pointing to -> autodiscover.msexchange2007.com.
If you host doesn’t allow the above setup then you may need to do the following instead:
* CNAME = Autodiscover Pointing to -> autodiscover.msexchange2007.com.

Note: If your host doesn’t support CNAME records or if you are having difficulties with implementing the CNAME record on your domain Control Panel, you can contact the Technical Support team for additional instructions and help. Please call the Technical Support Team on 1890 987 000 for assistance.

The CNAME record will take between 12 - 48 hours to propagate throughout the Internet. The time it takes depends on your domain host and will vary. You can check if the propagation is completed by doing a DNS check on autodiscover.yourdomain.com and seeing if the value is autodiscover.mxexchange2007.com.

If it isn’t, your CNAME record has not been created yet, is incorrectly pointing to the wrong location or is still propagating.

You will need to speak to your current domain host, and then ask them to create or check that there is a CNAME record pointing to the 2007 Exchange server. If Hosting Ireland is your domain host, then we can do this for you.

Note: If you are unsure of how to action the above or if you domain host cannot make these changes for you, then please contact the Technical Support Team on 1890 987 000.

Adding a new user to an existing organisation and assigning Exchange 2007 service to that user

You can begin this section of the guide once your Exchange 2007 provisioning has been completed by Hosting Ireland and we have provided you with an initial admin login. The first time you sign up to a Hosted Exchange Service, we will setup your organisation in our control panel. An admin account (usually admin@yourdomain); will be created for you, which is for configuring and administering your users. The admin account is for administration and configuration only and cannot have services added to it.

Note: Additional users can be given Administration access, but Hosting Ireland recommends you only use the admin login for admin tasks.

In this guide, we will log in as an administrator and add an additional user to an existing organisation.

* Go to: https://cp.webhostcontrol.net/cp/.
* Login to the control panel using your administrator username and password (in the format: admin@yourdomain).

Once you’re on the control panel, click on the Add User icon.

Proceed to enter all required details relating to the new user.

You also have the option of giving the user administrator rights to the account by ticking the "organisation administrator privileges" box. Once completed, click next.

Note: Ensure you provide an alternative email address as a set-up confirmation e-mail will be sent to this address once provisioned.

The sections are explained as follows:
User Information:

* Template: Select the template mailbox required for the user you are adding. There is a mailbox template for each type of mailbox we offer; Core/Standard/Enterprise. This function creates the mailbox for you.

General Information:
* Username: This is the username the user can use to log into the Control Panel – this also determines what the user’s Exchange e-mail is going to be.
* First Name: Enter a first name (Required)
* Middle Name: Optional
* Last Name: Enter a Surname (Optional)

Access Control:
* Password: Enter a password – The password must have at least one uppercase character and one number in it.
* Confirm Password: Confirm the password
* Organization Administrator Privileges: Confirm if the user needs admin rights to the Control Panel or not.
* Account Expires: You can set an expiry date for the account – if it’s a temp user for example.

Contact Information:
* External Email: You can assign an external e-mail for the user if required
* Phone: Optional
* Description: Optional

Once you’re finished editing the new user details, click next.
You now have the opportunity to select which services the account requires. E.g. Hosted Exchange or Hosted Blackberry Enterprise. As this account only has Hosted Exchange, place a tick next to "Hosted Exchange 2007" and click next.

You will be shown all the previously selected services in a list.

Make sure the box next to the magenta arrow icon is ticked and click Next

You will now see a summary of the information provided. If you are satisfied that all details are correct, click Finish.

Configuring a Hosted Exchange 2007 account in Outlook 2007

If you have Microsoft Outlook running, please close it down before commencing. You must upgrade to Microsoft Outlook 2007, as Autodiscover will only work in Outlook 2007. You can download it from our support centre before commencing with this guide (see previous section). The manual method of configuration will cause problems and should only be used as a last resort. Please contact the Technical Support Team before using the manual method.

Autodiscover Setup Method
Once you have confirmed the CNAME record has been created, you can configure the Exchange 2007 mailbox / profile in Outlook 2007 by doing the following:
* First make sure that Outlook 2007 is not running.
* Select Start > Settings > Control Panel > Mail, click on “Show Profiles”:

On the pop-up screen select Prompt for profile to be used and then select Add. Call the profile Exchange or a name of your choice; this will only appear on your computer.

Now you need to enter your name, e-mail address and password as it is configured on the Outsourcery Control Panel. An example is shown below:

Once all the details have been entered and confirmed to be correct, click Next and it will being searching for the user account settings on the Exchange server, this process can take a couple of minutes. During the search a Security Alert will pop-up regarding Autodiscover, this is normal and isn’t a problem, ignore the alert and click Yes.

A login box will pop-up on screen, clear anything that is already populated in it. Then type in your full email address and password and click OK.

Another login box may pop-up on screen; just enter the details again if this happens.

If an Autodiscover CNAME record has been correctly created you will see the screen below:

Once it’s completed click Finish and your new hosted mail account is ready for use.

If however you haven’t got an Autodiscover CNAME record created yet or setup correctly you will see the screen below. This needs to be corrected before setup can be completed. Clicking Next for unencrypted connection will not work.

Once it’s completed click Finish and your new hosted mail account is ready for use.

How to login to Outlook Web Access (OWA)

All hosted exchange mail accounts will have Outlook Web access already enabled on their mailbox account. This means you can access your hosted exchange mail anywhere in the world, without having to use an Outlook client. OWA gives you access to a web-based version of Outlook 2007, allowing you to configure features such as Out of Office and signatures.

Note: In order to have full access to the same features as Outlook, you will need to load OWA in Internet Explorer. OWA will work on other web browsers like Firefox, but you will only get
limited features.

To access your hosted exchange using Outlook Web Access, please do the following:
Go to the web link: https://mail.msexchange2007.com/owa

Next enter your e-mail address and password, this is the same as your outlook credentials then click Log On

OWA will then load up your Hosted Exchange mailbox – an example OWA window is shown below:

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