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Website / E-Mail Hosting Query
pburke90
Posts: 14,762 Forum Member
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I have my own domain name but I registered it as domain only. I am looking to set up an e-mail address on that domain that will forward all mail received to another address, or if I can find it cheaply enough, consider using the domain e-mail as a proper address.
Do I require hosting then to set up forwarding only or is hosting required, no matter what option I end up going for?
If so, any recommendations for cheap hosting sites? Cheers.
Do I require hosting then to set up forwarding only or is hosting required, no matter what option I end up going for?
If so, any recommendations for cheap hosting sites? Cheers.
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Zoho Mail do a free 10user/5GB plan that might interest you.
There's also inbox.com that does unlimited users/5GB but I'd recommend you go with Zoho if you only need a few accounts.
Why?
If you want email hosting i've used PolarisMail in the past and can recommend them. A single email inbox works out to $1/month (paid annually).
My e-mail address is going to utilise the @ symbol to replicate the letter 'a' to spell out a name and there is only one character before the 'a'. I think it is the username for their website that requires at least 2 letters, I may be able to set up forwarding on the domain internally with just the one letter.
Google Apps sounds good, I assume if I forward it to a Gmail account I can log in there and check all my mail?
You don't need to "forward" the email as such, you just nominate the Google servers as the place that receives the emails for such-and-such a domain. In the DNS, the server which serves the webpages for a given domain is specified by something called an "A" record; the email server is denoted by an "MX" record. These can point at completely different things, and you can have a domain for email purposes without an associated website, if you like.
And, yes, once your email is with Google, you can log in for webmail just like Gmail, or set up a IMAP or POP client like Outlook.
Google Apps lets you set up different ids/usernames for your domain and give out different passwords for them, so you can run a whole office, each person with their own email account. Google Apps is sort of a MS Exchange server on the cheap.
Ahh, is it not? Mine were done some time ago. Worth noting - thanks.
Having done some research, the local part of an email address (the bit before the @) may be able to be only 1 character, but you may find some mail servers out on the Internet will reject addresses where the local part is less than 2 characters. You might be setting yourself up for some hassle.
I already have a Gmail account, so if I can forward to that, it would be quite handy. If not, I'm sure creating a new one with a different provider and having mail forwarded to it shouldn't be too much hassle.
If you're looking to host email somewhere you will need to modify the DNS settings for the domain and point the MX records to wherever you purchase email hosting from. There are more complicated DNS settings that can be used for spam prevention (SPF, DKIM, Domainkeys), but MX is the bare minimum required.
If I go to the domain management settings on their site, they give me an option to "Add Zone" and that's it, I'm not seeing options for MX or any of the things you mentioned.
So, if I use one of the suggested companies to handle e-mail for me, I can use them instead and still be able to have e-mails for my domain without having to worry about LetsHost?
Yes, but you'll need to modify the DNS records to do it. Letshost has a guide on how to do this for Google Apps (no longer free). You'll have to replace the example Google MX records with the ones of whoever you buy email hosting from.
Fingers crossed!
I hope! The entire process has me confused as anything. So much for thinking it would be straight forward!
Yes, but you aren't paying for a web-hosting package here when you don't need to, are you? You have bought the domain name, and it seems to me you just need to point your DNS MX record/s at Zoho and then use their mailboxes? If Zoho is free (I don't know anything about it), then you only need DNS services from somewhere, which there are also free ways of doing. You don't have to use your Registrar as your provider of web-hosting or of DNS services. You only *need* to use your Registrar to change the addresses of your nameservers - that, and buying your domain, often are the only two interactions you have with them.
Message #15 seems to suggest you have a hosting plan with www.letshost.ie to just use them for DNS services???
I have set up Zoho mail and changed CNAME and MX settings have my e-mail address as I want. The only downside is that Zoho mail (when added as an "other" account on my iPhone does not offer push for mail, only fetch. I have followed their instructions to the letter to set it up but it will not enable push. If I add it as an Exchange address, it constantly pops up saying the password is incorrect, but it does list it as being push.
I have also downloaded Zoho's native mail handling app and it isn't great. It does have push but you can't change the notification sound and the full mail content is dispayed on the lock screen which I don't want.
May try another free mail hosting service. Any recommendations or ideas on how I can get the Exchange part to work. Again, I've followed all settings to the letter but it won't work.
Thanks to you all for your help in me getting this sorted.