Well time for the 1st post  on SaijoGeorge.com. I though I will start off by showing how we can integrate gmail to your domain. I have my hosting with GoDaddy.com and I am not a fan of their web-based mail client. Its not until recently that I found out that we can integrate the awesome gmail interface for the domain that you own. You will need to edit the MX records and the CNAME record and will take less than 10 minutes to setup and its totally free. You can also use your phone to get you mail via IMAP / POP.

So lets have a look @ Google Apps. whats is it anyways ? Here is a intro on what Google Apps can do for you:

First we have to sign up for Google Apps click here. Choose the Standard Edition if you are looking for the free version. Now select ” Administrator: I own or control this domain ” and type in your domain name in my case ” saijogeorge.com “. Then in the next form fill in the required details and tick the check box ” I understand that if I cannot alter DNS records for my domain, I may impact my organization’s ability to use Google Apps. “.

Now create your first administrator account by selcting a username and a password.

Now to configure Google Apps. ( Remember that Google Apps offers a lot of options like chat , sites , google docs , etc we will be concentrating on integrating Gmail )

Click on the Verify domain ownership link. They offer two methods of verification. You can either upload an HTML file with a name they specify, or you can change the CNAME record for your domain using the values they specify. I went for option one. For this option just create a new text file on your desktop and copy the given code in to the txt file then save it as googlehostedservice.html. Now upload that file to the root of your server using an FTP client, then click on Verify button.

They might tell you it might take a long time but it gets verified in less than a minute.

In the next step we will be editing the CNAME record. The default url for accessing the mail on you domain will be : http://mail.google.com/a/your-site.com now we dont want that we want it to look something like http://mail.your-site.com

Now go to Service Settings and choose Email and in General settings click on change URL. Select custom option. I would recomend leaving it as mail but you can choose anything you like. Click on continue and it will show you the instructions you need to carry out.

Log in to your Hosting Account. ( These screenshots might be diffrent from what you see since I use godaddy for Domain Management ). Navigate to your DNS Management page. Edit the CNAME settings for mail and enter the following ghs.google.com. Once that is done Click on “ I’ve completed these steps ” button on the Google Apps page.

It gets updated in a minute or so.

Now its time to Update the MX Records. Jump on the Google Apps Dashboard click on Activate Email.

Follow the instructions given there. which is basically jumping on to the Domain Control panel. Delete existing MX Records and adding the new ones. ( These instructions are specific to Go Daddy, you can get most of the common domain registrar settings from Google apps page )

Once you add all these click on “I have completed these steps” button.

Thats it. Now try to login to your mail by going to http://mail.your-site.com. Use the id and password you created. Hope someone finds this useful. Gimme a shout if you have any problem with it.