Note: This configuration guide applies only to the Hosted Email package. If you are looking for instructions for the email service included with the web hosting package in DirectAdmin, please refer to the relevant guide.
1. MX Records
The first step in configuring your DNS is updating your MX records.
MX records tell which server should receive the e-mails sent to your domain and deliver them to the specified e-mail provider, straight to your mailbox. You can usually edit the MX records for your domain from the same Control Panel you use for managing your DNS. You can safely keep your website hosted with another provider and only use our hosting services for the e-mail.
You should first remove all other MX records and then add the following, with the specified preference (the Host value is usually '@'):
|
MX
|
@
|
mx01.arkhost.com |
10
|
|
MX
|
@
|
mx02.arkhost.com |
20
|
2. Webmail
To access your webmail, navigate to the following URL: https://webmail.arkhost.com
3. SPF Record
The SPF record is necessary so your e-mail is not marked as Spam. The SPF will help with your e-mail deliverability because it specifies a list of authorised hosts that can send e-mails on behalf of a domain.
First, check for any existing TXT records with SPF.
If you don't have an existing SPF record, you must add a TXT record with the following value (the host value is usually '@'):
|
TXT
|
@
|
v=spf1 include:spf.arkhost.com mx a -all |
If you have an SPF record, you should edit it and insert it before the final -all directive, the following value: include:spf.arkhost.com
4. DKIM Records
To improve e-mail deliverability, you should enable DKIM for your domain from the ArkHost client area and add the records to your DNS.
DKIM is an e-mail authentication method designed to detect forged sender addresses in e-mails, often used in phishing and e-mail spam (Wikipedia).
To enable DKIM for your domain:
-
Go to the ArkHost Client Area
- Open your Hosted Email Package
- Select DKIM & Enable
-
Update your DNS to include the generated DKIM record as a TXT record (use the Host value for Host and the Key value for TXT Value).
-
Note it might take some time to propagate in the DNS.
5. Autodiscover Records (optional)
To simplify the configuration of modern e-mail clients such as Outlook and Thunderbird and all your mobile devices, you can now use the Autodiscover & Autoconfig web services to configure these clients automatically. You have to add two *CNAME* records in the DNS for your domain:
| autodiscover.<yourdomain.com> | autodiscover.arkhost.com |
| autoconfig.<yourdomain.com> | autoconfig.arkhost.com |
