Need help in transferring to Custom Domains

[Jamie]

Hi,
I want to transfer my domain to Custom Domains but I'm a bit of a newbie at getting it sorted.

I need to change an MX record. Custom Domains tells me to enter the following info:
Host: mydomain.net
MX server: 684332022.pamx1.hotmail.com
TTL: 3600 or 1 hour
Priority: 10 (or High priority)


When I go to configure these settings at my DNS provider it has the following MX records already set up:
name=@ pref=10 server=smtp.iomartmail.com.
name=@ pref=50 server=mta1.iomartmail.com.
name=@ pref=50 server=mta2.iomartmail.com.
name=@ pref=50 server=mta3.iomartmail.com.
name=@ pref=50 server=mta4.iomartmail.com.

I presume pref is the same as what Custom Domains refers to as priority. So no problem there.
My DNS provider doesn't give me the option to enter the TTL. Am I supposed to be able to add this somewhere?
My DNS provider wants me to add a name. I'm not sure what this should be. Should it be the same as the existing MX records (i.e. "@") or should it be something different?


Custom Domains also suggests I should "Add a SenderID which is a TXT Record (Text Record) for your domain". I haven't the first CLUE about what this means or how to do it. Does anyone know?

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Thanks
jamie

P.S. This si my first tiem posting to this board. I hope i get notifications of replies!!!

[celticboy6]

Hi Jamie,

Welcome to Custom Domains; we're happy to have you and to help. You will get notifications of replies if you turned on the alerts after you submitted your message.

To address your main question
- For the name, just leave is as @, this will default it to your domain name. You
- For the TTL, usually that is set default to 3600 or 1 hour, so don't worry about changing that.
- For the actual MX record, you need to delete all the listings you have above and add a new listing with the MX record provided by Windows Live Custom Domains. That will prevent confusion regarding where your mail should go.

You don't have to add a SenderID record, but it does help if you think your domain might be spoofed (used for spam by someone pretending to be sending from your domain). Unless you are a well-known business that is unlikely. You don't have to be concerned about adding a SenderID.

I hope this helps; if you have more questions though write back and we will help.

[Jamie]

Cool...

Thank you for the reply. I'm working on getting this sorted soon. Hopefully should be pretty easy although I'm a bit snowed today. My DNS provider has accepted my changes so all I need to do now is delete existing MX records.

Don't have time today unfortunately because I'm geting on a flight over the atlantic soon. But will get round to it soon enough.

Thanks again for the reply (whoever you are - I can't see a name anywhere for some strange reason).

And yes, notifications work fine!!

-Jamie

[celticboy6]

Yeah, should have inroduced myself too.

My name is Andrew, I am the Support Program Manager for Windows Live Custom Domains.

Have a great flight!

[Jamie]

Thanks Andrew.

I'll probably have some more questions about SenderID soon enough but for now - don't worry about it.


One other thing....I have been very VERY critical of Windows Live (both in public forums and on private surveys/emails) about the lack of interfacing with customers. feedback.live.com is the only avenue to do this and that is a shocking attempt to engage with customers because the feedback is entirely one way - there isn't even an acknowledgement that feedback was successfully received.

Hence, I was delighted when I found this forum. I hope other Live Services start to take advantage of helpcommunity.live.com ASAP.

Regards
Jamie

[celticboy6]

We're working on it, but it's entirely by product. Some other solutions you might like are the many Windows Live related Spaces kept by the product groups. Here are a few you can check out.

http://customdomains.spaces.live.com/default.aspx?_c02_owner=1 - Custom Domains
http://dev.live.com/blogs/virtual_earth/ - For Live Search Maps and related apps
http://morethanmail.spaces.live.com/PersonalSpace.aspx - Windows Live Mail.

Best,
Andrew

[Wyrus]

I have updated MX record as as given but even after 4 days its shwoing PENDING DNS CONFIGURATION
After clicking on REFRESH its same case
I checked with online MX record lookup tools and I found everything is updated as required

www.lovelynepal.com IN CNAME lovelynepal.com 14400s (04:00:00)

lovelynepal.com IN MX preference: 0
exchange: 528326409.pamx1.hotmail.com
3600s (01:00:00)

Now what should I do, shall I wait more long or its problem on domains.live.co
I am loosing all my mails since last 4 days

Thank you for your time.

[Robsta]

I have the same problem, is there some extra delay on the MS servers? I changed the details some days ago, although the domain is registered in the UK but all the US based tools I've tried are picking the change up... unless I have entered it incorrectly? (added directly to zonefile)

[Benedict]

I have a different problem.

My domain registrar (Fasthosts in the UK) will only allow me to enter an IP address rather than the 12489967.pamx1.hotmail.com host name for the MX server.

I believe the IP address for this server is 65.54.247.8 but want to be sure. Can anyone confirm?

Bizarrely Fasthosts will not allow me to configure any other MX record details - only the MC server address can be altered. Will this cause me problems?

Ben

[Bill]

I'm having the same problem. And obviously support hasn't responded lately. ;p

I don't know how they expect this service to fly w/o proper support.

[pm]

I could not find POP settings anywhere, but if you are using Windows Live Mail (its a free download) or the Outlook Connector you can just choose HTTP and it should work.

I only needed my email address and pw to make the HTTP setting work on Windows Live Mail. I've not been able to get the Outlook Connector to work but I think that is something unrelated to account settings.

Hope this helps,

pm

[rjbullock]

Got the same problem... my DNS is updated and I can do an MX lookup to verify that it's correct, but I still get the "Pending DNS Configuration" message...

Andrew, any idea what's going on here?

[Libbro]

Me three!

Updated my MX record 5 days ago, but WL Admin center is still saying my service is pending DNS configuration; I am not confirmed as an administrator of this domain.

I've refreshed, and tried checking on multiple computers (so it's not a cacheing issue) -- am I missing a step here?

Help files are not helpful; I sure hope the PMs or Support folk decide to answer this thread.

[rjbullock]

This is getting depressing... How is Windows Live going to compete with Gmail when they can't fix a simple problem like this and ignore support forums?

Robert

[djrlj694]

Me, too. Things were working great until Dec 2007 when I switched email hosts. I'm curious, though, if MS Exchange Labs (https://exchangelabs.com/) is destined to replace Windows Live Hotmail if it makes setting up custom domains easier.

[margaret]

i need pop settings and smtp address

[marlene mendes]

hi i want to change my screen name can you please tell me how